Tesco clubcard minimum payment

Cyberman60

I have a Tesco clubcard credit card which I took out in October and spent 75 quid on it. I did not receive a FIRST
statement until after I had left the country for three months..I have just returned. As I did not know how much I would owe I set up payments to go through for 5 quid from my bank on 1st December and in the following months I was away.

Today after returning to the country I find that the FIRST minimum payment was 25 quid on a 75 quid debt and Tesco have been charging late repayment fees each month since December.

Should a minimum repayment amount be so high (over 30%) ? I feel I have been duped in a way as I have actually been making payments since November in good faith albeit not enough according to Tescos statements.

I would be interested in any advice as I am about to speak to Tesco. :mad:

haras_nosirrah

you should have done 1 of the following

set up a direct debit to repay the minimum
set up a direct debit to repay in full
phoned them to check what the first payment would be before leaving the country

unfortunately you took a big gamble in guessing what the payment would be and it has not paid off. Might be a case of phoning and grovelling but you may well lose and promotion you have and your credit file may be affected

Voltaire7

It's hard to give advice when you don't do the two most basic things, the things that almost everyone recommends: check your statements and set up a minimum payment DD.

Saying you've been duped is certainly an interesting perspective!

Inner_Zone

You could have viewed your statements on line, and seen the minimum payment required.

Cyberman60

Thanks for the reply. I pay off my other credit card in full every month but Tesco were offering a long interest-free period for purchases (19 months if I remember correctly) so I took advantage of the offer. The 30% + miminum repayment seems very high to me.

TadleyBaggie

Tesco say:

Minimum payment - the greater of the total of all interest and fees charged in your statement plus £10, or 2%....

So the minimum payment was always going to be in excess of £10. Why didn't you set up DD for the minimum payment. No one to blame but yourself really, you should have asked Tesco instead of just assuming.

Cyberman60

Inner_Zone wrote: »

You could have viewed your statements on line, and seen the minimum payment required.

I'm not sure that I could have done that as I was abroad.

YorkshireBoy

Cyberman60 wrote: »

Tesco were offering a long interest-free period for purchases (19 months if I remember correctly) so I took advantage of the offer.

...which you've almost certainly lost now!

The 30% + miminum repayment seems very high to me.

Look on the bright side...you really would have been complaining if you'd spent £24.99 instead of £75, because that would have been very nearly 100%!

Cyberman60

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

Tesco say:

Minimum payment - the greater of the total of all interest and fees charged in your statement plus £10, or 2%....

So the minimum payment was always going to be in excess of £10. Why didn't you set up DD for the minimum payment. No one to blame but yourself really, you should have asked Tesco instead of just assuming.

I got a text message from them on 19th December asking me to phone them and I replied to their text asking what the issue was. They did not follow up with a reply but I assumed it was the minimum payment so made an extra 10 pound payment on that day. I feel I have acted in good faith here.

haras_nosirrah

doesn't the internet work abroad?

while the long interest free period of 19 month is nice to have I am not sure that interest free on £75 for 19 months is really worth it.

Cyberman60

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

doesn't the internet work abroad?

while the long interest free period of 19 month is nice to have I am not sure that interest free on £75 for 19 months is really worth it.

Internet works but due to security issues I'm not sure you can just go in and view somebody's statement, even my own, without jumping through hurdles. The main reason I took the card was because I am a Tesco customer and already had a clubcard which is used every time alongside a credit card. The Tesco clubcard does the whole transaction using just one card, so more convenient IMO.