One day late payment

18cc

As above I think you should initially be polite and ask for the things that you mention

if however the answer is no I would not leave it there I would make a formal complaint because it is unreasonable that you are charged all that because of a Christmas holiday

I think you would be on very solid ground to get the decision reversed either via complaint or if that does not work then via the Financial Ombudsman

MallyGirl

I would ignore this advice - you were in the wrong. By using a SO the onus on you was to get the money there in time.
The best advice is to ask nicely for reinstatement of the 0% offer

Bermonia

Respectfully the Financial Ombudsman would not help, whilst it is a genuine mistake the onus on ensuring payments are made on time rest with the OP, as such the late payment marker is factually correct and as such the lender has a responsibility to record accordingly, charge is minimal but within their t&cs and with regards to the 0% deal that would be considered a business decision (also supported my t&cs) therefore they would be highly unlikely to interfere.

OP just contact the lender apologies and explain how this happened and why steps you will take to ensure doesn’t happen again... hopefully person/lender are reasonable.

Good luck!

18cc

Well I can only reiterate that in my opinion what has happened constitutes an unfair charge and that the OP has a very good chance of getting the whole thing reversed should they complain

Equally the OP of course has the complete right to ignore my advice

YorkshireBoy

18cc wrote: »

Well I can only reiterate that in my opinion what has happened constitutes an unfair charge

What is the specific unfair "charge"?...

The £12 fee?
The interest already charged to the account from the commencement of the statement period preceding the breach?
The interest about to be charged going forward if the OP doesn't transfer the balance elsewhere back to 0%?
Or maybe all of the above?

Actually I think you've already provided your answer...

the OP has a very good chance of getting the whole thing reversed should they complain

So when the FOS get round to investigating the OP's complaint they will tell the card provider to undo the whole "thing", reimburse everything, remove the late payment marker, and reinstate the 0% rate, and pretend nothing happened? Really? The card provider will respond with a firm no in my opinion.

it is unreasonable that you are charged all that because of a Christmas holiday

They haven't been charged all that because of a Christmas holiday, they've been charged "all that" because they didn't pay on time, despite being given around 3 weeks advance notice.

18cc

Fine no problem as I said feel free to ignore my advice...

JustinRC

I just wanted to post a follow up. It took a couple of calls and an email proving my SO was set up to go out on the 25th and they have now reinstated my balance to the promotional rate.
I have also brought my payment date forward by a week!
Thanks for all your helpful advice.

onlyfoolsandparking

That's great news, you obviously pleaded your case well and IMO anything one has to do to stop interest being charged at the horrendous standard rate is worth doing especially as in realistic terms it was your fault:D


Just out of interest did you swallow the £12 late charge or did you get a result with that too?

chattychappy

YorkshireBoy states the strict legal position - you've agreed to a deal, the T+Cs are clear, you have no grounds to complain.

But we know that just because something is in the T+Cs doesn't make it legally binding. Personally I agree with 18cc, and this might be a vision of things to come.

In law, penalties are meant to reflect the cost to the injured party of the breach. Hence the reason why cards were forced to reduce their penalties for late payments (etc) to £12. There is also a drive to fairness in financial services.

Putting that together, I think the days of this gotcha situation are numbered. A BT customer paying a few days late has certainly breached, but charging a penalty and cancelling the deal seems disproportionate. It is a disguised form of penalty that exceeds the cost to the CC of the breach. No doubt it is part of the business model that a certain proportion of BTs will not run their course because of mistakes by cardholders.

It seems common practice for CCs to refund/reinstate affected customers when they complain. Therefore it could be a long time before the FOS gives a ruling or a court sets a precedent.

In time, whether by new legislation, re-interpretation of existing rules or via new codes of conduct, this "gotcha" will be removed, just as negative payment hierarchies, CPAs you can't cancel, excessive charges and perhaps other practices have been removed over the years.

JustinRC

onlyfoolsandparking wrote: »

Just out of interest did you swallow the £12 late charge or did you get a result with that too?

No I took responsibility from the outset admitting it was my oversight, which it was and said I was happy to accept the charge but asked them to reconsider moving the balance to standard rate. Which they did.:beer: