Incorrect advice now got £600 in charges! Advice how to proceed please

jonesMUFCforever

Quite a few of these balance transfer deals gone sour on the boards in the last few days.
Don't believe it myself.

SeduLOUs

Really it isn't up to customer service advisors to tell you how much you need to pay. Ths mistake here was in not checking statements and not setting up a DD.

Even without being allowed to set up a DD for a fixed amount, there could have been a DD for the minimum and then either manually pay the difference of have a SO for the excess.

It isn't up to the card issuer to go out of their way to contact you to make you aware of charges on the account when they have notified you by providing a monthly statement that you didn't bother to check.

I'd be surprised if they refund any of the charges. It's unfortunate but hopefully a valuable lesson learned for the future.

BadBehaviour

You're all perfectly right when you say OP should have read his statements and made the payments via direct debit or himself. He could have prevented all this if only he had looked at the statements.

It's obvious these late payments are not due to OP not bothering to pay on time, though, but due to a mistake in setting up the payment method.

If I were the credit card provider, I'd waive the charges, based on this , but I am sure they won't be so charitable unfortunately.

You should have had the standing order scheduled for a couple of days before the payment was due. I am surprised that they scheduled it for the date when the payment is due as they must know it takes a couple of days to go through. Could you try and use this argument against them?

eskbanker

BadBehaviour wrote: »

You should have had the standing order scheduled for a couple of days before the payment was due. I am surprised that they scheduled it for the date when the payment is due as they must know it takes a couple of days to go through. Could you try and use this argument against them?

Assuming 'they' means MBNA in this context, they didn't schedule it, they informed OP when a direct debit would be due, not how far in advance a standing order should be set up, which as you say is a different question:

Fishun wrote: »

Icould set up a direct debit, and I asked which date of the month this needed tocome out. I followed their advice and instructions to the letter and have beenpaying off each month.

BadBehaviour

eskbanker wrote: »

Assuming 'they' means MBNA in this context, they didn't schedule it, they informed OP when a direct debit would be due, not how far in advance a standing order should be set up, which as you say is a different question:

You're right ... They could have mentioned that a standing order isn't instant anyway... seeing as they told him they couldn't set up a direct debit for a fixed amount and suggested the standing order. They weren't obliged to do so of course, but it would have been good customer service IMO.
OP as well could have asked how long a standing order takes to go through!

Cell

Standing orders are now essentially faster payments.

http://www.payyourway.org.uk/payments-explained/standing-orders/

To all intents and purpose if a SO goes out on day 1 then it's normally received on day 1. It may be that it doesn't get credited to the card account until a day or two later, however. MBNA are pretty slow and restrictive compared to many other providers.

However if you imagine that your minimum payment is due on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday (it happens) then the SO MIGHT not actually go until the next business day which might be after the due date.

I'm confusing myself here let alone anyone else!!!

Take this bank holiday for example. If the min payment is due on the 26th and the SO goes out on the 24th (enough time all things being equal) then it won't ACTUALLY go until the 27th, as Saturday, Sunday and Monday are non banking days in terms of payments but not in terms of minimum payment. Despite an INTENTION to pay in advance the reality is that it's a late payment.

GingerBob_3

Cell wrote: »

Standing orders are now essentially faster payments.

http://www.payyourway.org.uk/payments-explained/standing-orders/

To all intents and purpose if a SO goes out on day 1 then it's normally received on day 1. It may be that it doesn't get credited to the card account until a day or two later, however. MBNA are pretty slow and restrictive compared to many other providers.

However if you imagine that your minimum payment is due on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday (it happens) then the SO MIGHT not actually go until the next business day which might be after the due date.

I'm confusing myself here let alone anyone else!!!

Take this bank holiday for example. If the min payment is due on the 26th and the SO goes out on the 24th (enough time all things being equal) then it won't ACTUALLY go until the 27th, as Saturday, Sunday and Monday are non banking days in terms of payments but not in terms of minimum payment. Despite an INTENTION to pay in advance the reality is that it's a late payment.

Isn't there some law that states liabilities due on a bank holiday (maybe weekends as well) have to be deferred until the next working day? I notice CC providers, most noticably MBNA, often have a due date falling on a weekend. I've not tested this, being as how the CC companies probably exempt themselves from the law of land with well buried small print. Any thoughts on this?

MABLE

Should have set up a direct debit for min payment and then made additional payments either by standing order or debit card each month. I would have put the additional payments into a savings account and then paid off the balance when the promotional deal ends.

YorkshireBoy

GingerBob wrote: »

I notice CC providers, most noticably MBNA, often have a due date falling on a weekend. I've not tested this, being as how the CC companies probably exempt themselves from the law of land with well buried small print. Any thoughts on this?

Yes...it's paranoia!


There's a 2 in 7 chance it'll fall on a weekend (and therefore a 5 in 7 chance it won't), unless you're seriously suggesting MBNA et al do it deliberately?...in which case I refer you to my first statement above!

burnleymik

I would argue the charges for the late payment each month. Clearly they have recieved a higher then minimum amount every single month without fail and as such, although you are not within their exact guidlines they are still effectively punishing you despite recieving a payment every month.

I had a similar instance with Tesco credit card and wrote my official letter of complaint and they removed the charges for me. I used a bank statement to back up that they had recieved monies every single month without fail. I also was prepared to escalate the issue to the financial ombudsman had they not been prepared to budge (not sure how that would have gone).

I think it then stands to reason that the 0% should also never have been removed if they agree to the above.

I do find it strange that they have never had any correspondance with you regarding the charges, that is something else I would be persuing, asking for dates and times for any correspondance they supposedly had.


I wish you the best of luck.