Balance Transfer Happened Twice!

stu146

Hi,
I have a Vanquis credit card with £2000 Limit, and the balance is only about £100 off the limit right now.

I applied for a Tesco Bank credit card with the 0% Interest for the next 3 years. I got accepted and was given a card with £1500 Limit, and the ability to BT up to £1400 of that.

When I applied for the Tesco card I applied for the BT From Vanquis at the same time. Card come and got activated. Nothing happened. So I went to apply for a £1400 BT using the online banking myself. Comes to this morning, where I check and find I am over limit by more than a thousand because both BTs took place now!

Obviously I understand its my fault as I was impatient, but its just caused me a huge problem. I don't really know what to do from here.

Spoke to Vanquis who said they cannot reverse one of the BTs back to Tesco, and because I now have a credit balance with Vanquis I breached the card conditions so they are likely closing my account, and will issue a cheque for the remainder amount after its all paid off. Obviously I didn't BT The whole balance so thats going to leave me with debt that I cannot afford to repay in one go and leave me still hundreds over my limit with Tesco.

Tesco say if Vanquis can keep the account open, they can ask Vanquis to return one of the BT Amounts but it will take 8 weeks, meaning I will be over limit for 2 months, and will default, therefore adversely affecting my credit file, undoing everything by having a credit card to start with trying to build a credit file (and up to now over the years I have never missed a payment or even been late!)

Question is, what can I do? Is there something I am missing that can make this all go away in time to avoid any damage to my credit record?

chrisw99

EXACTLY the same happened to me, got the Tesco card last month and accidentally did two lots of balance transfers twice. I had a £5100 credit limit and managed to get up to £9000 on it!


My MBNA card ended up £1800 in credit, and first direct £2000 in credit.


I spoke to MBNA and first direct, who I'd done them to. First Direct refunded directly to the Tesco card, and MBNA refunded to a bank account of my choosing which I then paid back to the Tesco card.


So all got sorted in a few days, I've also just had the balance transfer fees refunded by Tesco although that took a few phone calls.


Surely if you keep pressing Vanquis they can refund it, if you say it was a payment made in error?

redux

I can't see why Tesco approved the extra transfer, but that's just an observation not the solution.

If Vanquis do refund £900 by cheque, can you pay this to Tesco and persuade them to increase the credit limit to £2000?

chrisw99

redux wrote: »

I can't see why Tesco approved the extra transfer, but that's just an observation not the solution.

There is an error on Tesco's system that allows it to happen, when I phoned to complain about mine he said it's happening to loads of people at the moment.

What specifically happened to me is that I applied for the card online, got accepted, etc. The original application had a balance transfer request which I filled in. Sorted out online banking at the same time.

For the next few days I could see in online banking that there were outstanding balance transfers, and it was showing "credit limit £5100, available for transfer £141 or so" so I just patiently waited.
Then one day it changed to £5100 limit, £5100 available for transfer. Ok I thought, the original 3 transfers hadn't happened, so I tried again. It immediately failed as the card "had yet to be activated".
Aha I thought, I never bothered activating the card (as it was purely for a balance transfer offer, never intend to use the card). Dug it out, activated it, then the website let me do the balance transfers. I did the 3 again, each time the available for transfer went from £5100 down to £3000 down to £1000 etc so this time it was working
A day later, I got an email saying "thanks for activating the card, your balance transfers you requested on application will now be processed"
Uh oh I thought, I went online and saw the 3 transfers I did manually had now gone through so I was at my credit limit. Rang Tesco, they said don't worry, the system will reject them as you're at your limit.
Next day, yep you can guess, all those balance transfers had gone through so I was at £9000 balance on a £5100 limit card.

This was explained to the target providers (MBNA, first direct) of the balance transfer and they all refunded without question, and Tesco have refunded the balance transfer fees, so all is as it should. I will possibly get a credit limit breach fee of £12 but if I do they will refund it.

My only worry is that some T&Cs say if you breach your credit limit you forfeit any promotional rate i.e. the 0% for 34 months transfer. Can't see this in any of the Tesco smallprint though.

redux

Going by that detailed description Tesco ought to be explaining this to Vanquis in order to persuade them to refund the second transfer. And a bit faster than 2 months.

chrisw99

I think the key phrase in the OP is that Vanquis cannot refund the balance transfer directly back to Tesco.
It's exactly what MBNA said to me, but they offered to refund it to a bank account so I could send it back to Tesco myself. I thought first direct had refunded it directly, but it turned out as I had a current account with them they refunded to my current account and then did a payment to Tesco, as 2 steps.

