Barclays - When is a payment not a payment 16 January 2012 at 5:04PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Budgeting & Bank Accounts 5 replies 1.5K views

dhj

Just received a statement from Barclays informing me that I do not owe any money on my credit card (yippee!!!) along with a note telling me that because I hadn't made the minimum payment I may be liable to legal action. I contacted them to find out what was going on and was told that last statement I owed then some money (correct) and, because I hadn't made the minimum payment, I was automatically sent the stroppy note. The amount owing was a payment I made for some goods which was then refunded shortly after. This refund arrived after the statement was sent but before I needed to make any payment. Barclays agreed with this but then told me that a refund is not a payment. In other words, even though the amount was refunded I should have made the minimum payment ( for an amount I no longer owed) and they would have readjusted at the next statement. Anybody ever heard of this before?

Mikeyorks

dhj wrote: »

Anybody ever heard of this before?

Indeed. Fairly widely held in the CC arena that a refund cannot be anticipated by the customer in the way you have.

Despite the refund does reduce the overall balance. And despite some CC companies do, when taking payment by DD, deduct the refund where the refund is in the next Statement period - but is credited before the due date of the payment from the previous Statement.

dhj

The main issue I have is that I contacted Barclays a few days after I received the statement (long before any payment was due) and they informed me that my account had now been credited with the money and therefore no payment was due. At no time did they tell me that I should make any payment. I was quite happy to pay the minimum amount but by the time that was due the account had been credited and I therefore owed no money. I'm still confused as to how I can be charged (or defaulted in this case) for an amount of money I don't owe. The money was in my account before the due date for any payment.

CKhalvashi

dhj wrote: »

The main issue I have is that I contacted Barclays a few days after I received the statement (long before any payment was due) and they informed me that my account had now been credited with the money and therefore no payment was due. At no time did they tell me that I should make any payment. I was quite happy to pay the minimum amount but by the time that was due the account had been credited and I therefore owed no money. I'm still confused as to how I can be charged (or defaulted in this case) for an amount of money I don't owe. The money was in my account before the due date for any payment.

Without going through specific Ts&Cs, I can’t give a good answer, however I know that on my HSBC card, a refund is NOT a payment, but on my AMEX card, it IS!

IMHO, it’s upto the card issuer as to whether they want to give just the legislation or whether they wish to give more than this (like AMEX)

pmduk

DHJ, you could try telling Barclays you were following their staff's advice, however, I think you're best just remembering it for future reference. Their customer service isn't the best.

Gromitt

I was once told that if my statement says I need to make a payment, I need to do so regardless of what my online statement says, otherwise I would receive an automatic late payment fee. Once I had made the payment I could then request the amount back the next day, as the computer would have logged the fact that I had made a payment.

Confused the hell out of me, but I just agreed and they refunded my £12 fee.

Never checked what my credit report stated for that month (whether it recorded the statement balance, actual balance, whether I made a minimum payment, or what)