Barclay card changes

thequeenscheese

grumbler wrote: »

What do you mean by 'rate'?

Regardless, no way except defaulting first.

what I mean is I've borrowed this much and I owe this much, not a debt of this much that has monthly interest added to it, so when I pay £170 off I'm paying £170 off not £140 in interest that been added on that month..

like the Halifax loan I had I borrowed £10k and repaid £13k so the debt was £13k with the card the longer it is left the bigger the debt becomes.

so my only real option Is not accepting the % rate rise to 29.9% after 2 late payments -which in reality capping the charges has now handed them far more profit than late charges ever would have?

thequeenscheese

I'm referring to this article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1519947/Barclaycard-cuts-late-payment-fees-but-puts-up-interest.html

grumbler

thequeenscheese wrote: »

what I mean is I've borrowed this much and I owe this much, not a debt of this much that has monthly interest added to it, so when I pay £170 off I'm paying £170 off not £140 in interest that been added on that month..

Does this not mean "interest-free" loan, not "fixed rate"?
Do you mean "fixed payments"?

like the Halifax loan I had I borrowed £10k and repaid £13k so the debt was £13k with the card the longer it is left the bigger the debt becomes.

But you borrowed £10K, not £13.
I don't see how this is different from your credit card.

The current balance is, say, £7K.
The current rate is, say, 2.5% p.m.
You want to pay it back like a loan, say, over 2 years.

Pay £391.39 p.m., £9,393 in total and the balance will be £0 in 24 months. How is it different from a loan?!

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/repayment-calculator.php

so my only real option Is not accepting the % rate rise to 29.9% after 2 late payments -which in reality capping the charges has now handed them far more profit than late charges ever would have?

Well, were you allowed to pay late with the loan without penalties?
At least with a CC you have more flexibility as you can make a minimum payment instead of the fixed payment.

thequeenscheese wrote: »

I'm referring to this article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1519947/Barclaycard-cuts-late-payment-fees-but-puts-up-interest.html

And?

thequeenscheese

sorry not sure what I meant which is why I'm on here lol, maybe I meant fixed term, ? a cc % is per month right?, where as a loan is fixed this long to pay this much, so with a cc while ever I owe them the %rate continues altho it will decrease monetary wise as the total decreases.
maybe it's not all that different but it's sure better to see the total dropping by what's being paid off and not a tiny bit plus the hefty interest.

the article says missed payments means a rate hike which I am now paying, but the web page you pointed me to says

No increases for those with debt problems

We will not increase interest rates in the following circumstances. Where a customer has failed to make the minimum contractual payment requested on the last two or more consecutive monthly statements; or Where an agreed repayment plan is in place in respect of the account; or Where we have been formally notified by a not-for-profit debt advice agency that the customer is in serious discussion with it.
Translation: They won't increase your rate if you've fallen behind on payments by two months or more, or those who have sought help from a debt advice agency. So the crucial message is...

So which is right? Barclays are obviously not following this

thequeenscheese

thanks by the way for taking the time to reply..

grumbler

thequeenscheese wrote: »

....a cc % is per month right?, where as a loan is fixed this long to pay this much, so with a cc while ever I owe them the %rate continues altho it will decrease monetary wise as the total decreases.
maybe it's not all that different but it's sure better to see the total dropping by what's being paid off and not a tiny bit plus the hefty interest.

It's just an illusion. A CC is more flexible than a loan, but if you want you can treat it like a loan with the fixed rate and payments. It's in your hands. The only restriction is the interest rate that you can't change, but can freeze if needed and that the 'fixed' payments can't be smaller that the minimum payments.

the article says missed payments means a rate hike which I am now paying, but the web page you pointed me to says

No increases for those with debt problems

We will not increase interest rates in the following circumstances. Where a customer has failed to make the minimum contractual payment requested on the last two or more consecutive monthly statements; or Where an agreed repayment plan is in place in respect of the account; or Where we have been formally notified by a not-for-profit debt advice agency that the customer is in serious discussion with it.
Translation: They won't increase your rate if you've fallen behind on payments by two months or more, or those who have sought help from a debt advice agency. So the crucial message is...

So which is right? Barclays are obviously not following this

"Missed payments" and "fallen behind by two months or more" isn't the same as "late payments".
"Fallen behind" is just one step from "defaulted".

"formally notified by a not-for-profit debt advice agency that the customer is in serious discussion with it" means some sort of arrangements that - as well as "missed payments" - have a far more detrimental effect on your credit history than "late payments" .