Egg Credit Card Over Limit Charge

IVANHOE_3

-yes i should read my statements however!!....

whatever happened to a card being declined when you were shopping as you had reached your limit. without any contact to me whatsoever egg have been charging me £16 per month since october last year for being over my limit.

they state this is of course in their terms and conditions. a customer would surely just use a different card in times gone by. i have asked for a full refund of these charges, based on the idea similar to that of the reclaim bank charges method. ie. their charges are not proportionate to their costs and they have not contacted me at all (!) to tell me i'm over my limit. (on one occasion by 8 pence!)

they have said they are sorry that i feel this way but the charges are reflective of what it costs them.

can i continue on the path of argument i want all these charges back regardless of terms and conditions as per the reclaim bank charges method?

has anyone else come across this bizarre idea of a credit limit not actually being a limit at all, but yet another trap to catch you when you go over as opposed to declining the transaction.

on asking why was the transaction not declined, i was told, "we decline some transactions and not others".

this is an outrage of course.

thoughts would be appreciated.
yours
ivanhoe

jonesMUFCforever

Egg is an internet only card issuer is it not ?(or do they still charge you £2 pm if you want paper statements) so they would at the very least sent you a monthly e-mail to tell you that your statement was ready to be viewed and you can view your balance at any time.

I think that it was decided that £12 reflects a fair price for excess fees or late payments so I think the most you will get back is £4 for each time you have been charged.

thumshie

I think egg are 'allowed' the £16, as it was found they have 'different' costs and because they have stricter credit checks. Saw a post on it, but couldn't find it in search.. Check the reclaim board and see if anyone has been successful?

IVANHOE wrote:

without any contact to me whatsoever egg have been charging me £16 per month since october last year for being over my limit.

What its not been on your statements(online) till now??

IVANHOE wrote:

has anyone else come across this bizarre idea of a credit limit not actually being a limit at all,

Most credit cards work this way...

IVANHOE_3

yes they are an internet card, therefore yes you do get an email to say that your statement is ready which admittedly i didnt read as i thought i was within my limit and transactions were not being declined.

charges of £16 even when you go over by pennies is rediculous and there is no point having a limit if cards are not declined.

the articles on this website on reclaiming charges mention getting all charges back based on the idea i thought that they were not in proptortion to costs, not asking for the difference from £12 per charge. as they have not contacted me at all, apart from routine monthly emails that come anyway saying your statement is ready, there has been no cost to them in that respect.

so based on the "reclaim bank charges" articles alone, do i not have a case, let a lone the bonkers idea of not actually having a limit/decline process on transactions anymore and not contacting me at all over and above statement ready emails?

as you can tell im a bunny of the non happy variety :rolleyes:
ivanhoe

thumshie

Found an article:
http://unfairbankcharges.org.uk/Bank_Charges/News/Bank_Charges_And_Credit_Card_Fees_Are_Unfair/
talks about egg, but it may be more the 'late fee' that was acceptable at £16 because they require a DD.. Not Overdrawn so give it a go...

Edit:
I agree charging £16 when only over by pennies is bonkers, and they may/would have waived it probably after a simple call. If this was a first offence I'm sure it would be easy with just a phone call to get it refunded..

On the 'whats a limit for' - I may be wrong, but in some european countries, attempting to spend over your limit is illegal and the bank would be suing you!!!

IVANHOE_3

hi thanks ill print out and have a read. this is a credit card as you rightly say and ive gone over my agreed credit limit. im not overdrawn at a bank so to speak.

my points are merely that they didnt contact me. they have telephone numbers, emails, home addresses and atho yes you could argue you should read your statements, im still not sure this has cost them anything as they have made not contact with me.

plus im still puzzled at the bizarre limitless credit limit that you just get charged for going over. and whats this idea of declining some transactions not others.

are not all credit card charges which are not proportionate unfair, as per the "reclaim bank charges" articles on this website. are credit cards excempt from what many are asking back successfully from the banks.

ive never paid late, ive gone over my limit, but never had the "letter" in the post they could charge me for, and extra email if they wanted to charge for that, or a phone call.

in answer to earlier points made, yes these charges have appeared on my statements for months, ive not been reading my statements. (slaps hand) however they have not stopped me spending either.

we're not talking massive amounts here we're talking about hovering around the limit by pennies on occasions. ive not gone on some shoppaholic spending spree and not been stopped. ive just sneaked over the limit a few times and not been declined and not been told other than a statement.

i thought thats what declining a transaction was all about when you went shoping as a customer would simply pay another way. thats why this has silently been going on for months in the background. ive been paying by direct debit every month, and never been declined for a transaction. and im actually now for example 300 quid within my credit limit. its the point of this silently going on in the background and yoiu not being declined and not being contacted.

sorry to ramble but thought id make that clearer :-)

CLAPTON

you can claim all the fees as its unlikely that they will actually go to court to argue the case that the fees are legal.

be prepared for them closing the a/c however.

i have no real view here but for everyone like you that thinks a limit should be just that, i'm sure there will be as many people that would be just as outraged if their card was declined because they were only a few pounds over their limit.

thumshie

Ramble all you want

IVANHOE wrote:

are credit cards excempt from what many are asking back successfully from the banks.

The only ruling made so far is Credit Cards.. Banks(overdrafts etc) are still being investigated, but it's likely to rule the same, hence the banks are backing down already.. None of them want to go to court, as they'll then have to 'show' how £12/£16/£30!! was 'valid'

I don't know how egg are at the reclaims. Read martins article to ge tthe templates and the letters they will reply with and the steps..As your only over by pennies they may simply pay out without a fight..Give it a go and post the outcome for others in the reclaim section...

thumshie

IVANHOE wrote:

can i continue on the path of argument i want all these charges back regardless of terms and conditions as per the reclaim bank charges method?

Yes..The ruling is originally on Credit Cards, not current accounts..

IVANHOE wrote:

they have said they are sorry that i feel this way but the charges are reflective of what it costs them.

They will say this, until you get further down the route described by martin..i.e. taking them to small claims etc..


My (further) advice, post on the 'reclaim your charges' board. Others there are more likely to tell you of their success with EGG.

YorkshireBoy

Is it possible that you only went over your limit each month on the statement date, ie when they added the interest?

Also, I believe credit cards have a 'shadow limit' running in the background (which is what you've used - and paid heavily for).

Either of the above may explain why your card hasn't been declined previously.

tripled

If you go over your limit with Egg, if it isn't brought back down within a couple of days when you log into your online banking you get a big red splash screen telling you you are overdrawn, what you need to pay to bring you back into limit and how much you will be charged. If the account isn't within limit approx a week usually I get an automated email and frequently an automated text as well.

As for 'declining' transactions, whilst generally speaking it seems odd that they don't (perhaps they are thinking of that £16) there are instances where transactions aren't authorized immediately so they can't decline, for example on trains. Also quite often shops have a floor limit, where payments below a certain amount won't be authorized by the bank, they are all processed in an overnight batch run. Similarly if you spend to your limit the day before your interest and charges come off, then those will put you overdrawn as well.