fees on fees

queenbeeno1

Can anyone tell me what the legality is of Ccard comapnies charging late fee on late fee. I have a card which which was used in error some months ago (a card that I hadnt used for years I might add and no sttatements came in the post as it was all on line) upon dicovering there was money due I paid the full balance and all interest, I incurred a £12 late payment fee also. I did not want to pay this (the actual transaction was only £15) so I asked for it to be removed, which was refused I have now received a bill for £48! which is late payment fee after late payment fee being added to the account. can they actually do this?? Would the reasonable course of action be to clear off the orginal fee.(which still galls me) I have contacted them several times and they are refusing to delete their fees. Thanks

HappyMJ

Then you've got to pay them. You've left this 4 months your credit report may even show a default.

If you don't want to pay then don't pay them. Your account will eventually be turned over to collections. They won't take you to court to get a CCJ for such a small amount so after 6 years of you ignoring collections the account will be written off.

YorkshireBoy

When you've opted (and you must have?) for online statements they send an e-mail each month reminding you to log in and view your account status/statement.


Did you receive said e-mails...any or all (4/5) of them?

ViolaLass

Of course they can do this - you didn't pay on time!

PeacefulWaters

You've made your bed ...

eskbanker

queenbeeno1 wrote: »

I incurred a £12 late payment fee also. I did not want to pay this (the actual transaction was only £15) so I asked for it to be removed, which was refused I have now received a bill for £48! which is late payment fee after late payment fee being added to the account. can they actually do this?? Would the reasonable course of action be to clear off the orginal fee.(which still galls me)

No, the reasonable course of action would be to pay the balance in full and then the same next month for the one comprising a bit of trailing interest. You seem to have fallen into the trap that many others have of regarding late payment fees (and even interest in some cases) as being optional extras differentiated in some way from what you 'actually' spent, but the bottom line is that your balance is £48 and all of it is due, regardless of whether you want to pay it or not.... Unless you're really on the breadline it's complete madness to try to evade such a small charge to the extent of potentially compromising your credit status, especially when you appear to have such a tenuous case in the first place, i.e. it's not as if they've done anything wrong or even dubious.

shortcrust

I guess it depends. Did you just not want to pay the fees, or did you really really really really not want to pay the fees? If the latter than you'll probably be able to launch a successful legal challenge.

jonesMUFCforever

OP asked about the legality of the charge - OP it is legal - sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear.
Perhaps if you wrote to their complaints department outlining what you posted on here you might get some reward.

Kim_13

It is legal unfortunately. The late fee is a flat fee for a late or missing payment, it doesn't have to be proportionate to the amount that was actually late or related to a purchase transaction.

If you didn't receive an e-statement/email when the £15 was actually due then a formal complaint might have seen the late fee waived. Protest non-payments don't get you anywhere (except to trashed credit files and mounting fees.)

queenbeeno1

Thanks for all of your replies.I think maybe some were pretty unsympathetic... like I said as it was a card not used for years so one would not expect it to even be valid and I wouldnt have a clue if I received emails about it. I did pay the bill but my question was about fees on fees. I wouldnt say I made my bed, it was a genuine error however I am I pleased to advise that the fees on fees were classed as excessive and I have succesfully had all of them removed and had the account closed.
It was a point of principle.
At the end of the day it was not in MBNAs interest to pursue me for this and the fact they had allowed a transaction on a dormant account was the issue.

Ben8282

queenbeeno1 wrote: »

Thanks for all of your replies.I think maybe some were pretty unsympathetic... like I said as it was a card not used for years so one would not expect it to even be valid and I wouldnt have a clue if I received emails about it. I did pay the bill but my question was about fees on fees. I wouldnt say I made my bed, it was a genuine error however I am I pleased to advise that the fees on fees were classed as excessive and I have succesfully had all of them removed and had the account closed.
It was a point of principle.
At the end of the day it was not in MBNAs interest to pursue me for this and the fact they had allowed a transaction on a dormant account was the issue.

Yes. if the card had not been used for years then you would not normally expect it to be valid. You would expect it to be expired. So it couldn't have been that long.
You say that you wouldn't have a clue if you received e-mails about it. Why wouldn't you have a clue?
Who classed the fees as excessive?
There is nothing wrong with allowing a dormant account to be used so long as there is still a valid card in your possession. That's why they have given you the card; for you to use it! If you had no further intention of using it and object so strongly to them allowing you to use it. you really should have closed the account.