Minimum Repayments Article Discussion

dag_2

But if a minimum payment is made manually, and is missed or just late by a day a fee is payable. So the direct debit option is highly recommended in all cases.

It's a good idea to set up minimum payment direct debits for all your credit cards - and if you ever have money left over, use it to pay the account that charges you the most interest.

If you have a direct debit set up but make a manual payment after the statement, but before the direct debit, your card issuer might reduce or cancel the direct debit for that month only. Some card issuers do this, others don't - check your T&C's.

Has anyone tried to do this with other card providers? I am going to be looking for new card deals soon and was wondering if there was any reason for me to believe I couldn't do this elsewhere?

If they allow you to pay by telephone or internet banking, then you should be able to use the same details to pay them by standing order. I'd be surprised if there are any accounts that can't be paid by standing order.

I action my own repayments through internet banking - although this takes a lot of disipline. I do worry if I contract some awful disease and end up in hospital who will know what to pay who when

That's a good reason to set up direct debits and standing orders. Setting up direct debits won't stop you initiating extra payments - but it ensures your debt still gets serviced when your attention is elsewhere, and stops you getting county court claims - at least until your overdraft is maxed out.

Conventional wisdom says that it's better to pay utilities before credit cards - but if you're going to be in hospital for a long time, maybe it's the other way round. Your gas and electricity might get cut off if you bounce your payments, but utility companies aren't going to slap such large penalties on your account, unlike credit card companies - and it's fairly easy to get reconnected once you're out of hospital - assuming you haven't lost your home.

MarkyMarkD

Well, four of the intervening days were Banking holidays (25-28 Dec). Whom do you bank with, and how many working days do they say it takes for payments to clear? Also, what time of the day did you make your payment via Internet banking?

You knew beforehand, that there were four bank holidays in the intervening period, so if it normally takes four working days to effect a transfer, maybe you should have initiated it a couple of days earlier.

I'm with WW. I don't see why you think you've got an excuse for paying late. You paid 6 ACTUAL days before it was due, in a period when there were 4 non-banking days. So you only actually allowed 2 banking days for the funds to arrive. And internet banking payments are often not initiated until the following banking day (depending who you bank with, and when in the day the payment was made).

You are lucky to have had the charge halved.

I see no reason NOT to set up minimum/full balance DDs, as appropriate, for each card. Then you don't have any nonsense like this.

Walletwatch

I recommend boycotting Hailfax

And for that reason, it is obviously unfair to suggest boycotting the bank services - don't get me wrong, there might be n other reasons for being disgruntled with Hfx, but this cannot be one

kidtechnical

Hi all,

Saw this thread & wanted to mention that with my last Mothercare Card statement (GE Capital) there was a 'Notice of Variation to your Terms & Conditions' enclosed.

On this it says "we have included a new provision allowing us to reduce your credit limit to 250 if you have not used your card for 13 months in a row". Wont this totally dump people in it? For example, the card I have has a limit of 5,000+ (never asked for it). Supposing I max this card out then decide to pay the debt off, find I dont have a good enough credit score to do a balance transfer, so have to pay it off best I can monthly, they can actually reduce my limit to 250 if I don't purchase on the card for 13 months & presumably can ask for the balance in excess of the 250 in full?!?

Anyone know if this 'provision' will be introduced to all GE Capital Bank storecards?

Reaper

I'm sure they mean 13 months with no balance on it.

kidtechnical

Reaper wrote:

I'm sure they mean 13 months with no balance on it.

Perhaps, but I've quoted what they wrote word for word.

keith234

well martin, i have been following ur advice for a couple of years, and around the tturn of the year i applied and received an AMEX platinum card for the cashback. month one, they (AMEX) debited the full amount, month two, they debited full amount, same for month three, but just looking through my debit card account for this month April 05, they debited the minimum £8. When i rang them they could give me no reason for the alteration in the direct debit mandate. They seem to imply that if i hadnt of noticed the change, then i would be liable for interest due. BE WARNED!!!

ilovefreebies_2

Sounds a bit harsh to me

oscarhugo

keithrafferty&#64 wrote: »

well martin, i have been following ur advice for a couple of years, and around the tturn of the year i applied and received an AMEX platinum card for the cashback. month one, they (AMEX) debited the full amount, month two, they debited full amount, same for month three, but just looking through my debit card account for this month April 05, they debited the minimum £8. When i rang them they could give me no reason for the alteration in the direct debit mandate. They seem to imply that if i hadnt of noticed the change, then i would be liable for interest due. BE WARNED!!!

I was under the impression that you can ONLY pay the MINIMUM amount to Amex by D/D. Certainly, a couple of years ago when I set up a D/D to pay my Amex Blue full amount they then told me on the phone when I queried the matter that it was not possible to pay the full amount by monthly D/D, only the minimum. So I cancelled the D/D. More recently, with my upgraded Amex Platinum, I checked the website about monthly D/Ds and, if my memory serves me correctly, it STILL said the same. Maybe things have changed in the last few months. Or maybe not...

tcrowhurst

Here is another sting complements of MBNA - if you don't pay off your entire balance on their BMI master Card they charge you interest on everything thereafter. Yes, it's on the back of their statement but mentioned nowhere on their web site. What a con! I got taken in by paying slightly less due to their direct debit failing.