Can anyone explain my interest refund from NatWest?

chattychappy

Any ideas about this one?

My NatWest Platinum card had been unused for months and with zero balance. They gave me a BT offer - 4% fee, 0% APR for 12 months.

So I rang them up - £3000 transferred, fee of £120 confirmed on the phone.

I get the statement - £3120.12 comprising:

£3000.00 BT amount
£120.00 BT fee
12p "purchase interest" @ 1.019%/month - interest on the BT fee, I suppose.

I send £72 payment (just above the minimum).

The next statement shows £72 received, 47p interest and £4.36 "transfer interest refund". (No other transactions.)

Now the 12p + 47p is about right on the basis they charge purchase interest on the BT fee.

Any ideas about the £4.36 "transfer interest refund"? I've only paid 59p transfer interest and given the next payment will clear the BT fee, it's likely there is only 20p or so in the pipeline.

YorkshireBoy

My guess would be it's something to do with, or indeed a mistake with, their 'small balance write-off' policy*?


* Basically anything less than £1 gets written off.

See below.

NickX

Hi ChattyChappy,

This happened with me on my recent RBS 0% Balance Transfer (with 1% fee) deal.

What they said to me was that there would be interest on the Balance Transfer fee. I accepted this as it is still a profitable stooze deal for me with just 1% fee, and I know of old that RBS Group do tend to charge interest on Balance Transfer fees.

They then said that if the Balance Transfer wasn't actioned as quickly as planned (I can't remember the time period they agreed - about a week I think), they would apply a refund to cover all the interest that would be incurred on the Balance Transfer fee.

They then did indeed apply a credit entitled "Transfer Interest Refund". I also paid the first Minimum Payment straight away and did not incur any interest on the Balance Transfer fee as the payment covered the fee. Working back, the credit actually bought my Balance Transfer fee down to 0.85%. Happy Days :beer:

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

My guess would be it's something to do with, or indeed a mistake with, their 'small balance write-off' policy*?


* Basically anything less than £1 gets written off.

Please ignore!

Following Nick's reply above I've found this on the NatWest website...

Credit Card Applications including a Balance Transfer

As the funds transfer process is currently taking 2 days longer than required we will be refunding 2 days interest to you for the Balance Transfer. This is to compensate you for 2 days interest that you may have been charged by your current provider(s). The interest refund is calculated at an annual interest rate of 29.9%. The refund will appear on your next statement, once the account has been approved and the transfer agreed.

Although it's aimed at new customers, they must also be applying it to existing customer offers.

Does that tie in with your figures chattychappy?

NickX

Ahh, thats all good information YorkshireBoy.

It nothing to do with interest on the Balance Transfer fee at all then, but the additional interest you would have incurred on your previous card (if you were paying interest )

I didn't really investigate it in detail, as it was just a nice little bonus that added a little more profit to the deal - times are hard for us stoozers these days, so little added extras are gratefully received.

chattychappy

Mystery solved, thanks Nick and YB.

Yes, the figures tie in exactly. I'm quids in because my APR on the other card is 6.9%.

On Natwest, the transaction date was Monday (the date I requested the transfer), the "posting date" was Tuesday and it appears on my Barclaycard statement on the following Friday. I don't remember them saying anything critical about time scales.

exel1966

I took out the Nat West Platinum card in April and requested a BT on the phone. It was completed within 3 working days, well within their own time scales and my need to get it away from the other account.

They still applied a 'Transfer Interest Refund' of approx £9 10 days later. :j