V Confused - Help!

vicci0151

Hi, can anyone please offer advice?

I have a vanquis credit card which i have had for a few years, Stopped using it June 2008 and have always paid the minimum payment by direct debit. I was silly for getting one but it did repair my credit rating and i was offered a 6k HSBC one after a year of having the vanquis one.

I have just had a phone call from them telling me that i am over my credit limit as my minimum payment isnt covering even the interest accruing on the £500 i originally owed.

Can this be right? Am i being done over? Are they allowed to do this?

Due to my refusal to answer calls from witheld numbers they say they have been unable to contact me about this for some time..... Told them to ring me after work so i can speak to them... if i have been over the limit for a while then surely i am getting charged for that too. But how can this happen when i wasnt over the limit when i stopped using it and have been making payments ever since???

casperlarue

Whats the interest rate on your Vanquis card, I would imagine its pretty high, 30% plus. Have you looked at your statements to see what the minimum payment is against how much interest you are being charged?

Quick look at their website shows minimum repayment can be as low as 3.5% of your outstanding balance, also you will be charged interest on all purchases until they are paid in full. So every month you will be paying interest on top of interest.

When you speak to them try to put a repayment plan in place and see if they will freeze the interest so you are paying of the original spending and not more interest. Could you pay a larger amount to reduce the balance quicker?

HAYLEY8005

because a minimum repayment of lets just guess at £20 the interest per month is say £50 so all the time ie 2 plus years you have been getting £30 added, vanquis is a big mistake to ever leave a balance on, so eventually you have been going up not down on your limit as the interest exceeds your payments. Yes overlimit charges will be being added also so you need to go on your account and find out how much this now stands. is there anyway you could maybe to a balance transfer from vanquis to hsbc?

izools

Haven't you bothered to read your statements? It's your responsibility. They estimate the following months interest on each statement and explain what the minimum is and when it will be taken on each statement, too.

It's totally your choice how much you pay and you've been informed in writing every month what covers what.