Took my eye off the ball - Mint card

What_to_do_now?

Hi, I was hoping for some advice regarding a Mint credit card.
I have had this card for a few years now and never had any problems, however recently due to me taking my eye off the ball and not checking my balance regulary etc I have noticed that the balance is over the limit. I am really cross with myself about this, but what I do need is advice on the payments that Mint have taken. Since the account has been overdrawn Mint have taken an amount (min monthly payment) out via direct debit but this has still kept the account in the excessive amount. On top of this they have charged me £12 because of the overdrawn status.
What I was wondering was should Mint have taken out an amount that ensured the account got back into the agreed credit amount? Or is it right that they took a payment which has not cleared the excess and meant that the credit card is still overdrawn (and still racking up charges)? The reason I ask is that this happened to me a few years ago when I went over my limit with RBS, they took extra the following month to cover the overdraft and the account was then back to the agreed amount - I incurred charges for the month I was overdrawn (rightly so) but then the account was back within limits. The mint card is only over by around £30 but even after making 2 payments it's still over by the roughly the same amount and I've incurred charges.
sorry if this seems a bit silly, I'm cross with myself that the account went over the limit, but I feel that Mint could of rectified it easily in the first month

Stevefromdonny

As far as I know the onus is on you, not them, to repay, over the limit or not. A direct debit arrangement is entirely voluntary and they will only take what you allow them to. They cannot take more than the agreed amount. Sorry. If you're also paying interest on the balance, consider moving it to a 0% card.

YorkshireBoy

Under the terms of the direct debit guarantee they can't take more out than they've told you about (on the monthly statement that they've sent and you've not read).


You were told what the estimated interest would be on the previous statement, providing you made no further transactions. You should have taken this into account.


Not what you want to hear I'm sure!

DCFC79

Its your account OP, you cant expect MINT to take more than what the DD was for.

marksandygill

Unfortunately as the others have said, the DD is set up by you for the amount you set, the only difference is if you set it to £30 and your min payment was £40, then it would take £40!

prat_2

As others have said it's down to you to know what's going on, they can't take more than they've said by DD etc, but that's not the end of it.

It's always worth phoning up to ask the company directly, chances are you'll be fobbed off, but if you're nice about it and have a rep who knows what they're doing they might agree to wipe out most of the charges if it was your first offense with them, you could even try politely putting it to them that it would have been nice of them to let you know when you went over the limit.

I've had bank charges completely dropped for going overdrawn just by phoning up and asking nicely. Give it a go, you never know.

What_to_do_now?

thank you for the replies.
I may be mistaken but the DD that is set up is not an amount that I have set, but for the minimum amount every month, the only payment I set is for any additional payments I make to clear the balance.

Again, thanks for the help, I was only confused as this is over a couple of months and I thought (perhaps naively) that they would adjust the minimum payment to cover the overage as I don't set this payment

p00hsticks

What_to_do_now? wrote: »

thank you for the replies.
I may be mistaken but the DD that is set up is not an amount that I have set, but for the minimum amount every month, the only payment I set is for any additional payments I make to clear the balance.

You need to check what you specified in the DD mandate and what Mint's definition of the minimum amount is.

It sounds like you've authorised for the minimum amount to be taken each month, and Mint probably define that as something like " £5 or 5% of the balance, whichever is the greater".

If that is the case, it's really up to you to check your statement to see that that minimum is sufficient to bring the card back within the limit, and to pay an additional amount to do so if not.

fozmcfc

Agree with others, it is up to you to keep a check and make sure the account is run properly.

But as I have said before, it is possible for a company to contact someone to tell them that the cards limit will be exceeded if only the minimum payment is paid towards the balance.

Egg did this to me by way of text/email and I was able to make an additional payment to stop it happening.

So yes it is the OP responsibility, but card companies could if they choose to, alert customers, before the overlimit happens.

Stevefromdonny

What_to_do_now? wrote: »

I may be mistaken but the DD that is set up is not an amount that I have set, but for the minimum amount every month

Ah, but YOU will have specified at some point to pay the minimum each month, and this is all it is. When you set up a credit card, it is a seperate transaction to set up a direct debit to collect payments, it isn't an essential part of it but most card companies will wisely try to persuade you to do it and it is your choice what they collect. Direct debit isn't the only way to pay credit cards you see, just the most popular and convenient.

Mint will have said in their monthly statement what they were due to collect - this will either have been posted to you or emailed to you, they have to send you a monthly statement. In the same statement it will have said that you were overdrawn on the account.

As said above, try to sweet talk them into refunding the charges as its the first offence. But I have to say as a word of advice if you're regularly totting up money on credit cards to their limit, you should look at your finances to ensure you are borrowing/spending responsibly within your means and can actually pay it all back.