MSE News: Tesco Bank credit card-holders stung with unexpected charges after...

Former_MSE_Lucinda

A '0% interest on purchases' offer for Tesco Bank credit card-holders in the run-up to Christmas has left many "furious" after they were asked to pay unexpected interest charges...

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'Tesco Bank credit card-holders stung with unexpected charges after being caught out by '0% interest' offer

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Yorkshire_Pud

It's these kind of 'tricky' offers that can get a bank a bad name.

I can understand it but I can't understand it.

PeacefulWaters

Teach bank cardholders pay interest due to not reading their T&Cs.

Paul_01

It wasn't the clearest offer to begin with.

Whilst many MSE forumites take the time to understand how such offers will affect them, most of the general population will see this as meaning they can leave all Tesco purchases on their card till March and pay no interest on those amounts.

They therefore pay off all non-Tesco spending and expect the offer to cover the rest.

I think the onus in this case is on Tesco to better explain the potential pitfalls.

Abbey1991

FCA wrote:

Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms
where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.

Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms
have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable
standard and as they have been led to expect

Looks like Tesco need to look again at the principles of Treating Customers Fairly!

VT82

Abbey1991 wrote: »

Looks like Tesco need to look again at the principles of Treating Customers Fairly!

Exactly. A pure high street bank would never have dreamed of trying to be so tricksy nowadays under the current regulatory regime. Mix a bank with a supermarket that still relies on phoney discounts and BOGOFs and it tries stunts like this. Not clever.

Mr_Goodkat

For me it is the card holders who are in the wrong here and taken a leave of their senses when understanding how credit cards work and the specific terms and conditions of the Tesco Credit Card.

If I had a Tesco credit card and wanted to take advantage of the offer the obvious thing to do was to put all Tesco spending on that card to take advantage of the offer and then use a different card for purchases elsewhere.

There was nothing in the offer that suggests the waiving of interest on other purchases should the full balance not be paid by the due date.

Tesco as a number of people have seen on the other thread will probably refund as a gesture of goodwill but it is purely down to people not understanding how credit cards in general and this offer in particular work!

Superscrooge

From the linked MSE article

A spokesperson for Tesco Bank denies that the offer has misled customers and says..........."A small number of customers have queried the interest on purchases made outside of Tesco during the period of the offer."


Last week a lady that works at the Tesco CC call centre was telling me they had been swamped with customers confused as to why they had been charged interest. Most of the conversations being along the lines........................

'I spent £100 at Tesco and £200 elsewhere. So I paid £200 off my balance because the £100 at Tesco was at 0% But I have still been charged interest. Why?

She felt it was a genuine Tesco cockup rather than a deliberately misleading offer. Nobody had thought through how the offer would effect customers who normally cleared their balance in full.

Nebulous2

I'm stoozing like mad, took thousands in MTs at the end of last year and am trying to find as many regular savers and current accounts as I can to put the money in.

I've also had a 18 month 0% interest on purchases offer where I put thousands on it then paid it off before it ended.

Despite all that, with a lifelong interest in personal finance, and a desire to become more MSE - I still cannot get my head around putting my Christmas lunch on a 3 months deal from a credit card.

jamesd

So what are Tesco supposed to have done wrong here? This seems to have worked like any other 0% for purchases deal, with interest accruing on the balance not at 0% until repaid and being charged on the next statement, that being the last interest charged on those chargeable transactions.

Abbey1991

Not really sure. But if an accountant found the calculation confusing, it probably would be impenetrable for anyone else.