24studio make me angry

bashbash

hi all i have been a customer with studio for 3 yrs, at first i really did not mind using this catalogue as the balances were paid quickly but over the last year me and my wife had some financial difficulties and ended up spending a lot on the catalogue, my current balance is £1800 im paying this off at £130 per month just above my minimum charge.

out of this payment only £60 is coming off my bill the other £70 is service charge/interest. i feel this is daylight robbery.

my question is can i successfully claim any of this back as this could take yrs to clear. i pay my statement every month on time and never received any late fees.

i also i have never signed any written agreements or ticked any boxes online saying i agree to there terms and conditions i was originally sent a sent filled in the order form and went from there

any help regarding this will be greatly appreciated

[Deleted User]

Why would you be able to "reclaim" interest which is an integral part of this business? You might just as well ask if you can "reclaim" interest charged on a credit card.

You agreed to their terms and conditions when you purchased your first item from their catalogue.

I don't doubt that this is an expensive way to shop, but it's really just borrowing money that you don't have in order to have the items now.

bashbash

they do not call it interest it is a charge made of different things, if i was to pay my 60 per month it would take 3 yrs to pay off this is ridiculous how can they do it? like i said no contract agreements in place

[Deleted User]

bashbash wrote: »

like i said no contract agreements in place

You agreed to their terms and conditions when you purchased your first item from their catalogue.You don't need to have signed an actual agreement form.

bashbash wrote: »

they do not call it interest it is a charge made of different things

Regardless, you cannot "reclaim" this money just because it is more expensive than shopping in the high street.

bashbash wrote: »

if i was to pay my 60 per month it would take 3 yrs to pay off

Nobody forced you to run up a huge bill, I'm afraid,

bashbash

thanks............i asked for some help not ridicule

[Deleted User]

bashbash wrote: »

thanks............i asked for some help not ridicule

Can't see any "ridicule", but if you want help with your debts you should post on the Debt Free Wannabe Board.

A refund of anything from this company is a non-starter, though.

Lemonsqueezer78

According to 24studio online Terms and Conditions, the APR is reduced from 48.9% down to 29.5% if you pay by your account by monthly direct debit. So it may be worth setting up a direct debit just to cover the minimum monthly payment, so that you can benefit from this lower APR. I assume you can still make payments over and above this if you want to. But this reduction in interest should make a difference in terms of paying this off quicker.

Nasqueron

Lemonsqueezer78 wrote: »

According to 24studio online Terms and Conditions, the APR is reduced from 48.9% down to 29.5% if you pay by your account by monthly direct debit. So it may be worth setting up a direct debit just to cover the minimum monthly payment, so that you can benefit from this lower APR. I assume you can still make payments over and above this if you want to. But this reduction in interest should make a difference in terms of paying this off quicker.

Any form of catalogue purchase is going to be extortionate when not paid off in full - not doing so will always have issues where the interest will cripple - 29.5% is still a crazy high APR to be leaving a balance on.

A trip to the debt free segments of the board will be more productive on reigning in spending and identifying savings to allow more money to be used to pay off the debt the OP has. The OP says they got into financial issues and because of that, spent more but I can't see anything on their site that is in any way essential to day to day life when in financial hardship nor anything that couldn't be bought cheaper from a charity shop or discounter like Aldi/Lidl - addressing the spending issue would be a higher priority than worrying about claiming back interest charges accumulated because the balance wasn't cleared (reclaiming which will never happen as this is a perfectly legitimate business model)

[Deleted User]

Lemonsqueezer78 wrote: »

According to 24studio online Terms and Conditions, the APR is reduced from 48.9% down to 29.5% if you pay by your account by monthly direct debit.

I doubt very much that the OP is not aware of this already. At the risk of being accused of "ridicule", if the OP is in financial difficulty he is unlikely to be able to pay by Direct Debit. A look at his posting history reveals he has been unemployed since 2010 and is also attempting to claim compensation from the DWP.

Hopefully, he has already sought practical help from either the Debt Free section of this website or, preferably, more directly from the Citizen's Advice Bureau or the Money Advice Service
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/taking-control-of-debt

He is certainly going to get nowhere by trying to claim that he has no contract with the company he will be paying back for the next three years…

Nasqueron wrote: »

The OP says they got into financial issues and because of that, spent more but I can't see anything on their site that is in any way essential to day to day life when in financial hardship nor anything that couldn't be bought cheaper from a charity shop or discounter like Aldi/Lidl

The problem, of course, is that items bought from charity shops and low-price supermarkets require the money to be paid upfront. The Op has succumbed to the old temptation of buy now, pay later and allowed the spending to get out-of-control.

Lemonsqueezer78

Nasqueron + Moneyineptitude - was simply offering an additional nugget of practical money saving info that may "help" reduce what he is paying in interest. That is after all the general jist of things around here.

That in no way overrides or nullifies anyone else's advice to the OP to seek debt support or visit the DFW boards.

And if the OP is already aware of this, or unable to pay by direct debit, then so be it. However as he is making slightly over the minimum currently, I don't actually know why a DD is unlikely to be possible.