Help 26% !!!!

landseer1

Hi,

I have a Virgin CCard, had one before paid off no issues. Today I phoned Virgin to ask why my % had gone from 0% to 26%? I make payments every Friday on the dot of between £40.00 -£50.00 pounds, so always in excess of the min payment. Only to be told there is about a 2 week window from the statement issue and the min payment due date and if the payments dont within that 2 week window reach the min payment you get a late default sum and loose your 0%.
So for Febuary I made payments of £175.00, min payment was only 83.20 but because my payments werent within the window I got a late payment default sum and 26 %. I asked when do your statements run from awwww well this month its released on the 21st but last months was the 17th so you have to guess which two week window it is or pay it all a week before the min payment date.

I know others will be getting caught out and I dont know what to do as I cannot afford 26 %, has any body any ideas? I thought i was overpaying and being good paying every week!!! Please help many thanks. L1

Hax

Are you saying that you don't receive any statements from them and that's why you're having to guess as to when you should make payments?

Or, is it a case of you receiving statements but not reading them and making assumptions about when your payments are due?

This topic has come up on here many times before and the conclusion is (almost) always that the payment requirements are clearly laid out in the terms and conditions that you agreed to and that your payment due date is ALWAYS very clearly stated on your statements.

With regard to losing the 0% deal and the incurring a late payment charge, if you 'phone them up and grovel and state that you understand where you went wrong and you'll ensure it won't happen again then you may get the 0% reinstated or at least a reduced offer - MBNA are apparently very good for this for first time "offenders". Some also say that offering to set up a minimum DD will also help to persuade them to be more lenient with you.

Good luck

landseer1

Hi,
Thanks for replying, I receive paperless statements ie on-line and all the statement says is min payment due by date. So my assumtion if i was over the month paying well over the min amount due then the min payment had been made.
When I spoke to them and asked them to please understand I had not done this intentially and would they give me back or lower the % and this was only the first time it had happened I got told "No" nothing they could do!
I moved the balance from another card to save money and have now got into a right mess!! The interest will drain me now and could well cause me to sink. How making payments eveyweek on the Dot can I have then missed the Payment due date !!!

Hax

The thing is that if you make payments BEFORE your next statement is produced then that gets counted on your previous month's statement.

With one of my cards, the statement is normally produced around the 4th of the month and payment due by around the 30th. I make at least the minimum payment just after the statement is produced (to ensure I don't get late payment charges) and then at the end of the month, when I get paid, I throw anything left from the previous month's wages at that card. Generally, this arrives after the payment due date but before the statement is produced. This means it is deducted from the next statement - which is what I want - and how, to my mind, it should work as the billing/statement period runs from the 4th to the 3rd (or thereabouts).

You have to remember that you are working within the constraints of your billing period. If your bill is produced on the 4th and the minimum payment due by the 30th, but you don't make a payment until the 1st, then that is clearly AFTER the minimum payment date and before the next statement is produced. So, whilst the payment will be credited against the previous statement, you haven't complied with your agreement to make the minimum payment by the specified date.

I hope that makes sense...

As for not getting back the 0% APR, theoretically, you don't have a leg to stand on as you have breached the terms and conditions - all you can do is grovel as much as possible. Try again - a different operator might respond differently.

Hax

Sorry - just re-read again - if you are making weekly payments, then it does seem "odd" that you should not have covered the minimum payment as at least two, if not three of those Fridays will have fallen between the statement produced period and the payment due date.

Can you give some more details of when you statements were produced, what the minimum payments were, when the minimum payments were due and what payments you made (and when).

For example: Statement date 21st January, minimum £87.50 due 11th February, Payments made: £40 on 25th Jan, £40 on 4th Feb, £50 on 11th Feb

Also, how are you making these payments? Online, over a counter, cheque through the post? If online - are they going via Faster Payments?

My example above is just pure guesswork - but if it bears any relation to the true figures and dates, etc then it could explain what has happened...

The more info you give, the better chance we have of pinpointing the cause.

landseer1

I understand that now, but when she said the statement last month was issued on 17th and this month will be the 22nd its a lottery as to when the window is. I now know I will only ever pay 1 week before due date. So many other people must be getting caught out with this. I will try again later with a different operator, I think it very harsh when clearly every month I have over paid just not in the correct window of dates. 26 % i just cannot do!!! thanks anyway.

landseer1

give 5 mins and i will look up my statement, I always pay online via my bank account.

landseer1

Jan Statement - Min Pay 83.11
receive by - 06/02/11
7th -50.00
14th- 50.00
21st- 50.00
Feb Statement - Min Payment 123.35
receive by -9/03/11
28th jan - 40.00
4th feb - 40.00
11th -40.00
18th-40.00
and received late default summary 12.00 and she states I have another for this month even though received by date shows min payment 00.00

Hax

When were your statements produced?

landseer1

This is a card that is never used for purchases and the statements dont have a date of issue just Jan , Feb , ect

Hax

OK - from above, you say that this months statement is due to be produced on the 21st and last months was done on the 17th of Feb.

We can assume that your January statement was produced on or after the 21st, with a minimum payment of £83.11 to be made by the 6th of February. The only payments you made AFTER the statement was produced and BEFORE the due date are the ones on the 28th Jan (£40) and 4th Feb (£40) - a total of £80, leaving you £3.11 short of meeting your January statement minimum.

It looks like your February statement was produced on the 18th (or later) as it includes the payments made on the 11th and 18th of Feb - but these will have been credited against your January statement (but too late for the min payment due date). So, these won't have counted towards the min payment of £123.35 which was due by the 9th of March. Only payments made after the 18th will be counted.

It seems as if your CC company have a fairly long window inbetween the due date and the date the next statement is produced (all of my cards are typical around 4 to 7 days) - and this is where your problems are coming in. What you've got happening is the statements being produced at fairly regular dates in the month (I wouldn't be surprised if the Feb statement was also produced around the 21st - despite what you were told). However, you are making your payments based on the day of the week - these will shift around quite a bit and with a two week (or larger) window between due date and statement date it's quite likely that at least two, if not three of your weekly payments will get swallowed up into this "void".

Your best bet is to either save your weekly payments up, wait for your statement to be produced and then make the payment manually, or setup a direct debit for the minimum amount and then make additional payments as and when you are able. Be aware though that setting up DD doesn't give an excuse to ignore statements

Again, I hope that rambling makes sense - it's getting quite late now so I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't!