Mint Direct Debit Scam

SteveEast9

Smidda wrote: »

Sounds like someone needs to keep their noses out and if they have nothing constructive to say on the OP's original query then dont say anything!! :mad:

Thanks smidda - I was losing any hope that a single poster with a functioning brain was going to reply.

SteveEast9

butch_dingle wrote: »

i find this story quite hard to believe : you had a minimum payment of £73 which suggests a balance of around £2400 which you "paid off" from your current account, but 20 days laters you didnt have enough in this current account to pay a £73 direct debit.

Sounds like you need to organise your finances a bit better.

Your logic would be smashed to smithereens by a Year 6 class of pupils in about 2 minutes.

Why if I choose to repay a (yes) very large balance - while I had the money from the maturity of an investment and (even tho' it's none of your damn business) because I wanted to get it out of the way while I had the time to do it - mean I should keep money in my current account for a debit I did not owe? I run my current account with funds to repay all bills and spending I make - not debts I do not have.

No wonder people like you come here - banks would run rings around you with stupid logic like that.

SteveEast9

steven504 wrote: »

I would write to mint and complain. put it in writing and the date you expect the money to be refunded. They tried to take money that was already paid off i got a refund from my cc for the same thing.

Thanks Steven - that's what I am doing today and posted posted here 2 days ago for any further thoughts, knowing that I would be doing that anyway.

I genuinely appreciate the two comments (only) such as yours and smiddas that have been constructive and helpful.

I think I am going to give this forum at least, a very wide berth in future.
With the exception of the two posts mentioned I seriously worry that other people posting here are working through some issues that they are, or should be, getting some other form of help for elsewhere.

Maybe it is my naivety around internet forums, I rarely need to use them.

But as a 50 year old person with 34 years of pretty competent financial skills; who has never before suffered from any kind of scam; who doesn't get hauled in by transparent 'offers'; who has never ever paid for a product 'warranty' insurance or a 'debt protection' insurance; who does use their finances wisely, and who has used and benefited from many of the things that Martyn Lewis highlights (long before he set up his website) I certainly don't see the point of getting any advice from the likes of most of the posters in this thread.

In conclusion - for the benefit of anyone reading this thread who is genuinely interested: I have checked with Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Coop, Nationwide and HSBC - they all confirm that in similar circumstances NO minimum payment DD request would have been generated on their systems.

I have, unwittingly, learned from my experience with Mint as an exception.

gt94sss2

SteveEast9 wrote: »

In conclusion - for the benefit of anyone reading this thread who is genuinely interested: I have checked with Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Coop, Nationwide and HSBC - they all confirm that in similar circumstances NO minimum payment DD request would have been generated on their systems.

I have, unwittingly, learned from my experience with Mint as an exception.

I have experienced this before and its not a scam as such - its just that different credit card companies have different policies.

The ones I have seen are:

1) A company will recalculate the direct debit if a payment is made at least xx days before the direct debit is due.

2) A company will take no account of any payment made and will automatically take the direct debit specified on the statement (like Mint)

3) If any payment is made - regardless of the amount - the credit card company will not take any money by direct debit that month.

Which of these the credit card company follows is ususally laid out in their T&C - certainly mint is not unique in following 2 above.

However, as someone else has said if you write/call them they are likely to refund the £10 charge - don't just ignore it and stop using your card as that will damage your credit record..

Regards
Sunil

SteveEast9

gt94sss2 wrote: »

I have experienced this before and its not a scam as such - its just that different credit card companies have different policies.

However, as someone else has said if you write/call them they are likely to refund the £10 charge - don't just ignore it and stop using your card as that will damage your credit record..

Regards
Sunil

Thanks sunil

1. The use of the word 'scam' was intended merely to generically highlight a practice that is anti-consumer friendliness. Another term would have been better maybe.

2. I genuinely appreciate your explanation of those various ways that different issuers operate a minimum payment DD and I hold my hands up - never having had a card that operated differently to option 1 - to not having known that. We all learn something new at times and, like 99.9% of consumers, reading every article of the T&Cs is not always done.
Like many terms and conditions, those ones that are critical on a daily basis should be properly highlighted.

3. I think if you *read* my post you will find the whole point of it was because *I already have* spoken to a *Manager* at Mint who, knowing the circumstances in full, has refused, in the manner of a speaking robot, and that's why I posted the Orwellian transcript of said conversation.

I already intended to write a letter and send it by recorded delivery - which is now written and will go out on Monday.

My post was to seek useful observations, and those now amount to precisely 2 and a half.

YorkshireBoy

SteveEast9 wrote: »

I have, unwittingly, learned from my experience with Mint as an exception.

MBNA run cards are other exceptions.

Since you seem to have missed it in both the Mint T&C's and DDI confirmation letter, and because MBNA run a lot of cards, I just thought I'd point that one out in case you make a habit of not reading information sent to you.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by SteveEast9
I have checked with Nat West, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Coop, Nationwide and HSBC. They all confirm that in similar circumstances, NO minimum payment DD request would have been generated on their systems.

FYI, the Co-op will take no account of any payment made and will automatically take the direct debit specified on the statement (like Mint)
A note to this effect appears on monthly statements.

I would be rather surprised if NatWest is different from Mint, as these cards belong to the same stable. Both are underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

YorkshireBoy

Moggles wrote: »

FYI, the Co-op will take no account of any payment made and will automatically take the direct debit specified on the statement (like Mint)
A note to this effect appears on monthly statements.

You're quite correct Moggles (as usual ).

I've just checked my old Stroud & Swindon paperwork and I see I was only able to stop the minimum payment DD being claimed (even though I had a zero balance following settlement) because I closed the account 8 days before the payment due date.

SteveEast9

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

MBNA run cards are other exceptions.

Since you seem to have missed it in both the Mint T&C's and DDI confirmation letter, and because MBNA run a lot of cards, I just thought I'd point that one out in case you make a habit of not reading information sent to you.

Your sarcasm is priceless.

I make a habit of reading such important data pretty widely but my MINT card was actually a differently branded RBS Credit Card originally, prior to the launch of Mint, and taken out some 7 years ago.

So, as this example of a transaction had never happened before, I don't feel at all at fault for not recalling the precise terms of the DD mandate - but I will review that written mandate to see if your reference to it is relevant.

Of course, the point of this post was not that but the *refusal* of Mint - given all the facts - to agree a goodwill refund of the fee. That is the 'scam' here.
But I appreciate that people who merely wish to post 'it's your own fault for not reading every dot and comma of the T&Cs der, da da der der! will not be interested in the underlying issue.

SteveEast9

Moggles wrote: »

FYI, the Co-op will take no account of any payment made and will automatically take the direct debit specified on the statement (like Mint)
A note to this effect appears on monthly statements.

I would be rather surprised if NatWest is different from Mint, as these cards belong to the same stable. Both are underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

You may be right but then that makes a Coop credit card call centre employee wrong. He told me it will take into account a full settlement payment received and credited to the card account at least 5 working days prior to the due date for the minimum payment, as did a NatWest employee. Of course, I was telling them about a NIL balance posted early settlement and not an instance of me having made a 'minimum' payment early and left any further balance.

However, this thread has now become a 'Pxxxing contest' for people with nothing to do, with all their posts ignoring the actual issue - Mint's refusal to waive the £10 given the circumstances.