Section 75 Credit Card (Car Purchase)

Chris5

Hi,

I hope this is in the correct section, apologies if it's not.

I have purchased a car today and have paid a small deposit. The car is 10k and I have paid £250 deposit using debit card with the remaining balance to be paid when I collect in a weeks time. Using the credit card had a 3% charge so I obviously won't want to pay the full balance using credit card but I do want to be covered under the act for the purchase.

My question is - when I go to collect the car and pay the remaining balance am I OK to say pay £50 on the credit card (I understand this can be as little as 10p?) and the remaining balance on debit card. I've read somewhere that the first £x amount needs to be on credit card or is this wrong so long as I make some of the purchase using credit card?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

geekonthepc

As long as the entire purchase is more than £100 and less than £30k, the credit card provider becomes jointly liable with the dealer as soon as you've put a fraction of the price on the credit card - it does not have to be the entire amount.

As you say, put £50 on the credit card and the rest on your debit card, and you'll qualify for section 75.

YorkshireBoy

Why didn't you put the deposit on the credit card? They would almost certainly have waived the 3% fee to secure the deal.

Having said that, it doesn't really matter that you didn't...*if* the dealer will let you put £50 or whatever of the balance on it when you collect. Will they?

Re your fundamental question, so long as the purchase is financed in full or in part (theoretically even 1p) on a credit card then you're covered (subject to >£100 and <£30K, D-C-S, etc, etc).

Chris5

geekonthepc wrote: »

As long as the entire purchase is more than £100 and less than £30k, the credit card provider becomes jointly liable with the dealer as soon as you've put a fraction of the price on the credit card - it does not have to be the entire amount.

As you say, put £50 on the credit card and the rest on your debit card, and you'll qualify for section 75.

Thank you for your quick reply.

So it doesn't matter that I have paid the deposit on debit card? Just so long as I make a small amount on credit card I'm sorted. It's just a big purchase and I want some level of protection with my car.

My mind is more at rest now.

geekonthepc

Chris5 wrote: »

Thank you for your quick reply.

So it doesn't matter that I have paid the deposit on debit card? Just so long as I make a small amount on credit card I'm sorted. It's just a big purchase and I want some level of protection with my car.

My mind is more at rest now.

It doesn't matter whether you pay with the credit or debit card on the deposit - although as it has already been said you might have got a better deal by paying the deposit on a credit card - the dealer probably would have waived the fee to secure the sale. Nonetheless, the important thing is you get as much legal protection as you can, so having S75 is very useful.

Chris5

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Why didn't you put the deposit on the credit card? They would almost certainly have waived the 3% fee to secure the deal.

Having said that, it doesn't really matter that you didn't...*if* the dealer will let you put £50 or whatever of the balance on it when you collect. Will they?

Re your fundamental question, so long as the purchase is financed in full or in part (theoretically even 1p) on a credit card then you're covered (subject to >£100 and <£30K, D-C-S, etc, etc).

To be honest it all happened so quickly and I was negotiating discounts here and there and when I pulled out the card he mentioned about the 3% fee which of course is only £7.50 but I thought its only small but don't want to pay the fee so used debit card. I told them I will be paying the remaining balance using debit card so I see no reason why they won't let me put £50 on the credit card, they surely won't mess about with the sale over that amount, to be fair they seemed very accommodating. Just so long as I'm covered I'm happy.

Chris5

geekonthepc wrote: »

It doesn't matter whether you pay with the credit or debit card on the deposit - although as it has already been said you might have got a better deal by paying the deposit on a credit card - the dealer probably would have waived the fee to secure the sale. Nonetheless, the important thing is you get as much legal protection as you can, so having S75 is very useful.

Well if I stick say £50 on the credit card I'm only looking at a £1.50 fee so worst case I'll be £1.50 worse off - I'll take that for the S75 protection.

YorkshireBoy

Chris5 wrote: »

they surely won't mess about with the sale over that amount

The "sale" was been done when you paid the deposit. You can't walk away now or you'll lose your money.

That said, I'm sure they'll take the 'hit' and process a secondary credit card payment when you collect the car.

Chris5

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The "sale" was been done when you paid the deposit. You can't walk away now or you'll lose your money.

That said, I'm sure they'll take the 'hit' and process a secondary credit card payment when you collect the car.

Likewise a £250 gain and me walk away is a lot less appealing than me paying £7750 (£50 on credit card) and driving the car off the forecourt. I'm sure it will be fine.

Thanks for the help.

ILW

I would suspect your motives if the dealer.

Chris5

ILW wrote: »

I would suspect your motives if the dealer.

I'm not doing anything wrong? They were happy to accept credit card as deposit so I would have been covered under S75 from that anyway.