Wrongly charged "Purchase Interest"

Interesting_Ian

molerat wrote: »

Page 1 of the statement, big bold heading "Your account summary", line headed "Your new balance" . Also at the bottom of the list of transactions "NEW CLOSING BALANCE":rotfl:

Statement? I don't know what you mean by a "statement". I can't find any such "statement".

I can view and download the transactions -- the information of how much I owe isn't there.

Or I can view the left hand side of the page when you log in and it has "Account Summary" there. It says:

Credit Limit £1,500.00 Current Balance £111.56 Available Credit £1,380.89 Cash Available £1,380.89 Amount Overlimit £0.00

Presumably I owe the credit limit minus the available credit

Namely £1,500 - £1,380.89 = £119.11

This figure is not mentioned anywhere so far as I can see.

No idea what "current balance" refers to. Close to what I owe but not the same (and besides I think "balance" would refer to how much money I have, not what I owe).

ffacoffipawb

Interesting_Ian wrote: »

When I was looking at my Capital One credit card transactons yesterday I noticed I'd been charged 0.80p for something called "purchase interest". I pay the full amount I owe on my credit card each month, so was a bit puzzled by this. I sent them the following message:

I just received the rather strange reply this morning:

They are unable to stop this error?? :O

I bet if the error were the other way round and I kept receiving money I'm not entitled to they'd soon stop it!

I'm always getting overcharged whether from supermarkets, utility companies, credit card companies or whatever. I never get undercharged! And I'm sure I'm probably missing the majority of these "errors". I can't help feeling that these "errors" are intentional knowing that most people will never spot them.

I don't think the present situation is satisfactory because I'll need to keep checking my credit card account each month to make sure this "purchase interest" has been taken off! Does anyone have any advice about what message I should send back to them?

Could one of your transactions have been deemed a cash advance, hence the interest?

Examples may include Paypal debits or online betting payments.

Interesting_Ian

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Could one of your transactions have been deemed a cash advance, hence the interest?

Examples may include Paypal debits or online betting payments.

I accidentally paid in £870 odd quid from my Betfair account (Betfair is an online gambling place) to my Capital One account (I meant to put it on my debit card but put it on my credit card by mistake!). So I was about £700 or so in credit on my credit card. I rang Capital One up and they said they would transfer the whole £870 odd to my bank account. And it appeared in my bank a few days ago.

So I don't know if that might have been responsible somehow for this interest? But they only charge fees for people funding their gambling accounts, not the other way round!

Interesting_Ian

Interesting_Ian wrote: »

Statement? I don't know what you mean by a "statement". I can't find any such "statement".

I can view and download the transactions -- the information of how much I owe isn't there.

Or I can view the left hand side of the page when you log in and it has "Account Summary" there. It says:

Credit Limit £1,500.00 Current Balance £111.56 Available Credit £1,380.89 Cash Available £1,380.89 Amount Overlimit £0.00

Presumably I owe the credit limit minus the available credit

Namely £1,500 - £1,380.89 = £119.11

This figure is not mentioned anywhere so far as I can see.

No idea what "current balance" refers to. Close to what I owe but not the same (and besides I think "balance" would refer to how much money I have, not what I owe).

I understand now. The "current balance" must refer to how much I owe. The credit limit minus the available credit is £7.55 more than the "current balance", but earlier on today I bought an ebook costing £7.55 ("why we get fat and what to do about it" from Amazon).

So it must take some time before the stuff I purchase gets added on to the "current balance".

I think this is a bit confusing though. After I accidentally put the £870 odd onto my credit card, so that I was around £750 in credit, my balance would therefore be described as minus £750! :eek: To my mind saying I have a negative balance conveys the idea that is how much I owe, not how much I am in credit!

Credit cards are really confusing!

firsttimestudent

There are 2 types of balance: Real time balance & Statement balance.

Interesting_Ian wrote: »

Or I can view the left hand side of the page when you log in and it has "Account Summary" there. It says:

Credit Limit £1,500.00 Current Balance £111.56 Available Credit £1,380.89 Cash Available £1,380.89 Amount Overlimit £0.00

The above is your Real Time Balance. The main use of this "Real Time" balance is so that we know how much more we are allowed to spend on the card.

The Statement Balance, on the other hand, is generated on a set day each month and is used for payment as well as interest calculation purposes. The Statement Balance can be accessed on the left hand panel of your Capital One Online (View Estatements). It will show up as a PDF. As long as you paid the "Your New Balance" before the Due Date, you wouldn't be charged interest.


You mentioned you had to add all your transactions up manually... There actually is no need. You only need to pay the "Your New Balance", by the due date.

firsttimestudent

There are a few possible reasons why you may have been charged interest:

a. You purchased Foreign Currency (as in cash or travellers cheques).
b. You made a cash withdrawal
c. You made a gambling transaction.
d. You may have not paid the full "Your New Balance" as shown in your monthly statement, OR if you have paid in full, perhaps later than the due date.

firsttimestudent

Since Capital One has admitted an error has been made, I believe the reason they are 'manually reviewing' your account is that the "Interest" itself is charged interest.

Say you did the following transactions:

26 Jan - Purchased goods of £800.00
22 Feb - Statement generated, showing balance of £800.00 (Due date 18 Mar)
15 Mar - Payment of £800 received and cleared
22 Mar - Statement generated - should be £0.00 interest, but due to an error, £0.70 charged.

Say you made a complaint on 1 Apr, and you were refunded on 5 Apr.

(i) Between 22 Mar and 5 Apr, you would have been charged Interest on the £0.70 (at 34.9% APR).

(ii) Furthermore, since the computer will have 'deemed' that you did not pay the full balance in the previous statement, there will be no interest free period for this month's purchases... So if you bought something on 25 Mar, you would have been charged interest on that from day 1 (not usually the case).

That's why the Customer Service advisor needed to monitor your statement for a while.

molerat

To the OP

Your on line account is only a list of your transactions and is NOT a reliable indicator of how much you need to pay on your account. Each month you receive either a paper or an e-statement, your on line account will show you which you receive, which shows the figures I quoted above and the dates by which the payments must be cleared into your account. Using the on line account will possibly lead to incorrect payments being made and can cause late / missed payment charges and purchase interest especially if refunds have been made to the card. Maybe this is where the interest came from.

izools

Ian, there will be a part of your Capital One online account service that allows you to view e-statements.

If you can't find it, give them a call, and they'll walk you through how to find them

Checking your statements is an essential part of everyday banking, so find out how from them and get into the habbit

BoGoF

izools wrote: »

Ian, there will be a part of your Capital One online account service that allows you to view e-statements.

If you can't find it, give them a call, and they'll walk you through how to find them

Checking your statements is an essential part of everyday banking, so find out how from them and get into the habbit

Indeed there is it's a link called "View e-statements" !

It seems the OP has elected to go paper free, perhaps best opting in to paper statements ?