Tesco "just In Time" Payments

tony_d123

I have recently received a £12.00 fine and an interest charge of £4.20 all for an outstanding payment of £56.07 when I arranged a BACS payment which did not clear until the day after it was due!

I have never missed a payment before on any card, but have struggled with the Tesco card because the statement always seemed to arrive "just in time". Often I have only had 7 working days from receiving the statement to the clearing date.

When I investigated further and looked at past statements, it is clear that Tesco deliberately send out their statements late, perhaps to encourage late payment? Certainly with another card that I have, the statement arrives a week before the Tesco statement and is due for payment a week later.

I rang Tesco and wrote to them asking them to reconsider refunding the interest and fine or I would transfer the balance and close the account. Four letters and three months later they have not budged, the account is closed and I am considering the ombudsman as I do not think they allow a fair period for payment. Has anyone else come across this problem?

inmypocketnottheirs

Dont waste your time with the ombudsman, toothless tigers that is all they are. Look through the posts re getting bank charges back, write to Tesco detailing the charges and threaten legal action. Penny to a pinch of you know what the matter will be resolved.

kezmo_2

Can u not check your account and pay online with tesco credit cards ?

Just asking becuase im expecting a card in the next few days but theve given me a really low limit, so may just cancel account if theres no online payments.

YorkshireBoy

Before you jump top the wrong conclusions...

The Tesco card's (maximum) interest free period is 46 days isn't it? So, assume 3 days for the monthly account to be closed off, the statement to be produced and posted, and 2 days in the post (4 days if a weekend is involved - and even longer around Easter/Xmas), and you might only have between 6 and 10 days to pay by manual means.

Most of my cards offer 56-59 days - that's nearly a fortnight longer than the Tesco card which may explain your (perhaps) false comparison with your other card.

Also, have you approached the local sorting office about possible issues there?

'inmypocketnottheirs' has given you the 'cure' (but that won't stop it happening again with other cards such as the Egg Card which also only has 46 days interest free).

I'd like to give you the 'prevention' (because it's always better than the cure), which fits in quite nicely with your "just in time" thread title...

The only way to guarantee a successful JIT payment is to use a direct debit.

No more late payments then!

jamalfatty

Wont be an issue this in a few months anyway when 'faster payments' is rolled out across UK

CLAPTON

although i'm sure that it is a ploy to allow people to incur charges etc there seem to be several strategies to deal with this situation:

simply dont use them and use a different CC as you have already done.

use DD as per Yorkshireboy

use the power of the internet to see your balance and pay online.

virgin_moneysaver

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Dont waste your time with the ombudsman, toothless tigers that is all they are. Look through the posts re getting bank charges back, write to Tesco detailing the charges and threaten legal action. Penny to a pinch of you know what the matter will be resolved.

doubt if you'll get the charges back as the 12 quid is what the ombudsman has deemed as fair

MarkyMarkD

I agree with YB.

There's no reason to miss any payment on a credit card.

If you really can't pay off the full amount by DD (and that's the cheapest and best thing to do, unless you are paying 0% on purchases or a balance transfer) then set up a minimum payment DD and late payment penalties will be a thing of the past.

tony_d123

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The Tesco card's (maximum) interest free period is 46 days isn't it? So, assume 3 days for the monthly account to be closed off, the statement to be produced and posted, and 2 days in the post (4 days if a weekend is involved - and even longer around Easter/Xmas), and you might only have between 6 and 10 days to pay by manual means.

Thats what I calculated, so I could often have 6-7 working days to pay it, but Tesco say on their statement that I should allow 7-10 working days to clear, especially if posting a cheque.

Seems like a contradiction of their own conditions which was my main gripe with them?

I accept that I could have set up a DDM but this was just going to be a short term cure "cheap" alternative to pay for a holiday so didn't think it was worth it. Will know for next time!

Milarky

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The Tesco card's (maximum) interest free period is 46 days isn't it?

The cheeky beggars! It is 46 days on the Clubcard Credit card but is 56 days on the Bonus and existing [last time I looked] credit cards. So Tesco has brought out an inferior product which has caught out the OP.

Egg of course whilst 45 days (and it's 50 days for the Egg Money) does have the safeguard of requiring a direct debit for each account held. So late payments should never occur with them.

Particularly if the OP is on the 0% promotional period (and therefore minimum payment servicing) they should set up a direct debit mandate for that payment. But remember to make the next minimum payment yourself - as DDs don't kick in until the second month generally.

Angeldelight_4

You can pay by a debit card over the phone up to 2 working days before your due date with Tesco. Quickest option if you're not opting for a DD.

You can also view your statements online which might be worthwhile for you if you're having trouble receiving them.