Tesco Credit Card charging fees and interest on insurance payments

Pedr057

[FONT=&quot]When I received my latest Tesco Bank credit card statement I noticed a couple of unexpected charges so phoned Tesco to determine what they were. They said it was related to an insurance premium I'd paid with the card and all payments to financial institutions are now deemed to be cash transfers. They also said they'd informed me of this change back in May. Apparently is was included with the statement but as I have opted for paperless statements, I'm not sure I ever received it (perhaps a well disguised hyperlink at the end of an email saying my statement was ready to review online?).[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]They eventually sent me a hard copy of the revised terms and conditions I believe section 2 is the relevant section: [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]A handling fee of 3.99% (minimum £3.00 charge) of the amount for cash withdrawals from ATMs, over the counter at a branch or from a cash provider. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]A handling fee of 3.99% (no minimum fee) of the amount of cash transactions. Cash transactions are gambling transactions, wire or international money transfers, repaying borrowing (e.g. loans and mortgages), purchasing non-sterling currency outside of Tesco, payments to prepaid or virtual cards, investments, share trading and spread betting.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]There is no mention of payments made to financial insurance and I do not see how such insurance payments could be construed as “repaying borrowing” from the above conditions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They also told me that I would have received a Consumer Credit Agreement with the insurance that would confirm this was a fixed sum loan agreement and that this means the insurance is repaid finance and this charge is correct. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I don’t recall receiving a “Consumer Credit Agreement” and it wasn’t attached to the Policy Welcome email. Even if it was sent it to me then I would have already paid the premium by the time it was sent so I could not have used my debit card instead.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I eventually received a letter from them 13 days after phoning them saying that they’d suspended the charges whilst they investigated my complaint.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the mean time I contacted my insurer and they came back with this response, “we are aware that Tesco Bank are applying charges to credit card purchases of insurance products. This is something that ******* Insurance do not have control over and the charges applied are not for our benefit. In our eyes you have paid the premium in full therefore no such agreements would be necessary. I think the information you have been given regarding the ‘repaying borrowing’ must only apply to their rules of transactions. I have investigated this and no other credit card providers are treating the transactions as such.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So, be very careful what you use your Tesco CC to pay for or you will incur some unexpected charges.[/FONT]
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jimbo26

Not sure insurance is a Consumer Credit Agreement. Only if you choose to pay monthly does it become a credit agreement. If you pay upfront in full there is no credit agreement between you and the insurer.

Did you use a credit card to pay off an insurance policy that you had started to pay monthly?

molerat

It looks like Tesco have clumped a lot of financial institution MCCs into the quasi cash category. Complain, ditch and switch !

Pedr057

No, I paid in full before the insured period started.

jimbo26

I think you will have a case to have the charges refunded in that case

tastyhog

bought car insurance on the 11th June from provident insurance, paid in full £341 for the year, and had no charges or interest from Tesco bank on the latest card statement.

be curious to know the company you bought off and whether they offer other types of lending that goes though as a generic name on the card statement, provident insurance shows as PROV INSURANCE on the statement

Pedr057

It was bought from Intelligent Insurance on 21 June and that name appears on the statement.

[Deleted User]

It!!!8217;s not a purchase though really

So the fees are fair

SnowTiger

Perhaps the same recent change to Tesco credit card T&Cs that affected Curve customers last month. Forum messages 302 onward.

Tesco backed down on how the change affected Curve customers, although I think they were technically correct.

What's considered a cash transaction is a confusing topic for customers.

molerat

Do your statements or on line data give the merchant code or business description. Either Tesco are using all 6xxx codes as cash transactions or the provider is using their cash transaction code for all business.

Pedr057

!!! wrote: »

It!!!8217;s not a purchase though really

So the fees are fair

Gary,


Do you mean it's not a purchase of goods? It is a purchase of a service so should their Ts&Cs distinquish between purchasing goods and services?