Balance Transferred before card arrived

frankieb123

Hi I applied for a Post Office Credit Card 0% for up to 41 months. I check my credit records and have a high score at the moment so applied to transfer two balances onto it. Went through usual rigmarole of receiving id letter and going to the post office to get it validated. Well to cut a long story short I received an email today saying that my limit was £3300, 18 month 0%, and 24.9% APR. The balance I was transferring left £200 which I wouldn't be touching anyway. I was not happy about it as I was expecting the interest free period to be longer and would have a lower apr so I phoned them up as I believe there is a 14 day cooling off period. Anyway they told me that the balance transfers which I (now) foolishly gave them the card details when I applied had been processed and would go through. My question is should they be allowed to transfer balances when it states the cooling off period begins when you receive your limit and apr. Sorry for the long rant but can't find anything about it online and want to warn other people about this practice. I already have a barclaycard with nothing on it and they keep asking me to transfer balances for 18months interest free so I could have used them.

damoC

Bump.
Every card I've gotten only transfers the balance once the card has been activated, which can only happen once recieved.

frankieb123

That's what I thought. The woman I spoke to on the phone said that if I wanted the balance transfers stopped I would have to contact my two other credit card companies and then they would cancel the card which I have never heard of before. I'm thinking of contacting the Financial ombudsman because there is something fishy about all this. Cheers for the quick reply.

[Deleted User]

I'd love to know what you think is "fishy"

Ben8282

You applied for a credit card. During the application process you indicated that you wanted a balance transfer and provided the details of the balance transfer requited. The lender then approved your application for the card and promptly made the balance transfer. In similar circumstances another customer would be praising the lender for their speed and efficiency. You are complaining.


http://www.theaa.com/credit-card-deals/balance-transfer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhcXuyJ7O1QIVzL3tCh2VZA7lEAAYASABEgJZFvD_BwE
0% for up to 41, 26 or 18 months when a balance transfer is made in the first 3 months, depending on individual circumstances.
Right at the top - couldn't be any clearer.


What was allegedly said to you by the woman on the phone is nonsense. The/ balance transfer cannot be cancelled as it has already gone.

frankieb123

My point was that you should have the facts in front of you before they do the transfer. There is supposed to be a 14 day cooling off period starting from the day they give you the limit and apr amount. There's not much chance of saying I don't require this card any longer if they have already started to transfer the amount, that should only be done when you receive the card details. As has been said before all my other cards have had to be activated before I could use them. The post office one said it was good to go. The woman I spoke to spoke to her boss and it was him that told her if I wanted to cancel the balance transfers I would have to do it by contacting my two other credit card companies. I'm not a financial expert so don't know if this is possible or not.
All I'm really asking is if there is a cooling off period by law why can they start transfers without me knowing the facts.

Ben8282

If you don't want this card just repay the balance transfers. This can be done by balance transfer from the Barclaycard. You can then close the AA card account when you have repaid and the balance is zero.
You have been given an identical period to what is being offered by Barclaycard so you are not really any worse off than you would have been if you had simply transferred from your Barclaycard in the first place except that the AA card fee was probably slightly higher than you would have paid if you had transferred from your Barclaycard but the fee is clearly stated so you knew what that was before you applied for the AA card.
You are complaining about the APR on the AA card but as you have stated that you don't intend to use the card other than for the balance transfer, then why do you care about the APR? You won't be paying interest will you?

frankieb123

You're missing the point. I got the terms, wasn't happy when I received them, and under the consumer credit act should have had 14 days to cancel the card without any problems. It's my prerogative if I want the card or not. I've spoken to the financial ombudsman and they said that they should not have transferred the balances until the cooling off period was over and they could stop the transfers in their tracks. I'm only on here to warn other people.
By the way its the Post office not AA please read the original email.

norsefox

frankieb123 wrote: »

You're missing the point. I got the terms, wasn't happy when I received them, and under the consumer credit act should have had 14 days to cancel the card without any problems. It's my prerogative if I want the card or not. I've spoken to the financial ombudsman and they said that they should not have transferred the balances until the cooling off period was over and they could stop the transfers in their tracks. I'm only on here to warn other people.
By the way its the Post office not AA please read the original email.

Seems like you knew the solution before posting, and have solved your problem without any help. Good work

Ben8282

frankieb123 wrote: »

You're missing the point. I got the terms, wasn't happy when I received them, and under the consumer credit act should have had 14 days to cancel the card without any problems. It's my prerogative if I want the card or not. I've spoken to the financial ombudsman and they said that they should not have transferred the balances until the cooling off period was over and they could stop the transfers in their tracks. I'm only on here to warn other people.
By the way its the Post office not AA please read the original email.

The post office card is also issued by Bank of Ireland and exactly the same thing is mentioned about the different lengths of 0% periods that may be offered.
I think that if everybody had to wait 14 days in order to do a balance transfer there would be a lot of very unhappy customers around.
I very much doubt the Ombudsman said any such thing. HOW can the balance transfers be stopped in their tracks? They are made by faster payment and have already been credited to the other accounts, already saving you interest on the balances which are now repaid.
So do you believe that you should not have to repay these balance transfers then?

Superscrooge

frankieb123 wrote: »

You're missing the point. I got the terms, wasn't happy when I received them, and under the consumer credit act should have had 14 days to cancel the card without any problems. It's my prerogative if I want the card or not. I've spoken to the financial ombudsman and they said that they should not have transferred the balances until the cooling off period was over and they could stop the transfers in their tracks. I'm only on here to warn other people.
By the way its the Post office not AA please read the original email.

I've taken out several balance transfer cards and no credit card company has ever waited 14 days to complete the balance transfer. Usually the BT occurs within a week or even quicker.