TSB Advance credit card - BEWARE

clivep

Seeing as our Nationwide Select credit card is dropping it's cashback from 0.5% to 0.25% in the new year I thought it best to look at alternatives.

The NatWest one looks good as I have a NatWest current a/c and will give 1% at supermarkets (0.5% elsewhere) so an additional card for the missus will sort out the groceries.

A TSB one for other spending looks good for the wife as she has a TSB Classic Plus current a/c and their cards give 1% cashback on up to £500/month until next June. I take it PayPal etc. are included in the cashback as it only says they're excluded for cashback on debit card payments.

Both signed up for and accepted. Chose the TSB Advance card over the Platinum one for no good reason since will not be taking advantage of any balance transfers and the outstanding balance will be paid off each month by DD.

Reading the t'c & c'c this morning it appears that the TSB Advance card HAS NO GRACE PERIOD such that interest would be payable even when payment in full is made each month by the due date. I did not know that such credit cards existed in the UK.

The TSB Platinum cards have a normal grace period so I'll need to cancel the other application and get one of these instead.

Advance Mastercard details "Interest charged from the date of transaction".
Platinum details "Interest is usually charged from the date of transaction, however, you will not be charged interest on new purchases if you pay the full balance shown on your previous and current statement on time".

Note the above major difference is NOT shown in their "Compare Our Credit Cards" summary.

I note that the t's & c's for both types of TSB credit card say "may reduce the number of days between the statement date and the payment date if you always pay off your balance in full". Not impressed.

derps

That sounds terrible, have you checked with them that this was their intention?

TheShape

It's the card that I always mention (there are probably others) whenever anyone says there is no interest to pay on a credit card if you always pay it off in full.

I think it is fairly clearly stated when you go to the 'more details and apply' page but then again I already knew it would be mentioned there and I'm not surprised that it catches some people out.

Dobbibill

OP - this was the same as when LloydsTSB were one bank.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1960143

It does catch people out though.

Lloyds don't do this card any longer.
TSB still offer their equivalent.

clivep

TheShape wrote: »

I think it is fairly clearly stated when you go to the 'more details and apply' page but then again I already knew it would be mentioned there and I'm not surprised that it catches some people out.

I take it when you say it's clearly stated you mean when they say "Interest charged from the date of transaction". I took that to mean that interest got accrued from transaction date rather than from statement date (as I believe used to be the case on some cards)...
The condition "4.3... We start charging interest on Transactions and on all other amounts from and including the date they are added to the account" appears for both the Advance and the Platinum cards.

I did not interpret it to mean there was no grace period as I thought all credit cards had one. Subsequently reading the summary for the Platinum card shows "Interest is usually charged from the date of transaction, however, you will not be charged interest on new purchases if you pay the full balance shown on your previous and current statement on time" which is a convoluted way of saying it does have a grace period on purchases and the absence of this for the Advance card would have alerted me if I had looked at this other card before applying for the Advance.

TSB even say on their Credit Cards Explained page "How will purchase rates affect me? This is what you'll be charged when you use your credit card to buy things. Typically you'll have up to 56 days (or around 20-30 days after your statement) to make your payment in full before you are charged interest. If you do not make your payment in full then interest is typically charged from the date the transaction is made until it's paid in full".

I'm sure I've seen the grace periods compared in the past on credit card comparison sites but I can't currently find any that even mention the grace periods. It certainly ought to be a main feature on TSB's own "Compare Our Credit Cards" page rather than be omitted altogether.

clivep

Just to correct myself, I have just seen that the MoneySuperMarket site does show the grace period. Not on the main page under the "But be aware that" heading, but on the card details page near the bottom...

Advance
REPAYMENT DETAILS Interest free period - 0 days

Platinum
REPAYMENT DETAILS Interest free period - 56 days

EarthBoy

Credit cards without a grace period were common 30 years ago, but the TSB Advance card is the only one I can think of that's still around, although there may be others.

These cards are aimed at people who don't pay the balance off in full every month. The interest rate is lower than other credit cards, e.g. TSB's Platinum card, so if you don't pay the full balance you're better off with the Advance card than with the Platinum one.

redux

Don't worry that you're lumbered. Tell them you didn't notice this, and want to cancel the card and apply for the other.

I did that about 3 years ago with a card that offered cashback. Due to some glitch on the application page, perhaps like refreshing the page and a cookie didn't track, mine arrived without cashback. Cancelled at 12 days and reapplied. They didn't complain about wasting a card and postage.

clivep

EarthBoy wrote: »

These cards are aimed at people who don't pay the balance off in full every month. The interest rate is lower than other credit cards, e.g. TSB's Platinum card, so if you don't pay the full balance you're better off with the Advance card than with the Platinum one.

Quite.

As both their Advance and Platinum cards both offer the 1% cashback and will be paid in full each month then the sole reason for us to go for one over the other is down to the grace period yet this is not highlighted in their "compare cards" page.

In respect of the interest rate, my wife's Advance card was offered with an 15.94% APR rather than the headline 7.94% advertised. Presumably this was because we have no debt/overdraft arrangements/credit facilities (other than Nationwide credit card in my name and utilities) but do currently have about 20 current accounts between us.

The card number is already showing in her online a/c and we'll be calling later today to cancel it. I doubt they'll be able to tranfer the application to a Platinum card so we'll probably have to apply again in a few days.