I feel such a fool!

sav_c

Hi,

I thought I was pretty clued up when it came to money but today I got caught out by what is surely one of the biggest cons of all time. It's my fault for not reading the micro-print properly but I still feel cheated.

Basically I took out a Lloyds TSB Mastercard with 6 months interest free on Balance Transfers (charged on payments). I then transferred some money from my Halifax card to it.

I one day I left my Halifax card at home and stopped to get petrol. The only card I had handy was the Lloyds one so I put the £40 bill on there instead.

When the bill arrived, I paid the £40 amount plus the minimum charge plus a bit extra to round it up to £250.

Now I have an interest charge on my card relating to the £40, which I cannot clear. I am told 2% goes to the minimum payment, the rest towards the balance transfer. The only way of not paying interest is to pay off the whole lot or balance transfer to another card - which is what I've done.

I'm pretty annoyed at myself for missing the clause in the contract and Lloyds for being so hung up over 64p towards a customer of 17 years - even though they are constantly telling me I'm a good customer and I should upgrade my account to one of their all expensive premium accounts.

Cardinal-Red

Easy way to avoid this I've found is to leave your balance transfer cards at home and never carry them anywhere.

I think most companies operate a payment bias system like this one.

Murtle

this is one of the common ways that all banks use on their credit cards. Easy mistake to make if the card is in your purse....don't put it in your purse, leave any card with no 0% on purchase in a draw to prevent it happening again.

x x x

sav_c

Funny you say that - I've learnt my lesson and taken out the card from my wallet.

lipidicman

To be fair, they all do it. AND it is in the summary box now.

That micro print you talk about? They are the T&Cs, you must read them before you sign the card agreement. On the plus side, you have learned your lesson, you were able to sort it out (with the other card) and you have this place to help you out. All in all, you'll be OK!

Rafter

64p for six months is a grand total of £3.84

From the minimum charge you appear to have arount 10,000 at 0% with them?

If this money is in a savings account somewhere you are earning £40+ interest a month. If it is a balance transfered from another credit card at 15% you are saving £125 a month.

Whatever way you are making a big saving/profit out of Lloyds TSB and £3.84 seems to be a very small price to pay.

If Lloyds can borrow money even as low as base rate your £10k will cost them £240 to fund over 6 months. So the £3.84 they might recover from you is a drop in the ocean.

Even if you did go for one of their premium accounts it will take several years to make you a profitable customer for them again.

xbox

My OH got caught out - similar tale

LOB transfer to Lloyds TSB, 2% fee.

Each month the BT is done at the discount rate (6.9% from memory), however the £40 fee (i.e. 2%) is charged out at their standard rate!

Milarky

xbox wrote:

My OH got caught out - similar tale

LOB transfer to Lloyds TSB, 2% fee.

Each month the BT is done at the discount rate (6.9% from memory), however the £40 fee (i.e. 2%) is charged out at their standard rate!

That's not your 'fault',exactly, that's just a damn tricky way of charging you a fee. For instance, they could have asked you 'how' you wished to pay the fee if it was not to be on the same basis as the other fees - such as taking £40 off you first and THEN doing a BT for the stated amount.

[Even Barclaycard is fairer than this]

xbox

Cunning was my thought!

But as was said above (Rafter I think), the "saving" on the interest for the BT far outweighs the interest on the fee.

The OH is not bitter, just left a bit of a sour taste :rolleyes: