VIRGIN SBT - now has a 2% charge

HLK

I have spoken to 2 people at Virgin and they now charge 2% on SBT's. The second person I spoke to s aid there wasn't a charge but the 'summary box' on the product specifically says there is a charge for credit card cheques. I asked him to double check this and he eventually came back and said 'yes, this a recent change to out terms and conditions'.

Oh Bother!

Actually this now seems to apply to all MNBA cards.. Abbey et al!

Beancounter

I did a SBT of 6K yesterday and was assured there would be no charge.

Milarky

HLK: All is not lost

The 'Summary Box' states, in relation to balance transfer fees, states:

"Other charges: 2% handling fee (min.£2, max.£35) on: credit card cheques and some balance transfers."

https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/UKMPapp/Ctl/redirect?CV_sourceCode=bvirgin_mcds&CV_banner=OMG-RS-31149-32336

Meanwhile the Terms & Conditions state:

"1f We may charge a handling fee for balance transfers. We will charge a handling fee for all cheque transactions and cash transactions. All handling fees will be 2% of the amount of each transaction, and will be at least £2. For cheque transactions and balance transfers the handling fee will be no more than £35 . There will be no maximum handling fee for cash transactions. We will charge an annual handling fee of £0."

https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/UKMPapp/Ctl/display?page=terms

I read that as:

1) Any fees are still capped at £35 per transfers - so transfer as large an amount as possible, as amounts of transfer above £1750 are effectively 'fee free'

2) Fees may not necessarily apply to every transfer anyway - or else why would they say "and some"?

All you have to do is ask Virgin to explain these two points to you, and they ought to be able to agree that either you will pay no more than £35 or else that no fee applies in your circumstances

[Is yours a 'new' card, or one which is now outside of the promotional period, BTW?]

YorkshireBoy

I'm just starting to stooze.

Because I was very sceptical and didn't want to make any costly mistakes I've spoken to Virgin at least 8 times regarding SBT's and BT's. I thought everything was clear so I applied for the card last week. Phoned up for limit on Monday, was told £5K, a manual underwriter then lifted it to £10K, and my form arrived yesterday.

To be honest I was just about to sign my application form this lunchtime and post it back when I read this thread. I phoned up yet again and was told that "the only FREE BT was one to another card. ALL BT's TO CURRENT ACCOUNTS MUST BE DONE BY CREDIT CARD CHEQUE".

What is it with Virgin (MBNA) that they cannot all give you the same answer? Is it that they are poorly trained, or simply that they're deliberately using underhand tactics to confuse applicants so that they make money from our subsequent "mistakes"?

Is there one number within the Virgin group (or preferably one person) that I can contact to get a definitive answer on the application of T & C's?

YB

HLK

Milarky wrote:

HLK: All is not lost

The 'Summary Box' states, in relation to balance transfer fees, states:

"Other charges: 2% handling fee (min.£2, max.£35) on: credit card cheques and some balance transfers."

https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/UKMPapp/Ctl/redirect?CV_sourceCode=bvirgin_mcds&CV_banner=OMG-RS-31149-32336

Meanwhile the Terms & Conditions state:

"1f We may charge a handling fee for balance transfers. We will charge a handling fee for all cheque transactions and cash transactions. All handling fees will be 2% of the amount of each transaction, and will be at least £2. For cheque transactions and balance transfers the handling fee will be no more than £35 . There will be no maximum handling fee for cash transactions. We will charge an annual handling fee of £0."

https://wwwn.applyonlinenow.com/UKMPapp/Ctl/display?page=terms

I read that as:

1) Any fees are still capped at £35 per transfers - so transfer as large an amount as possible, as amounts of transfer above £1750 are effectively 'fee free'

2) Fees may not necessarily apply to every transfer anyway - or else why would they say "and some"?

All you have to do is ask Virgin to explain these two points to you, and they ought to be able to agree that either you will pay no more than £35 or else that no fee applies in your circumstances

[Is yours a 'new' card, or one which is now outside of the promotional period, BTW?]

VIRGIN confirmed to me that the only way to pay into your bank account was via a credit card cheque which always attracts a charge. This would be for a new card as I haven't applied yet. And Yes there would be a maximum £35 charge. I think we just have to accept this. Abbey and A&L have told me exactly the same - and I'm actually a member of staff at one of them!

Kazza242

I did a SBT yesterday (of 90% of my credit limit) from my new Virgin credit card to my current account. The lady stated very clearly that there would be no charge for it. I even phoned up another 3 times to ask and each advisor told me there was no charge, provided the balance transfer was done straight after the account was opened.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone on this forum has been charged a fee for a recent Virgin CC SBT.

YorkshireBoy

Kazza242 wrote:

I did a SBT yesterday (of 90% of my credit limit) from my new Virgin credit card to my current account. The lady stated very clearly that there would be no charge for it. I even phoned up another 3 times to ask and each advisor told me there was no charge, provided the balance transfer was done straight after the account was opened.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone on this forum has been charged a fee for a recent Virgin CC SBT.

This is exactly what I was planning to do.

What do they call "straight after the account was opened"? Is it when you phone up to activate the card?

Kazza242

YorkshireBoy wrote:

This is exactly what I was planning to do.

What do they call "straight after the account was opened"? Is it when you phone up to activate the card?

Yes. Although, I didn't have to wait until I received the card to arrange the SBT. I phoned up yesterday to find out if my application had been accepted and that's when I asked about doing a BT (SBT to us ) to my current account. The lady took my current account details and arranged for 90% of my credit limit to be transferred into my bank account. I asked whether this was subject to any fees/charges and she told me unequivocally that it would not incur any charges at all. I was told the same info by 3 other Virgin CC customer services staff.

She also told me that other MBNA cards would charge me a BT (SBT) fee, but that Virgin does not.

zzzLazyDaisy

If you were to BT to another card with a zero balance, thus putting that card in credit, couldn't you just ask that card to pay the credit balance into your current account (or send you a cheque, so you can pay it in)? Sorry if I am overlooking something obvious - am new to this stoozing lark

YorkshireBoy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

If you were to BT to another card with a zero balance, thus putting that card in credit, couldn't you just ask that card to pay the credit balance into your current account...

Yes, this is my "plan B". I am going to apply for an Egg card but haven't done so yet for 2 reasons...

1/ Didn't want to apply for 2 in quick succession, although I believe my credit rating is very good
2/ I'm waiting for 1st April (hoping to get an extra month on the 0%, ie October 1st, rather than September 1st

Have to say though that this stoozing isn't as "easy" as I first thought, but I think with help from the experts on this forum I'm sure it will get easier.

HLK

Kazza242 wrote:

Yes. Although, I didn't have to wait until I received the card to arrange the SBT. I phoned up yesterday to find out if my application had been accepted and that's when I asked about doing a BT (SBT to us ) to my current account. The lady took my current account details and arranged for 90% of my credit limit to be transferred into my bank account. I asked whether this was subject to any fees/charges and she told me unequivocally that it would not incur any charges at all. I was told the same info by 3 other Virgin CC customer services staff.

She also told me that other MBNA cards would charge me a BT (SBT) fee, but that Virgin does not.

---

Aaaarrrggghhh! I have again made more calls to Virgin. I think the change has taken place in the last 24 hours but not all their operators are aware of it. The bottom line is however, that they will only transfer to a bank account via a cheque which attracts a charge. The website is confusing because on one of their summary screens it aslo says -

quote
Promotional rate: 0.0% p.a. on balance transfers and credit card cheques for nine months from account opening (0.0000% monthly), provided you operate your account within the terms and conditions. and ...

Other charges: 2% handling fee (min.£2, max.£35) on: credit card cheques and some balance transfers.
2% handling fee (min.£2, no max.) on: cash transactions.
2.75% commission on foreign currency transactions.unquote

I pointed this out to the last Virgin guy I spoke to who, after some discussion with coleagues, advised me to apply via website because of the first statement above.

All very confusing but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. I think maybe they are just getting in lne with MNBA.

I'll report back if I get charged !