Late payment fees even though I pay each month

UtterPiffle

Hi All, I am after a bit of advice, as I am rather annoyed at charges I have incurred on my Virgin credit card.

Senario:
We transferred around 4k to a Virgin credit card in April as it was a 0% deal. I immediately set up a £150 standing order (well over the minimum) which has been coming out ever since. We then forgot about it as I knew we were paying off a good chunk every month. We apparently opted for online statements.

Spin forward to last Friday. I was just doing an audit of what we have outstanding, and logged onto the virgin card page online. We have been paying in £150, but charged about £65 interest and £12 late fee EVERY month. A phone call revealed that the standing order was set up for the 15th, but I should have paid by the 8th. So we lost our 0% AND incurred a £12 charge every month - bascally over £500 of charges we were not expecting.

Is this fair? Yes, perhaps I should have looked at my statements more frequently, but to loose my interest free period and get a late fee every month even though I pay regularly?

Please help - is there any point in writing to Virgin, or will I just be ignored. Yes, ignorance on my part perhaps, but I do feel the late charges are unjustified as I always paid regulaly..

[Deleted User]

sadly you maye have made regular payments BUT they were late,and of course they are within their rights to remove the 0% deal,doubt theres much you can do,and as these late payments will show on a credit report it may limit your chances of opening a new card

InsertWittyName

Unfortunately virtually all of the 0% deals require you to keep to the T&C's of the account.

You already said it yourself - you should have checked your statements each month.

Personally, I would telephone Virgin in the first instance and explain the situation to them in a calm fashion, accepting full blame for the charges and asking if there's anything they can do. It will help if you held the card previously with a perfect repayment history.

If that fails then try and put the same explanation into a letter and see where that gets you.

They'd probably be ok with a single month if this happened, but I don't like your chances of getting the charges and 0% reversed since it's been happening for such a long period.

Good luck!

molerat

Did you ever read the t&c's. Did you ever read the monthly statements ? This is a very common thread on here and the reason why DD is the way to pay and to make top up payments as and when you wish, SO invariably ends in tears. It is probably too late to speak to them as this, you breaking the t&c's, has been going on for 6 months but you cannot make it worse by trying.

opinions4u

How negligent do you want to be with your money?

You failed to check when payments were due.

You failed to check your statements.

You failed to set up a direct debit, even though this would have ensured no problem with Virgin.

Totally your fault.

Please help - is there any point in writing to Virgin

No. You ring them. You apologise. You ask them nicely to refund the interest and late fees and to reinstate the 0% deal. Whether they will or not, I don't know. But you should ask.

Then, if they've agreed, ask them if they'll correct your credit file. I don't think they should. I don't think they will. But half a dozen late payments will shaft you if you need other credit in the not too distant future.

I'd also up the standing order. Because I don't think you'll have access to any good deals anywhere at the end of this one. And get the minimum payment on direct debit.

chattychappy

UtterPiffle wrote: »

We transferred around 4k to a Virgin credit card in April ..... We then forgot about it as I knew we were paying off a good chunk every month. ... Spin forward to last Friday.

Well... severe rap on the knuckles. You MUST check statements. If you don't see them in the post, check online or phone them up. Apart from preventing situations like this, it is usually a requirement in the T+Cs that you check statements. One reason for this is fraud prevention.

Anyway, you know this now, as you acknowledge.

UtterPiffle wrote: »

So we lost our 0% AND incurred a £12 charge every month - bascally over £500 of charges we were not expecting.

Is this fair? Yes, perhaps I should have looked at my statements more frequently, but to loose my interest free period and get a late fee every month even though I pay regularly?

I don't think it is fair - but what you can get depends in the first place on your negotiation skill. This situation is not new. People have usually found that by phoning up and being nice about it, they can usually get some kind of deal re-instated and/or some of the charges reversed. Getting everything re-instated going back to April will likely be impossible. Helpful if you really can show they messed up over statements (but doesn't exactly exonerate you). Your credit record may have been affected too if your payments have been logged as being late.

If you don't get anywhere, then you have to escalate and hope that prompts them into a deal. Ultimately you can go to the FOS.

The legal basis is this. Penalties shouldn't exceed the cost of the breach to the injured party. So you can argue the £12/month charge is unreasonable if they simply applied the charge without having to do any work for that. £12 has become a de-facto standard because the OFT said that above that level they would presume a charge is unfair. But they never said that lower charges would be OK and besides they don't make the law anyway. The law is you can only penalise to the extent you suffer a loss.

So if you "go formal complaint", my first demand would be for the penalties to be refunded - as it appears they were merely automatically applied - unless they can be objectively justified. Eg if they tried to phone you or sent you letters. I think you have a good case here if they've been doing this since April whilst all the time your payments were coming in regularly. Exactly what did they do for this money? It isn't enough that the T+Cs allow them to levy the charge.

Next is the cancellation of the offer. This is a classic "gotcha" situation. One breach of terms and you lose the deal. I'm not aware of any legal precedent that will help you here and this is likely the bulk of your "loss". But there is a good argument that cancelling promotional deals in this way is a form of disguised penalty (hence same rules). Frankly I expect this will end up in court one day and there will be another PPI-style reclaim industry running. No doubt the CCs will do all they can to avoid a case going to court - just in case. I'm not sure which way it would go.

So - if you end up with a complaint to the FOS, in respect of the interest payments I would argue as I have done in the above paragraph. Virgin might just do a deal rather than have the hassle and risk. If you're feeling really cheeky you could sue them... some sympathetic judge might just take your side. Or Virgin might not want to have the expense of fighting it. As its small claims, you wouldn't have to pay their costs if you lose. (Except to a very limited extent.)

Don't get your hopes up too much.

chanz4

Its up to yourself to check the statments, write to them or call and see what you can negosiate. I disagree with the fos route, its not the companys fault but your own.

BlondBoy

Why are you getting a £12 late payment charge every month if you've been making payments by standing order? Surely it should only be applied for the first month? i.e. your payment in April will be counted in May, May in June etc.

chattychappy

BlondBoy wrote: »

Why are you getting a £12 late payment charge every month if you've been making payments by standing order? Surely it should only be applied for the first month? i.e. your payment in April will be counted in May, May in June etc.

I initially thought that. But I'm guessing each payment arrived after the due-by date but before generation of the next statement. So, each time a statement was generated a payment didn't arrive by the due date. Payments received after the due-by date but before the statement date reduce the balance (of course) but don't count for minimum payment purposes.

Against that background, I think the OP has a good case that the penalty charges are disproportionate.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

There have been plenty of responses to UtterPiffle's post but until he/she comes back with some answers a lot of it is pure speculation. I suspect that most of what has been written will not be what UtterPiffle wanted to read.

opinions4u

BlondBoy wrote: »

Why are you getting a £12 late payment charge every month if you've been making payments by standing order? Surely it should only be applied for the first month? i.e. your payment in April will be counted in May, May in June etc.

No payment is being made between the issue of the statement and the due by date.

So it's late every month.