0% interest revoked but no notification

slholtam

Is it fair that a credit card company can cancel your 0% interest offer because they allowed you to go over your limit, & then not directly notify you (unless you go hunting for your statements on their website when you don't think you have any reason to)? I received no email or text saying I had exceeded my limit (why allow me to exceed it anyway. Oh, so you can make money out of me without me realizing!) or that the offer would now be rescinded. As I had set up a direct debit for the minimum amount, & havent used the card since last July (when they began charging me interest!) I thought it was all under control, only to discover I have been paying loads of interest, but nothing off my balance. It's daylight robbery, & unethical. Is there anything I can do? They say they informed me because it's on my statement which I would only see if I deliberately hunted it down, & that its my responsibility. I get that. But dont they have a responsibility to directly notify the customer that they are going to start charging?

Thrugelmir

Why wouldn't you check your credit card statements? After all is your responsibility. The terms of the 0% offer is clearly spelled out. If broken you suffer the consequences. 

cymruchris

You went over your limit - so you spent too much - it does happen - but usually people realise it immediately and rectify it straight away with a call to the bank and a grovelling apology - weren't you tracking regularly what you were spending via the app, ensuring all transactions were accurate, and no fraudulent activity had been happening? Most people would check their statements produced on a monthly basis to keep a check on what's going on within their accounts - or as a minimum have a look at the app, scan through the transactions and keep an eye on the total - didn't you? Statements are produced monthly so that we, as customers can take a look at our card activity, and ensure all is ok, reporting any suspicious activity.

If you've not been checking yours - who knows who might have been ripping you off on a regular basis, and you'd know nothing about it? Sadly, this is one of those times were you have to take personal responsibility for your (lack of) actions - it's not daylight robbery. You said it's your responsibility to check the statements - and that you get that - so no point really kicking up a fuss if you haven't. I can understand it'll have upset you, annoyed you, and you'd wish you'd checked them earlier, no doubt with a hint of regret and remorse - but the reality is - they've done nothing wrong, and have charged accordingly as per the terms and conditions, and have also put it on a statement for you to see that you didn't worry yourself to look at. How were you keeping track of your transactions? How did you know what your balance was? How did you know how much credit you had left?

slholtam

I understand what you are both saying. I guess as I knew I was around my limit, with the minimum payment set up straight from my account & I was no longer using the card, I didn't think I had any need to watch the balance going down every month. Yes I appreciate that's my fault. But had I been directly notified by email/text/letter (as my phone company does when I'm about to go over my data limit for example) I would have resolved the problem straight away. I just feel that the wool was left deliberately over my eyes so they could make as much money out of me as possible and that's unethical. Customers should be explicitly notified if something is going to cost them a lot of money. Lets face it, we aren't all always on top of everything & their methods allow people to fall increasingly into debt without realising. 

cymruchris

slholtam said:

I understand what you are both saying. I guess as I knew I was around my limit, with the minimum payment set up straight from my account & I was no longer using the card, I didn't think I had any need to watch the balance going down every month. Yes I appreciate that's my fault. But had I been directly notified by email/text/letter (as my phone company does when I'm about to go over my data limit for example) I would have resolved the problem straight away. I just feel that the wool was left deliberately over my eyes so they could make as much money out of me as possible and that's unethical. Customers should be explicitly notified if something is going to cost them a lot of money. Lets face it, we aren't all always on top of everything & their methods allow people to fall increasingly into debt without realising. 

Your learning here will be to check your statements often, review your transactions and balances monthly, it takes 60 seconds a month to scan through your apps briefly just to make sure everything is in order. Credit card companies don't exist to provide free facilities to everyone, they are commercial organisations out to make a profit. They offer 0 percent deals to attract customers knowing that a percentage will carry a balance beyond the interest free period, and that's where they'll make their money. It also includes those (such as yourself) that didn't follow the t's and c's resulting in the revoking of the offer, and interest being charged. I'm sure now this has happened to you, it'll never happen again. 

maxximus75

Your best bet would be to learn from the mistake (I am sorry you have had to learn the hard way) and get that debt shifted onto another 0% card.

I would also pay a set amount rather than the minimum to clear the debt.

Whenever I have moved a balance to a 0% card, I immediately pay the tansfer fee off and I just divide it by the number of months at 0% to get my monthly payment, then it's paid by the end of the term.

Good luck!

MinuteNoodles

slholtam said:

Is it fair that a credit card company can cancel your 0% interest offer because they allowed you to go over your limit, & then not directly notify you (unless you go hunting for your statements on their website when you don't think you have any reason to)? I received no email or text saying I had exceeded my limit (why allow me to exceed it anyway.

They say they informed me because it's on my statement which I would only see if I deliberately hunted it down, & that its my responsibility. I get that. But dont they have a responsibility to directly notify the customer that they are going to start charging?

Yes it is fair. It will be in the terms and conditions of the contract you signed when you took out the card which given you don't bother with statements you most likely didn't bother reading that if you don't comply with the terms then the 0% offer is withdrawn. It isn't their fault you couldn't be bothered to the point you couldn't even be bothered to check your card to see if you were going to go over the limit. They do have a responsibility and they did notify you, they told you in the statement you didn't bother to read and apparently still haven't been bothered to read that you were going to be charged interest. So they have directly notified you, it's just you didn't see it because you couldn't be bothered to read the statement.
"Credit card statement do I look bovvered?" might be funny in a Catherine Tate Lauren Cooper sketch but in real life it can cost you £100s or £1000s.