Credit Card Cash Adsvance Charges

Aravaca

In December 2008 I gave my niece £200 cash from a Capital One Credit card to go Christmas shopping. I must admit to not being vigilant in checking my statement each month but I've recently realised that the small Cash Advance Charge each month related to this. I've queried it with Capital One and they have confirmed that it relates to the £200 from Christmas 2008. By my calculations they have charged me over £1,100 in interest since then despite my never having missed a monthly payment. This can't be right, surely?  

bradders1983

I assume you have never cleared the balance off it since?

phillw

Aravaca said:

By my calculations they have charged me over £1,100 in interest since then despite my never having missed a monthly payment. This can't be right, surely?  

The apr seems a bit high but cash advances always attract interest from the day of the transaction until it's cleared, no matter whether you miss a monthly payment or not.
What makes you think it's not right? What do the T&C of the card say?

bradders1983

If the monthly payments are applied to highest interest parts of the balance first, it should have been cleared years ago.

phillw

bradders1983 said:

If the monthly payments are applied to highest interest parts of the balance first, it should have been cleared years ago.

Assuming it wasn't minimum balance with a payment that only covered the interest, which shouldn't happen now but may have to start with. Without looking at 12 years of statements then it's going to be hard to know what is going on.

MinuteNoodles

bradders1983 said:

If the monthly payments are applied to highest interest parts of the balance first, it should have been cleared years ago.

Credit card companies were only required to do that from 2010. If the money withdrawal rate was something eye watering like 49% by the time that came into force there was plenty of time to more than double the amount originally withdrawn in cash if monthly repayments didn't even cover the interest plus that month's spending.

bonkersbonkers1

Cash advance fee on £200 would have been £6.
This would have been covered by the next repayment.
Interest however would run from day of the cash advance until repaid. The rules changed in 2010 when payments had to be paid against the highest charging element of the debt - in this case the cash advance.
Lets say the OP paid £25 a month after interest around £15 would have gone towards the cash advance. So that would have long been repaid.

What the OP has not disclosed is whether the credit card was clear before the cash advance (unlikely?) and whether other transactions were also transacted (highly likely).
I don't believe for one minute that someone from Cap one would have the ability to say for definite that the interest charge is from that cash advance. This is 12 years ago - would their frontline telephone staff have this information from such a long time ago?