Credit card payment not applied to account

olliecp77

Hi there


I found a cheque which is 5 years old from my credit card company - my card had gone into credit so they sent a cheque to pay me back. There were no chaser letters sent by them and no follow up. The cheque (£2705) was left outstanding on one of their internal accounts and not followed up on or credited to my credit card. I have a balance on the card and this payment would have saved me interest and charges over the past 5 years if they had applied it to my account.
I have asked them to reissue the cheque as my bank requested this de to the age of the cheque. My bank lost the cheque in the post sending it back to me.
I have written a letter of complaint to them.
Does anyone know how to calculate £2705 worth of credit card interest (19.5%) over 5 years. I have always had a balance on the card and the credit resulted from a loan to pay off debts.


I'm trying to ascertain how much compensation to request and interest refund as my balance would have been halved.


Thanks

Macca83_2

Crazy... I'm of the opinion that banking the cheque was your responsibility, not the banks and hence you are not entitled to anything.

Also the bank did not lose your cheque in the post. Royal Mail did.

That is all.

olliecp77

Not according to the ombudsman website.

SammenForLivet2

I doubt they will pay credit-card rates of interest - you could have done a 0% balance transfer, after all.
Perhaps statutory interest at 8% per annum is a sensiable rate to request from them? This would be around £585.86, if interest is compounded monthly, and assuming the balance is paid-off within the 5 year period (see:http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-1633405/Loan-repayment-calculator.html)

Hope this helps

bigadaj

OP - can you clarify what has happened here.

If you were sent a cheque five years ago, forgot about it and left it in drawer I cashed then that is no fault but your own.

If the credit card provider delayed in issuing the cheque until recently, ie a five year delay then you have a case. As MacFMilyvents says this would be reimbursement of fees and interst at 8%.

YorkshireBoy

bigadaj wrote: »

OP - can you clarify what has happened here.

It's not just me then!?

meer53

olliecp77 wrote: »

Hi there


I found a cheque which is 5 years old from my credit card company - my card had gone into credit so they sent a cheque to pay me back. There were no chaser letters sent by them and no follow up. The cheque (£2705) was left outstanding on one of their internal accounts and not followed up on or credited to my credit card. I have a balance on the card and this payment would have saved me interest and charges over the past 5 years if they had applied it to my account.
I have asked them to reissue the cheque as my bank requested this de to the age of the cheque. My bank lost the cheque in the post sending it back to me.
I have written a letter of complaint to them.
Does anyone know how to calculate £2705 worth of credit card interest (19.5%) over 5 years. I have always had a balance on the card and the credit resulted from a loan to pay off debts.


I'm trying to ascertain how much compensation to request and interest refund as my balance would have been halved.


Thanks

So you received a cheque for £2705 from your credit card issuer.

You then forgot about it.

You found it and tried to cash it but your bank said it was too old and asked you to get it reissued.

They sent the cheque back to you but it got lost in the post.

Why have you complained to your bank ? Complain to Royal Mail.

Why did you think anyone would chase you to cash the cheque ?

Why do you think you're entitled to interest or compensation ?

The only compensation due is from Royal Mail for losing the cheque, but your bank should claim this as they posted it.

You're not due any interest or compensation from what i read.

jonesMUFCforever

One point I would like to add - IMO credit card companies do not tend to return credit balances to customers unless asked. They might block the card until the customer gets in touch so how come OP has not noticed this in all of this time?


Did this really happen?

SnowTiger

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Did this really happen?

Dunno; I like the idea of not banking a cheque for five years, then claiming 8% interest per annum from the company that sent it!

Fingers crossed this wheeze works.

YorkshireBoy

SnowTiger wrote: »

Dunno; I like the idea of not banking a cheque for five years, then claiming 8% interest per annum from the company that sent it!

Fingers crossed this wheeze works.

A little like making an informed decision (not being mis-sold it) to take out PPI, rather than self-insuring, and then making 8% some years later rather than (probably) 3-4%, by jumping on the reclaim bandwagon!


If I could turn back time...

olliecp77

Ok so I working in banking so I know the level of follow up required on outstanding entries in internal accounts. Credit cards going into credit yes are often frozen or if it's only a smaller amount then it may be left as is. I was not aware that I had this credit balance and still unsure of how it came about. I took out a consolidation loan in euro then transferred to sterling to pay off uk credit cards and loan. There would have been fluctuations in the exchange rate when I transferred so I think this is where I seem to have a surplus. I recall ringing credit card companies etc for up to date balances before doing the transfers.
The bank should not have simply posted the cheque back, they had the option of sending it on "collection" to the issuer, common practice, to ensure the cheque was still valid. As I have not received the cheque back Tesco have since moved away from RBS and are having problems locating the entries on internal accounts. I have a mini copy of the cheque on my receipt so I have posted this to them. The details on this should allow them to contact RBS and track the entry. I referred to the ombudsman website and see there is a case if the bank loses your cheque, it doesn't stipulate whether this is internal loss or in the post.
I know it's messy and wish I had of known about this cheque or balance at the time. I am annoyed that there was no follow up which should have allowed this to be credited to my card. I continued using the card and had a balance on it. When I contacted Tesco they immediately referred to the letter on my record so they should have seen this before.