Debit card charges

Gettingtherequickly

I bought a new car at the weekend and will be paying the balance end of this week. However, the salesman said that if I pay by debit card, it will now incur charges as if it were a credit card. This was news to me so I thought I would ask here. If it is the situation, it is something I will need to consider at work.

On the other hand, I am paying cash, which he couldn't understand as there are very good deals (and therefore commission for him!) available. He is still trying to understand the concept of not want to pay to borrow money if I have the cash and not earning anything worthwhile on it:D

[Deleted User]

Often finance can be cheaper than cash, as you can take the discount and then immediately pay off the finance.

But each to their own.

badger09

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

I bought a new car at the weekend and will be paying the balance end of this week. However, the salesman said that if I pay by debit card, it will now incur charges as if it were a credit card. This was news to me so I thought I would ask here. If it is the situation, it is something I will need to consider at work.

On the other hand, I am paying cash, which he couldn't understand as there are very good deals (and therefore commission for him!) available. He is still trying to understand the concept of not want to pay to borrow money if I have the cash and not earning anything worthwhile on it:D

I used my Co-operative Visa debit card a few days ago online and was greeted by a message to the effect that debit card providers had introduced a processing charge which would be passed on to the customer.

In my case it was 0.2%, amounting to 41p, so I wasn't overly concerned, as it was preferable to the only alternative - a bank transfer:cool:

alanq

The finance company would be jointly liable in the case of a dispute.

If opting not to use the finance deal offered, and the surcharge for using a debit card is the same as for a credit card, could you not pay (at least £100) by credit card then settle the credit card bill in full while there is no charge from the card company. That way at least you would get Section 75 protection that you would not get when paying with cash/debit card.

Gettingtherequickly

alanq wrote: »

The finance company would be jointly liable in the case of a dispute.

If opting not to use the finance deal offered, and the surcharge for using a debit card is the same as for a credit card, could you not pay (at least £100) by credit card then settle the credit card bill in full while there is no charge from the card company. That way at least you would get Section 75 protection that you would not get when paying with cash/debit card.

Deposit paid using credit card.

agrinnall

alanq wrote: »

If opting not to use the finance deal offered, and the surcharge for using a debit card is the same as for a credit card, could you not pay (at least £100) by credit card then settle the credit card bill in full while there is no charge from the card company. That way at least you would get Section 75 protection that you would not get when paying with cash/debit card.

Alan,I'm surprised that someone as knowledgeable as you has fallen into this trap. A payment of 1p on a credit card secures S75 protection as long as the value of the item paid for is £100 or more (and I think below £30,000).

King_Of_Fools

This is an unintended change due to the EU debit and credit card caps. Debit cards used to chage a flat fee of about 50p no matter what the transaction price where as credit cards charged a percentage.

The EU rules meant that debit cards now have to charge a percentage capped at 0.2% so on a £20k car the debit card fee would have gone up from 50p to £40! Actually the car dealer is probably charged more like 1% as the cap only applies to the fee the card network can charge (Mastercard or Visa) and the card processing companies are not capped and have to make a profit. So the car dealer might be facing a £200 fee!