M&S &More Mastercard Interest WARNING

carnesure

I have an M&S &More Mastercard and have been well and truely caught out by their small print and want to warn others.

When I receive my statement I pay off mostly what I can which is usually round about the full balance. I have a DD set up to take out the minimum payment each month and I usually approximately work out the remaining balance and do a bank transfer.

I had noticed that I was still receiving interest payments and this month it was quite big. My bill was for £1561.37 and I paid off 1546.84 including the monthly payment.

I assumed that I would only pay interest on any amount still oweing but I was wrong. I called the call centre and spoke to two people who confirmed that even if you are a penny short of paying the full balance, you pay interest on the full amount billed, not just anything outstanding after payment.

THIS MEANS THAT I CONTINUE TO PAY INTEREST ON £1561.37 FOR ANOTHER WHOLE MONTH, even though only a few pounds outstanding.

Now I hold my hands up and am sure that somewhere in the small print it states this and that I signed up it, however,

1. I honestly was never aware of it and this is the type of thing that should be in huge letters and pointed out to people everytime they get a bill.

2. It does state in very small print on the statement,

"...if you do not pay your Present Balance in full, interest will continue to be charged on the total value of your statement, not just on the outstanding balance."

However the clearer wording on the back of the statement is this,

"...if the balance is not repaid in full every month, interest on the outstanding balance is charged from the date the transaction is charged to the Account until payment is received..." - confusing.

Now I asked what 'outstanding balance' means during my call with them and apparently it means 'the full balance of the statement not including any payments you make'. Really? I think this is truely misleading if this is the case.

3. Is this the norm for credit cards? I really don't remember a previous card I had operating this way.

4. Is it fair that they can advertise 55 days interest free but not credit payments to your account (in effect) unless you pay the full amount (which in my case means paying interest on £1561.37 even though my balance is a few pounds)?

My question is should I complain to someone about the wording or the fact that I think it is misleading? Or indeed is this fair that they continue to charge interest in this way?

If so, who should I complain to? I am currently preparing a letter to M&S.

Many Thanks
Ronnie

CLAPTON

Yes this is the norm for all credit cards but its not as bad as you they said.

it works like this.

Interest is worked out on your daily balance from the day you spend the money (as recorded on your statement) until the day you pay it off.

As a special concesssion if and only if you pay the FULL amount each month they cancel the interest and you pay no interest atall.

But pay a pound less than the full amount then you pay the interest as described.

so in your case you will

pay interest on the 1546 from the day you spent it to the day you paid it off
plus you will pay the interest on the £17 from the day you spent it to the day you pay it off. Note the difference between the statement date when the bill is produced and the day you actually pay it off.
So even if you pay the full amount off this month there will be a small amount of interest the following month representing the interest between the statement date and the day you paid.


Why not set up a DD for the full amount and then you will never have to remember to make the extra payment.

carnesure

Thanks Clapton for your quick reply and explanation of how the interest works. I am amazed that I have had a credit card for nearly 20 years but never understood this - a lesson learnt but I am sure there are many like me!

The reason I do not set up a DD for the full amount is because I have to pay the bill from different accounts (one my own, one joint with wife), so I will have to just work out to the penny how much I owe each month from each minus the min DD payment and transfer that. A small price to pay to avoid the interest costs.

Thanks again

Ronnie

MarkyMarkD

More proof of why I suggest it's unnecessarily complex for couples to have multiple current accounts.

Why can't people just share their money if they are happy to share everything else?

susanpirie

I have also been caught out . I paid my balance in full 1 month but did not clear the balance the next month,and was charged interest as if the full balance had not been previously paid.

My annoyance with the whole system is this. When you phone and hear the automated statement amount , this is different to your paper statement, therefore how do you know what you should be paying.

I also agree with the previous comment. If you have taken the card a number of years ago it is not something you would remember and I think it would be fair to point out to people paying the outstanding balance that they must continue to do so or will be harged interest on money they have already paid off.

Disappointed with the quality of the service from M&S, and the system on the whole.

Moggles_2

susanpirie wrote: »

My annoyance with the whole system is this. When you phone and hear the automated statement amount , this is different to your paper statement, therefore how do you know what you should be paying.

Have you investigated M&S's online services? There shouldn't be a need for anyone with a pc to rely on postal statements nowadays.