Mint Card Minimum Payments not covering interest

moneymessmummy

I have had cause to check old Mint mastercard statements recently and pre 2011 I have realized that the minimum payments I was making were not clearing the interest they were charging me!
Surely this could not have been legal practice? I am also pretty sure that they once fined me for failing to pay enough even though THEY set the amount and collected by DD on time. I was left in an awful financial situation so have only been able to make minimum payments - now I am looking to make inroads and had started by looking at my Mint Account (Previously RBS Advanta) for instance my October 2009 statement shows a balance of £444.19 my October 2010 shows a balance of £444.42 an increase, despite not having made a purchase in years and paying the minimum amount via direct debit on time! Typically they were asking for a payment of £9 then charging £9.95 interest? I am trying to find out if Mint were entiltled to do this within credit card regulations? Any help would be really appreciated

[Deleted User]

moneymessmummy wrote: »

Surely this could not have been legal practice?

It surely could.

Rules changed for new accounts but lenders were under no obligation to change historic accounts. It sounds as if yours was changed in 2011.

You may get some goodwill from a complaint - though there will be a question mark over why it has taken so long for you to query it.

bengal-stripe

moneymessmummy wrote: »

......for instance my October 2009 statement shows a balance of £444.19 my October 2010 shows a balance of £444.42 an increase,

Typically they were asking for a payment of £9 then charging £9.95 interest?

So in a whole year your balance had increased by 23 pence; which is 2p a month. Hardly the 'typical' 95p you claim.

It is only a number of years ago, quite likely in 2011, that the rule was introduced that the minimum payment had to cover all charges, all interest and at least 1% of the balance.

You should have noticed back then your balance wasn't decreasing.

Ben8282

It almost defies belief that you have been making minimum payments on a balance of £444 for 8 years which has continued to increase over the entire period. I am also surprised that in all this time they have never changed the method of calculating the minimum payment on this account. when the regulations changed. I recall that other credit cards did.
I notice from your previous posts all made in 2010 that you had serious debt issues and were considering a DMP. But surely your financial situation over the last 8 years has not been so bad that you couldn't do more than make minimum payments on a credit card where the balance was increasing. If the balance was several 1000's of pounds I could understand, but £444? Even if you have been unable to repay the £444 over 8 years and remain unable to repay, could you not repay the £444 when you get paid, put £444 of purchases on the card and continue like that, repaying in full each month thereby avoiding interest?