Vanquis interest and finance charges for refund?

Kyle323

I made a payment to Google Play on my Vanquis Visa card in February and I was refunded in the following statement before the payment due date however Vanquis have charged me 'BILLED DEFERRED FINANCE CHARGES' and 'PURCHASE INTEREST'. I rang them up to query about this as it didn't sound right and apparently as the refund was a credit and not a payment I had to pay these fee's. I told them I'd get a second opinion before ringing back.

Is this correct?

If so, do all credit card companies do this?

michael1983l

How much do these charges amount to? Maybe it is not worth the hassel and you could just pay it to save yourself the time? If it only amounts to pennys.

Kyle323

Both of them add to about £20, I'd rather not let them get away with it if it's not correct to be honest.

michael1983l

I did a quick google search and found that they do this on a regular basis. But your right for £20 its worth chasing.

Kyle323

Can I ask where you found these other posts about this?

SnowTiger

Kyle323 wrote: »

I made a payment to Google Play on my Vanquis Visa card in February and I was refunded in the following statement before the payment due date however Vanquis have charged me 'BILLED DEFERRED FINANCE CHARGES' and 'PURCHASE INTEREST'. I rang them up to query about this as it didn't sound right and apparently as the refund was a credit and not a payment I had to pay these fee's. I told them I'd get a second opinion before ringing back.

Is this correct?

If so, do all credit card companies do this?

Yes, it's correct and yes, other companies do this.

Generally refunds do not count towards the monthly (minimum) payment of the outstanding balance on a credit card.

Kyle323

SnowTiger wrote: »

Yes, it's correct and yes, other companies do this.

Generally refunds do not count towards the monthly (minimum) payment of the outstanding balance on a credit card.

Thank you that would explain the Interest but I don't understand the finance charges? The refund was before the payment due date.

michael1983l

Maybe you could write to them and explain that you did not understand the terms and conditions in relation to this and that you ask them to remove the deffered finance charge as a gesture of good will on the basis that it will not happen again.

SnowTiger

Kyle323 wrote: »

Thank you that would explain the Interest but I don't understand the finance charges? The refund was before the payment due date.

Presumably not before the statement was produced?

If you don't pay the entire statement balance one month you're charged interst on every purchase from the day it was made. Even on items purchased in the previous month.

This is why Vanquis refer to it as a deferred finance charge. Generally most credit cards work this way, but most just lump all the interest together.

Generally (again) it's one of the gotchas with credit cards. If you don't pay the statement balance in full one month you lose the 'up to 56 days' interest free credit period.

Kyle323

SnowTiger wrote: »

Presumably not before the statement was produced?

If you don't pay the entire statement balance one month you're charged interst on every purchase from the day it was made. Even on items purchased in the previous month.

This is why Vanquis refer to it as a deferred finance charge. Generally most credit cards work this way, but most just lump all the interest together.

Generally (again) it's one of the gotchas with credit cards. If you don't pay the statement balance in full one month you lose the 'up to 56 days' interest free credit period.

I made the payment to Google play at the end of the February statement, and the refund was made only a few weeks later in the March statement. I was under the impression that it was interest free until the end of the following statement.

SnowTiger

Kyle323 wrote: »

I made the payment to Google play at the end of the February statement, and the refund was made only a few weeks later in the March statement. I was under the impression that it was interest free until the end of the following statement.

You lose the interest free period on all purchases from February onwards if you didn't pay your February statement balance in full. And will have to pay two statements in full before you can use the card interest free again.