Virgin Credit Card - Disgraceful act - HELP!

sanfran_2

Hi guys - I'm a newbie poster and I'm currently really angry!!

I have a virgin credit card and my minimum payment of £67 was due by the direct debit set up on my account on 10th March 2012.

Now - on the 5th March, I paid over £3300 on to the card and cancelled the direct debit with the bank.

I have received my statement and been charged £12 for a DEFAULT SUM for my minimum payment not been made on 10th by Direct Debit!!

I called virgin who have told me I still breached my T&C's by not paying the direct debit minimum payment and even though they understand my reasons for not been happy there is nothing they can do and will not remove the default fee... !

Surely there is something I can do. Is there?:mad::mad::mad::mad:

SnowTiger

sanfran wrote: »

I have a virgin credit card and my minimum payment of £67 was due by the direct debit set up on my account on 10th March 2012.

Now - on the 5th March, I paid over £3300 on to the card and cancelled the direct debit with the bank.

I have received my statement and been charged £12 for a DEFAULT SUM for my minimum payment not been made on 10th by Direct Debit!!

I called virgin who have told me I still breached my T&C's by not paying the direct debit minimum payment and even though they understand my reasons for not been happy there is nothing they can do and will not remove the default fee... !

Did you pay the balance of the card off in full?

It's also against the T&Cs of most card cards to put an account in to credit. I suppose you could argue that if they'd been allowed to take the DD they would have led you breaking the T&Cs of the account.

I find that the phrase would you put that in writing often fixes things. Few call centre staff have the skill, time or ability to write a letter.

YorkshireBoy

sanfran wrote: »

Now - on the 5th March, I paid over £3300 on to the card and cancelled the direct debit with the bank.

But, crucially, you didn't tell MBNA - within the requisite 5/7 days - not to attempt to collect the DD, as advised in the "important: confirmation of your direct debit instruction" letter MBNA sent you.

Additionally, the DD guarantee paperwork that MBNA sent you told you to "please also notify the originator" (as well as your bank) when cancelling the DDI.

I have received my statement and been charged £12 for a DEFAULT SUM for my minimum payment not been made on 10th by Direct Debit!!

No you haven't. You've been charged a "returned direct debit" fee.

Surely there is something I can do. Is there?:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Yes. To prevent it happening again, be sure to read (and understand) the information provided to you.

As to this particular issue, all you can do is call again. 0800 783 1116 used to get you the customer loyalty team, who used to have more 'clout'. Maybe they still do?

sanfran_2

As a 'newbie' I have found the attitude of Ben8282 extremely unhelpful.

I'm sorry that I came on here and wasted your time with a question and it does look like as others have pointed out that this was my fault (a very innocent one at that!). I wrongly thought that by paying such a high amount on to my card that I could then cancel the DD.

And for the record £12 may not be a lot to you, but these institutions charging for the fun of it to customers for making genuinely honest mistakes should never be accepted in my opinion...

Thank you to Snow Tiger who makes a much better point and is indeed right. I did pay off the full balance and the DD would have put the card in credit. I will speak to Virgin and explain my reasons for cancelling the DD.

One would have thought that paying off my card would have been a good move...

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

sanfran wrote: »

Virgin Credit Card - Disgraceful act - HELP!

Don't be too hard on yourself. You were naïve, perhaps, but I wouldn't call your action disgraceful. Quite a few others have fallen into this trap. Learn from the experience.

YorkshireBoy

sanfran wrote: »

I did pay off the full balance and the DD would have put the card in credit.

Was the £3,300 balance interest bearing? Or had you come to the end of a 0% introductory/special offer rate?

If the former, then your payment may well not have cleared the (final) balance due to interest scheduled to be added at the next statement date (a week or so after the DD collection date).

sanfran_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Was the £3,300 balance interest bearing? Or had you come to the end of a 0% introductory/special offer rate?

If the former, then your payment may well not have cleared the (final) balance due to interest scheduled to be added at the next statement date (a week or so after the DD collection date).

Thanks for this... I will double check

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

Don't be too hard on yourself. You were naïve, perhaps, but I wouldn't call your action disgraceful. Quite a few others have fallen into this trap. Learn from the experience.

It was the virgin act I felt was disgraceful. I just made an honest mistake I think... But charging me £12 seems a bit harsh

Queries

Dear Sanfran, I do not know if this is of any help, but a long time ago I had a bank account direct debit set-up to pay Littlewoods. I did not realise that the payment was being taken out a day earlier than the necessary funds cleared. I was charged £10 for late paying (which was about £30 in today's money). I 'phoned the call centre about this - no help. I then wrote to them, sent it recorded delivery to somebody higher up who could deal with it, explaining that I was very a good customer and if I paid the balance off, would they waive the fee? This was agreed to, so I paid the balance off and closed my account.

Obviously, your situation is a little different to mine but the principal is the same. In your shoes what I would do is contact somebody higher-up, either by 'phone (number suggested by Yorkshireboy), to explain that the direct debit would have made you in credit (SnowTiger) and broken the terms and conditions of the account. Also, (an additional leverage) is that you have been an excellent customer of Virgin since (whatever date), you've missed no payments on what you have owed and don't they think it is a little off - when you have paid off your debt in full - to be charged an additional £12? Or something similar wording wise - there is a good chance they won't want to lose your custom (since you must have been paying interest on what you owed) and may give you the £12 refund.

tomsco

sanfran wrote: »

And for the record £12 may not be a lot to you, but these institutions charging for the fun of it to customers for making genuinely honest mistakes should never be accepted in my opinion...

Don't mean to sound harsh, but when you applied for the credit card, you accepted their terms and conditions. So you have accepted that the £12 charge is valid.

But as others have said, it is still worth calling to try and speak with someone higher up. Just try and stay polite and courteous and I'm sure someone with a bit more power may be able to help you out.

Shelldean

it quite clearly states across both mine and my OH's virgin/mbna statements that even if extra payments are made, the DD will ALWAYS be taken.
I presume all Virgin and MBNA statements are the same??
So what you should've done is clear the balance minus what the DD was.

auto-man

What rubbish some of you speak. Utter garbage.

You pay more than the DD in any month and they CANNOT touch you.

Formally complain then go to the FOS. They had no right to do this and they're in direct breach of various acts none more so than the banking/lending code.

The posts above, in the main, are absolutely rubbish. I thought MSE was crap but this proves it beyond a doubt.

I owe £3300 and pay the whole balance so my card company charge me right? pmsl

Muppets!!!