From Vanquis point of view, it just shows up as a faster payment to their card, not a balance transfer from Tesco.

By the time I got to my 3rd one (HSBC) after going through the MBNA/first direct calls, I decided to omit all the details and just said I've accidentally made two payments to my HSBC card can I have a refund please.

The OP should probably try this, just say the second payment was made in error as it took the card into credit and wants it refunded to a bank account. Surely they want their card to be back in debit so you are back paying interest on it again anyway so it's to their own gain if they did this.

JimmyTheWig

redux wrote: »

If Vanquis do refund £900 by cheque, can you pay this to Tesco and persuade them to increase the credit limit to £2000?

I don't think it is common practise to increase credit limits while you are over the limit.

OP, other than this what is your credit history like?
My gut thinking is for you to get another BT card and use that to bring Tesco back within your limit. Then when Vanquis return your positive balance all will be well.

chrisw99

Oh and a warning to the OP - did you set up direct debit on the Tesco card?

The minimum monthly payment for the Tesco card is 1% of the balance, PLUS any amount over the credit limit.

As my limit was £5100 and I had a balance of £9000 I was facing the prospect of Tesco taking a direct debit of nearly £4000 as the payment for my first statement, if I'd waited those stated 8 weeks for them to sort it all out. Which is why I acted fast and got onto the targets to press for refunds.

Lewis.

Copied rom my other thread:

chrisw99 wrote: »

Please see other threads, this is happening to other people including me.
Opus cannot return the fee direct to Tesco i.e. credit card to credit card, but they have to refund your payment if it was paid in error , to a bank account of your choosing.
You can then just pay the Tesco card once you have that refund.


Don't even mention Tesco, as Opus only see it as a payment to their card. Just say you made two payments in error and need one refunding and they'll ask you for bank details.

Ok thanks. So if I just phone Opus and get them to refund the payment to my bank account I can then return the payment to Tesco? There is also the matter of the £30 fee. Tedious as it's so damn confusing the way the Tesco set up of a new BT works, and it doesn't display any pending transactions online. Deliberately confusing I think. I mentioned to them that they may want to look into their procedures but it was like talking to a dead dog, the operator was completely devoid of charm!

I will let you know how I get on - thanks guys.

System

Can you not get Vanquis to do a balance transfer to Tesco and ask Tesco to refund any fees etc once done.

Lewis.

Lewis. wrote: »

Copied rom my other thread:




Ok thanks. So if I just phone Opus and get them to refund the payment to my bank account I can then return the payment to Tesco? There is also the matter of the £30 fee. Tedious as it's so damn confusing the way the Tesco set up of a new BT works, and it doesn't display any pending transactions online. Deliberately confusing I think. I mentioned to them that they may want to look into their procedures but it was like talking to a dead dog, the operator was completely devoid of charm!

I will let you know how I get on - thanks guys.

Ok, to update on this:

After three more phone calls (one to Tesco, two to the numb nuts @ Opus) I have finally got somewhere.

Tesco have been pretty helpful in honesty, and have also agreed to refund the fee for the 2nd (incorrect) BT.

Opus were initially telling me they could return the payment (after having to argue with them) but that they needed a bank account and sort number for Tesco's bank. However, Tesco advised that they should just return the payment to the credit card used to make the BT, therefore they would only need the card number, otherwise there was a risk the payment could be 'lost in the ether' so to speak!

So finally spoke to a guy called Alex at Opus who was helpful, and he advised that they WERE able to simply refund the payment to the card used for the BT, and just needed the card number. So I have given them the card number and it should clear next week. I will keep you updated.

For the OP - In a nutshell, the CC company who have received the 2nd incorrect BT need to just refund the payment to your CC that was used to send the payment. It is possible to do it this way and it's the way it should be done. Now I know for sure this info is correct, I would just insist it's done this way, and if you get no joy with the droid at the call centre that you initially are put through to, ask to speak to the supervisor and explain it to them instead.

I hope this helps you out.

Good Luck!!