Claiming back Interest on a Credit Card?

greedster82

Hey all, new to this site.

Looking for some help.

Honestly, I think I already know the answer....but this is a last resort.

My father in law has a credit card with $20000 (aud) on it, in Australia - now i know the laws are slightly different over here but - i was curious.

So he's been paying just the interest on this for quite some time, quite possibly years and hasn't even made a dent on it (about 300-400 aud a month).

I'm about to get a 15 month 0% balance transfer card for him but - before i do, am I in any way able to contest these interest charges?

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

tykesi

You mean the charges your FiL agreed a contract to pay when he took out the card?

What makes you think you should be able to?

greedster82

Ermmm....because he didn't have a bloody clue what he was doing? haha

It's a long shot - i know.

He's been paying like $400aud a month for the last few years.

Stevie_Palimo

And agreed to do this so no you cannot claim back the interest costs on the card, Switch to a 0% balance transfer and move on.

27col

greedster82 wrote: »

Ermmm....because he didn't have a bloody clue what he was doing? haha

It's a long shot - i know.

He's been paying like $400aud a month for the last few years.

That's hardly the fault of the CC Co.
It's a strange phenomenon, but if you don't pay back any of your loan the amount owed tends to stay the same.
It sounds as if a bit of help from you might not have gone amiss. So that he might have had some idea as to what he was getting into.

Anthorn

You can claim back unfair charges such as for missed or late payments. The OFT ruling of 2006 led to such charges being reduced to £12 each. That's why these charges are the same across different lenders. So we can assume that cc charges over £12 are unfair but not a chance of claiming interest unless it's more than was agreed.

bigadaj

Anthorn wrote: »

You can claim back unfair charges such as for missed or late payments. The OFT ruling of 2006 led to such charges being reduced to £12 each. That's why these charges are the same across different lenders. So we can assume that cc charges over £12 are unfair but not a chance of claiming interest unless it's more than was agreed.

And in Australia?

pvt

I doubt that OFT ruling will apply in Australia.

pvt

greedster82 wrote: »

Hey all, new to this site.

Looking for some help.

Honestly, I think I already know the answer....but this is a last resort.

My father in law has a credit card with $20000 (aud) on it, in Australia - now i know the laws are slightly different over here but - i was curious.

So he's been paying just the interest on this for quite some time, quite possibly years and hasn't even made a dent on it (about 300-400 aud a month).

I'm about to get a 15 month 0% balance transfer card for him but - before i do, am I in any way able to contest these interest charges?

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

Don't know how credit worthiness is assessed by lenders down under, but here in the UK if you had a credit card with £10,000 on it, paying interest only for "quite some time", your chances of getting a 15 month 0% BT card would be very low - or lower.

Anthorn

bigadaj wrote: »

And in Australia?

I don't live in Australia, this forum is not in Australia, I know nothing at all about Australia, the OP recognises that we are not in Australia and that the laws here are different to Australia. I discuss in terms of United Kingdom.

bigadaj, are you under the impression that this board is in Australia? In fact I've thought for a while that you are on a different planet.

Anthorn

pvt wrote: »

I doubt that OFT ruling will apply in Australia.

Where did I say that the OFT ruling applies in Australia? Quote and link to it if you please. Thank you.