Additional payment to credit card

elstree

First of all, I am not a troll.

I don't find this strange at all. Let me explain. I have a direct debit set up to pay my entire monthly balance each month with Priority Club Rewards Visa, which is provided by Barclaycard.

I recently paid for 6 airtickets for my family, and 2 of them sent me 2 cheques to cover their costs. Rather than have this large-ish amount swallowed up in my current account until 6th August when the direct debit was due, I waited until both cheques had cleared in my current account - this took 5 days - and just by bad luck the clearance date was 1 day after the date of my monthly credit card statement - 12th July. I paid online £1100 to my credit card to reduce the balance. After all, its not worth putting the £1100 in an interest bearing account for 2 weeks at today's pitiful interest rates, is it?

I did indeed contact the company involved by secure email and asked the very question I asked on this forum. They informed me that they cannot answer by email - I kid you not! Their advice? To phone (of course) an 0844 number. I refuse to do this - a costly phone call from work is not an option ( I start at 7am) and do not wish to phone from my mobile at 20 pence per minute. I have no landline - like many other people I never use it.

I will of course monitor the situation and manually pay the balance - but it would be reassuring to have an answer. It is not in their frequently asked questions (surprise, surprise) and I cannot be the first person to have done this.

Thank you for your responses.

noh

If you log onto your Barclaycard account select "Pay your card bill" then select the "Direct Debit" tab you will see the amount of the DD due to be taken preceded by the the words:-

"Your payment details

The amount will be reduced by any payments received since your last statement."

elstree

I cannot alter the DD - there is no option to do so. It is defaulted to "pay entire balance". The only option I have is with "pay by debit card" - this gives 3 options - pay minimum amount, pay entire balance, or pay specified amount. If I do that, my worry is that they may still take the entire amount on 6th August by Direct Debit as shown on the statement shortly due . I am closing this Visa account - the points awarded for the Holiday Inn is the only good thing about it! And I will cancel the Direct Debit to be on the safe side!

MABLE

elstree wrote: »

Apologies if this has type of query has been posted before.

I have just paid £ 1100 to my C C account AFTER my statement has been sent on 12 July. I pay the full amount owing by direct debit each month.

The balance on the statement will obviously show the full amount before the deduction of the £ 1100. My online balance today of about £800 takes into account the payment I have just made, but the statement yet to arrive will obviously not.

What amount will the company take by direct debit take on 6 August? Will it be the full amount as shown on the statement dated 12 July ( very sneaky! but i wouldn't put it past them) or the amount shown on the statement less the £1100 made as an additional payment. I cannot be the first person to have done this but nowhere on the Q & As for the visa website does it even show.

I am always suspicious of these companies when you have problems getting an answer.

Not sure why you are involving the world and his wife in this. All in your terms and conditions.

Hooloovoo

elstree wrote: »

I recently paid for 6 airtickets for my family, and 2 of them sent me 2 cheques to cover their costs. Rather than have this large-ish amount swallowed up in my current account until 6th August when the direct debit was due, I waited until both cheques had cleared in my current account - this took 5 days - and just by bad luck the clearance date was 1 day after the date of my monthly credit card statement - 12th July. I paid online £1100 to my credit card to reduce the balance. After all, its not worth putting the £1100 in an interest bearing account for 2 weeks at today's pitiful interest rates, is it?

Agreed. I have done this myself when in similar situations. I'm surprised anyone considered this action to be unusual or risky.

I did indeed contact the company involved by secure email and asked the very question I asked on this forum. They informed me that they cannot answer by email - I kid you not!

And quite right too. Email is sent as plain text and can be read by anyone while it is in transit from their mail server to yours.

Their advice? To phone (of course) an 0844 number. I refuse to do this - a costly phone call from work is not an option ( I start at 7am) and do not wish to phone from my mobile at 20 pence per minute. I have no landline - like many other people I never use it.

Barclaycard have a secure message service that you can use when you log in. But since your card is not an official Barclaycard maybe you do not have that service available.

tomsco

elstree wrote: »

I must amend this - I cannot alter the DD - there is no option to do so. It is defaulted to "pay entire balance". The only option I have is with "pay by debit card" - this gives the 3 options mentioned before - pay minimum amount, pay entire balance, or pay specified amount. If I do that, my worry is that they may still take the entire amount on 6th August by Direct Debit as shown on the statement shortly due . I am closing this Visa account - the points awarded for the Holiday Inn is the only good thing about it! And I will cancel the Direct Debit to be on the safe side!

OK, go for it. But if you didn't take time to read the DD letter they sent you, and you're having trouble finding the info, I doubt you'd have much luck with any other credit card. Are you going to stick with debit cards from now on?

elstree

MABLE wrote: »

Not sure why you are involving the world and his wife in this. All in your terms and conditions.

Of course I tried to find the terms and conditions on their website - it was my first action. They are NOT there!

A phone call from the company today confirms that the T & Cs are NOT on their website. I find that unbelievable. I apparently am the first person to point out this remarkable omission and Emma will take it forward. Companies are always asking us did we read the T & Cs - its all in there - if we query anything!

The world and his wife? I mistakenly thought this forum was just for that - for advice. But some of the replies I have received rather fly in the face of that initial thought. But thanks for the other helpful, positive comments.