Interest on "cash like transaction" - when does it stop??

gutt3d

A newly opened coffee shop set something up wrong, and contactless transactions got treated as cash withdrawals.  I got caught twice (2x £2.99 fee on 2x "cash withdrawals of £6.10 on my Barlcaycard, plus interest on the 2 rounds of coffees).  The coffee shop apologised profusely, it all got sorted, they gave me a bunch of vouchers (5 or 6 free coffees or something) - all good.

This was on 18th and then 23rd Sept.  I paid off my bill in full by direct debit (same as always) in mid October, and didn't think any more of it.  My November statement is now due (not fully prepared yet), and I see I got charged *another* round of interest on 19th Nov , which I'll presumably see on my Nov statement.  I double-checked my transactions since last statement (and in fact since 23rd Sept) and can see that the coffee shop has indeed fixed their payments - I've been there a few times since and haven't been stung for a "cash withdrawal" - last time was 23rd Sept.

The charge is only a small amount of money - only 32p presumably in November statement (on top of the 35p I paid in my October bill) - but I'm a bit concerned that this is still hanging around, even though I repay in full each month.  Anyone know whether I'll see this again in December??  I only just spotted it, so have only just contacted Barclaycard through their messaging system (phone lines are closed) - so I thought maybe I might be able to get some advice here...

October bill also paid off in full (direct debit) and that's why my November statement has only just come out.  How can I get rid of this seemingly recurring charge??

jfdi

It keeps going.......I got caught out years ago by similar, all due to the way interest is calculated. Just pay a bit extra, say 40p, then you’ll be a few pence in credit.

gutt3d

Ok, thanks.  My bill isn't due until mid December, but I'll get it paid now (plus an extra £1) and hopefully that'll be the last I hear of it.  Thanks for the info.

EDIT: damn - just tried, but the system won't let my account go into credit.  Argh!

Yahoo_Mail

jfdi said:

It keeps going.......I got caught out years ago by similar, all due to the way interest is calculated. Just pay a bit extra, say 40p, then you’ll be a few pence in credit.

Incorrect.

Ok, thanks.  My bill isn't due until mid December, but I'll get it paid now (plus an extra £1) and hopefully that'll be the last I hear of it.  Thanks for the info.

EDIT: damn - just tried, but the system won't let my account go into credit.  Argh!

You need to pay off two months statements in full to stop trailing interest.  This is for AMEX but it applies to other brands.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/customer-service/faq.how-is-interest-calculated.html

gutt3d

Yahoo_Mail said: You need to pay off two months statements in full to stop trailing interest.  This is for AMEX but it applies to other brands.

Thank you - much obliged!  I've just paid it off now, so hopefully that'll be the end of it.  Though I'm tempted to go back to the coffee shop, explain the frustration, and see if they will give me another voucher for a free coffee!

Thank you both again, though.

penners324

Why not call the credit card provider and explain it to them? 

ARH_2

Surely the approach is to contact the card provider, explain that the transactions were not cash withdrawals, and ask them to remove the changes they've applied when incorrectly thinking it's a cash withdrawal?

MEM62

penners324 said:

Why not call the credit card provider and explain it to them? 

That would have been my fist port of call - to explain that these were not cash transactions in the first place.  

born_again

ARH_2 said:

Surely the approach is to contact the card provider, explain that the transactions were not cash withdrawals, and ask them to remove the changes they've applied when incorrectly thinking it's a cash withdrawal?

You could do. And hope they will adjust the fee's as a error, as clearly you can not get £2.99 worth of cash. 
Except that the issue is not with the OP's card provider. The issue was with the retailer & their merchant bank & how it was set up at their end.

gutt3d

At the time I noticed this (yesterday evening) the phone lines had closed.  I posted a message to Barclaycard secure messaging thing, and then I came straight here...  They've refunded me both interest charges (total of 67p) - but I was more worried about why it was still being charged; they say they've paused the billing cycle to be sure I won't see any residual interest charges in December statement.  I'm annoyed about being stung for £2.99 (twice) for making a "cash like transaction", but that's the fault of the coffee shop - they gave me free coffees which more than covered the ~£6 fees incurred.  So now - with interest sorted too, I mean - I'm a lot less annoyed that I was last night!

Thank you to everyone who replied.  I know the interest was a minor amount (and I wasn't worried about the actual amount as such), but the interest really had me worked up.  You guys fixed it    Thank you!

phillw

gutt3d said:

I know the interest was a minor amount (and I wasn't worried about the actual amount as such), but the interest really had me worked up.  You guys fixed it    Thank you!

I think too much time on MSE does make you obsessed with looking after the pennies & in terms of time spent it's probably not financially worth it, but saying that I would complain as well. The bank will take the same view that arguing over a few pence is not worth it either.