Virgin

Stealthk80

Hi, I maybe after some preemptive advice. I got a 0% card about 5 weeks back, about 3 weeks in I got paid, so made a payment around 6x minium payment amount. 3 weeks later I get a text saying my payment is due in 2 days.. I log on next next to check they receive the payment, which they did. So I figured OK, I'll pay the minimum just to be sure. That payment is still pending 2days later and today I get a message telling me to pay as I'm now over due.
Concerned I call them up, and after 10 mins or so he suggests I should be ok but the original payment was before the statement date and therefore isn't accepted as this month's payment.. And that I could loose my promotional 0% rate. So I made 2 payments, one too early, the other caught up as pending for 2 days, can they actually go ahead and cancel my rate?

Ben8282

The timeframe of all this doesn't add up which makes me suspect the whole thing is made up.

You got the card 5 weeks ago. From my experience a statement is unlikely to have been issued for some time and certainly not immediately.

You made a payment after 3 weeks, which means 2 weeks ago although you go on to say that it is now 3 weeks later. OK. This payment was made before the statement was issued and therefore the payment was not taken into account as the minimum payment for the current statement. Why exactly you should choose to make such a payment of 6 times the mimimum payment at this point on a 0% card or how you could have been sure of what the minimum payment would be as no statement had been issued (although I suppose you could have guessed) I can't quite figure out.

You don't mention when the current statement was issued, although you do say that 3 weeks have elapsed since you made the payment. Therefore the statement would have been issued within the last 3 weeks. In such a case the payment due date would not have been reached.

You say you made a payment 2 days ago? Do you mean Saturday? Their systems will not have updated over the weekend so yes it will still be showing as pendng. How did you make this payment? By what means?

Yes they can go ahead and cancel your promotional rate if you fail to make minimum payments on time. Suggest in furture you eithger set up a (minimum payment) direct debit to avoid this and/or pay more attention to your statements and the payment due date.

Stealthk80

No i didn't make it up... I made the large payment on 30th October, the amount I payed was based on 23 months to clear the total balance, I now know it was around 6 times the minimum payment. post the payment request made last week. I can't remember exactly the date the card account started. Basically I got paid, knew I needed to pay 1/23 of the total balance and I did. I thought that would cover the months payment. Yes I paid on Saturday, as I said I have made 2 payments to this account in 3.5 weeks, yet I maybe about to loose my 0%

Ben8282

Could you please clarify by stating the statement date and the payment due date shown on the statement.

Now that you have clarified that it was in fact 27 days ago that you made the payment things make a lot more sense.

You were wrong to think that a payment made before any statement had been issued would cover the minimum payment for a statement that had not yet been issued. You cannot make a minimum payment towards the balance of a statement in advance of the statement being issued. As this is unlikely to be your first ever credit card you really should know this.

Confused about the word post. Do you mean you paid by posting a cheque or do you mean after ….
I'm afraid that if you paid by posting a cheque and Virgin will require cleared funds prior to the payment due date, you may well end up having made the payment late. If this is the case you can always call them and ask them very nicely if they could please reinstate the 0% offer as it is the first time etc and they may well do so on this occasion. If you paid by some other method and for some reason you appear reluctant to state the method, then it may be OK. It all depends when the payment due date actually is/was.

Also to clarify the minimum payment is not 1/23 of the outstanding balance. On Virgin cards it is normally 1% of the statement balance. You are obviously free to pay more if you so wish.

[Deleted User]

Yes they could cancel the offer if you’re late in making a payment.

Why did you make a payment before the statement was issued?

Willing2Learn

Ring them up. Be honest with them. Tell them that you are new to credit cards and that you did not realise that you should not pay your balance before the statement has been issued. Apologise profusely. Admit your mistake. State that you have now learned from your error. Ask if they can continue to provide with the 0% promotion as a goodwill gesture.

Edit: And welcome to the forum Stealthk80

Stealthk80

Post? Cheque lol? I paid by card on the app, I meant I knew it was 6 times the minimum post/after I got the text reminder saying payment was due in two days

Terry_Towelling

Is this your first ever credit card?

If we are to take you at face-value, and it is your first ever CC, I'd probably tell you not to worry. If it does go pear-shaped, give them a call, plead ignorance and tell them you are a novice. These companies are usually tolerant of mistakes at the outset, especially as you can quite easily demonstrate your goodfaith by pointing out the first early payment and the second one which you tried to get to them in time.

If they won't let you off, try and get a 0% BT card from another provider and switch the debt over - there are no guarantees you'll be able to get another card to do this, though.

Trying to pay off transactions that have yet to appear on a statement can be a good strategy in certain situations, but only for those who know exactly what they are doing and how their early payments will be applied. In general, though, paying before you get a statement is pointless. And, before anyone jumps on me for that last sentence, please note the bold, underlined text in the sentence before that.

Stealthk80

I'm not new, I've had them before, just so happens that my pay day landed after the statement date, it was my error I'm not denying, just feels harsh as I was actually trying to pay it, twice lol

And thanks for welcome

Stealthk80

Payment showing as cleared day before it was due, so fingers crossed

[Deleted User]

Does it matter if payday is after the statement date?

You still have at least 20 days to pay following the statement date.