Direct debit payment to credit card

clairewdoc

Hi - first time on the forum and looking for some advice please. I recently arranged to pay off my credit card in full and by the time I got the money through to do it and sent off a cheque to the credit card company, my balance had gone down by virtue of the fact that I pay £40 monthly direct debit and a payment had been taken in the interim - I was duly sent back the amount I had overpaid, cut up my credit card and cancelled my direct debit as the balance was 0 and thought no more of it - I have since received a bill for the £40 that they tried to collect last month (when the balance was 0) plus an unpaid fee of £12 - I contacted the company saying that as my balance was 0 I had cancelled the DD and therefore could not understand why I was being charged the fee plus an unpaid fee - I have received a letter back saying that they have now issued a further late fee and interest - I now apparently owe them £65.99! All this when I have cleared my balance and cut up my card! Is this lawful? Thanks for any advice.

CLAPTON

Can you clarify the following points.

Was the balance on the card zero for two consecutive months?.. Otherwise there may have been some interest to be paid even after the balance is paid in full for the first month.

Was your DD for a fixed sum, the minimum balance or the full balance.

Did you tell the CC company you were cancelling the card?

What did they say when you phoned them?

nickmack

clairewdoc wrote: »

Is this lawful?

Check the Reclaim board for advice

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=102

and the two links in my signature.

YorkshireBoy

Some card providers take the minimum payment amount based on the statement balance no matter how much you pay between the statement date and the payment due date.

Others take the minimum payment amount if you don't make a manual payment before the date which is 5 working days before the DD date.

Others may operate differently again.

You should check your T&C's and DD set up letter to see which applies to you.

However, and this is this crucial thing, all my direct debit agreements clearly state that I should notify the originator (the card provider) as well as my bank if I cancel the direct debit. What does your say?

Just out of interest, who's the card provider?

clairewdoc

The card provider is MBNA - I actually cleared the balance in full - and then some! The balance had reduced since I asked for a settlement figure as my fixed direct debit of £40 had come out in the interim - hence MBNA had to refund me the overpaid amount, which they duly did.

Their full reply says that the outstanding balance consists of an unpaid direct debit of £40 (even though the account was at 0 and no money needed to be paid) and 2 late fees for not paying this £40 - if I had paid the £40 direct debit then my credit card account would be in credit by £40! It amazes me that they can just generate these amounts owing from nowhere when my balance was zero!

YorkshireBoy

clairewdoc wrote: »

The card provider is MBNA

Someone else made the same mistake recently...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=505452

It amazes me that they can just generate these amounts owing from nowhere when my balance was zero!

MBNA fall into the "Some card providers take the minimum payment amount based on the statement balance no matter how much you pay between the statement date and the payment due date" category I mentioned earlier.