Lloyds TSB credit card penalty charge

Equinut

Ok so over Christmas I missed my CC payment date by 2 days - LLoyds TSB have charged me £12 for the privilege.

At the time I had over £2k in credit in my current account with Lloyds. Ok, I know I should have just paid on time, but feeling optimistic, I asked them if they would consider waiving the charge considering it was obvious I was in credit in my current account and had been for some time. I'd also paid off £4k off my credit card last month, too - over 3/4 of the balance. I've been banking with them for years and this was the first CC late payment I'd had.

Technically they are probably right to levy the charge but I still feel that as a gesture of goodwill considering Christmas and that, the customer service correct action would have been to waive the charge! Or am I just being facetious?

Only 12 quid but I am now thinking about taking all my business from them, out of pique :mad:

woohoo_postingid

Pay it off or transfer it to another card (with a good deal obviously!) then cancel it.

Go see your account manager and thell him/her you plan to close all your accounts and move elsewhere.

Epiphone

You can ask but it'd be out of their goodwill if they did waive it. You know you're in the wrong so cutting your nose off to spite your face won't help.

They'll more than likely drop the charge though.

gyzmo

Does asking for something as a gesture of goodwill work? Everytime I used to hear that phrase spoken I cringed.

Freddie_Snowbits

If you set up direct debit, payment not missed (unless you have no funds in the bank), CC charge does not apply.

Even better, LTSB have online banking, use that instead!

Scarlett

Excuse me, but isn't this one of those cases where the £12 is a "penalty charge" and therefore illegal under UK law? Why has no-one pointed this out?

I can't see how it costs the bank £12 if your payment was a couple of days late. They are only entitled to charge you what your breach of contract costs them.

Go have a read of the Reclaim Your Bank Charges forum for more advice.

Rex_Mundi

For a one off charge, it is worth phoning the bank. They may refund the charge straight away. This certainly comes under the category of a reclaimable charge as set out in Martins article.

LondonDiva

You knew when it was likely to be due, but didn't pay.

You had the money to pay it off, but didn't.

Bossyboots

Scarlett wrote:

Excuse me, but isn't this one of those cases where the £12 is a "penalty charge" and therefore illegal under UK law? Why has no-one pointed this out?

I can't see how it costs the bank £12 if your payment was a couple of days late. They are only entitled to charge you what your breach of contract costs them.

Go have a read of the Reclaim Your Bank Charges forum for more advice.

The scale of the charge is the accepted figure to reflect the losses to the credit card company. They are entitled to charge what the breach of contract cost them. It only becomes an unlawful charge when the figure charged is in excess of their reasonable costs as then it becomes punitive. Thus on this occasion there would be no grounds to claim it back.

sparkymark_3

Tell them where to stick their bank if they are refusing to refund charge

Tetsuko

Get another credit card. I used to be with Barclays and it was terrible.

If you shop around and intend on paying your old balance off quickly there are some good 0% interest deals around. I had to have a 2% transfer fee added on mine but it was worth it for me to avoid several months paying at an extortionate interest rate.