£12 over limit fee for going 73p over for 2 days

FaceHead

As above, I miscalculated the credit available on a card, which pushed it 73p over it's limit after buying a few things. 

Two days later I saw this land on the statement and hastily put a payment on the card to bring it back into it's limit. 

I've now been slapped with a £12 over limit fee. 

Seems quite disproportionate to going pence over. Is it worth asking the provider to be a bit more forgiving with this, or is message that they have to earn a living somehow, SoBe more careful in future? 

[Deleted User]

If it's your first offence, its worth asking for some goodwill.

But also be more careful. Perhaps look for a card with a higher limit. You might want to do that now in case an over limit marker is about to be applied, which will limit your chances.

Scrounger

FaceHead said:

Is it worth asking the provider to be a bit more forgiving with this...

Yes, definitely worth a try, especially if it's your 'first offence'.

Good luck, you might be lucky.

Scrounger

jbrassy

Have you set up text and email alerts for your spending? I get one if I get within £500 of my limit. If not, these may help prevent this from happening again. I think most (if not all) credit card companies offer this service.

born_again

Never hurts to ask. But be nice about it and admt it was your error. Going in guns blazing is a good way to get the person on the end of the phone saying no.

Sandtree

FaceHead said:

I've now been slapped with a £12 over limit fee. 

Seems quite disproportionate to going pence over. Is it worth asking the provider to be a bit more forgiving with this, or is message that they have to earn a living somehow, SoBe more careful in future? 

Years ago it would almost certainly have been more than double that.

There was a whole super complaint made about credit card fees and ultimately it was decided that the average cost of up to £12 is likely to be justifiable and hence almost everyone universally adopted it rather than trying to argue why their capital reserving or debt collection costs etc were more than the industry average. Thankfully the rate has seen no inflation despite the number of years passed.

Most banks will let you off for a first offence as a guesture of goodwill but for most banks £0.01 and £1,000 carries the same fee as most the extra overhead isnt proportional to the amount.

RG2015

About 15 years ago I just forgot to pay my NatWest credit card. At that time I paid the full balance by cheque at the bank. The balance would have been about £500.

I was charged a fee and interest which was fair enough. Nevertheless, I phoned them and had the charges refunded. The agent emphasised that this was a one off and if it happened again I would not be refunded.

I now pay online as soon as I receive my statement. I do not setup a direct debit because NatWest take this 10 days earlier than the due date.

Sandtree

RG2015 said:

I now pay online as soon as I receive my statement. I do not setup a direct debit because NatWest take this 10 days earlier than the due date.

Hu?

10 days before due date is going to be much later than as soon as you receive your statement @rg2015!

Most don't do DD because they can pay by debit card or BACS later not that the DD isnt early enough.

RG2015

Sandtree said:

RG2015 said:

I now pay online as soon as I receive my statement. I do not setup a direct debit because NatWest take this 10 days earlier than the due date.

Hu?

10 days before due date is going to be much later than as soon as you receive your statement @rg2015!

Most don't do DD because they can pay by debit card or BACS later not that the DD isnt early enough.

Oops!

That is a bit confusing and lacking in information. I am afraid that this is an unfortunate trait I have. A few years back, @polymaff pulled me up on this calling it "slapdash posting" or something similar.

Mea Culpa. Guilty as charged.

What I actually do when I receive the statement is set up a future dated payment to debit on the due date or the preceding working day in the event of the due date being a weekend or bank holiday. 

Alex9384

RG2015 said:

I do not setup a direct debit because NatWest take this 10 days earlier than the due date.

I'm wondering if people don't find this useful?
Amex do the same thing, so I prefer to use my 2 Amex DDs when switching current accounts. Just in case that something with the switch goes wrong and DDs are not transferred properly, you can see that they weren't taken from the new account as scheduled and you still have plenty of time to do it manually without getting late payments on your credit files.

EarthBoy

RG2015 said:

I do not setup a direct debit because NatWest take this 10 days earlier than the due date.

Really? Are they the only bank to do that? Lloyds, Halifax, Barclays, Nationwide, HSBC, and First Direct have only ever taken my payments on the due date.