Interest added in a new way to me!

saajan_12

Scooby1979 said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Scooby1979 said:

What do you mean by "loveholidays coding their transactions as cash"?
Is this a common thing? 

Yes, it's a very common thing.

Then how the heck do I avoid it again? Never come across this before. I would've paid by debit card if I had only known this before hand. I only paid by credit card to get clubcard points, (albeit I selected the wrong card on the autofill and used the Clarity by mistake)

Would always suggest using a credit card when you have to pay ahead of the service and its a large amount -> the Section 75 protection can really help if the company go bust / fail to provide you the holiday. 

As a mitigant, you could pay via credit card and then immediately (same day) pay an equivalent amount off the credit card from your bank. Shouldn't have to if LoveHolidays entered their charges correctly*, but its better than paying by debit card, which you consider better than paying the 1 month interest. 

*Assuming CASH is incorrect transaction type - may not be if it included a prepaid spend. 

Scooby1979

grumbler said:

Scooby1979 said:

Holiday was paid for on 2nd June, statement date 22nd June, minimum payment due 17th July. Hence interest will start accruing on the 17th July. Went to settle the card today (5th of July) and noticed there was £20.74 of interest on there.

No, interest will start on the 2nd June if you don't pay on 17th July. The interest is waived only if the statement balance is paid in full before or on the due date.

However, you paid in time, so there has to be no interest except on cash transactions.

Yes, I understand that. I should have worded it better. I meant exactly as you said.

Scooby1979

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

zagfles

Scooby1979 said:

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

Then I'd agree with above and suggest it's some problem with the retailer putting it through as a cash transaction. It's not a general problem with the Clarity as I've used it for a shedload of stuff over the years inc recently and never had purchases cause any interest, just genuine cash transactions.

It should have been obvious to the call handler but bank staff never seem to understand their own products these days.

born_again

zagfles said:

Scooby1979 said:

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

Then I'd agree with above and suggest it's some problem with the retailer putting it through as a cash transaction. It's not a general problem with the Clarity as I've used it for a shedload of stuff over the years inc recently and never had purchases cause any interest, just genuine cash transactions.

It should have been obvious to the call handler but bank staff never seem to understand their own products these days.

Catsic code is set by retailers merchant bank. So unless call center staff understand these, & have access to the list of them. Then they will not know.
In my experience, they tend not to know, as they have more important stuff to remember.

zagfles

born_again said:

zagfles said:

Scooby1979 said:

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

Then I'd agree with above and suggest it's some problem with the retailer putting it through as a cash transaction. It's not a general problem with the Clarity as I've used it for a shedload of stuff over the years inc recently and never had purchases cause any interest, just genuine cash transactions.

It should have been obvious to the call handler but bank staff never seem to understand their own products these days.

Catsic code is set by retailers merchant bank. So unless call center staff understand these, & have access to the list of them. Then they will not know.
In my experience, they tend not to know, as they have more important stuff to remember.

What other reason would they be charging interest on a transaction on an account always paid in full? It's obvious this transaction was treated as cash just from that, without having to understand any codes.

Why it was treated as cash is a different issue. But it should have been obvious to anyone with basic understanding of the product, even a mere customer like me, that the reason for the interest was that the purchase was treated as a cash transaction. Or at least, not as a normal purchase.

Why this happened would need further investigation by some techie offline but the front line staff should have immediately been able to identify that the transaction was not treated as a normal purchase, rather than wasting 30 mins of the customer's time, and having confirmed with the customer it was in fact a normal purchase (not currency purchase or similar "cash" type transaction), escalated it for further investigation.

molerat

If you can look at the transaction on line and dig further into it then it may give the code / transaction type.

born_again

zagfles said:

born_again said:

zagfles said:

Scooby1979 said:

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

Then I'd agree with above and suggest it's some problem with the retailer putting it through as a cash transaction. It's not a general problem with the Clarity as I've used it for a shedload of stuff over the years inc recently and never had purchases cause any interest, just genuine cash transactions.

It should have been obvious to the call handler but bank staff never seem to understand their own products these days.

Catsic code is set by retailers merchant bank. So unless call center staff understand these, & have access to the list of them. Then they will not know.
In my experience, they tend not to know, as they have more important stuff to remember.

What other reason would they be charging interest on a transaction on an account always paid in full? It's obvious this transaction was treated as cash just from that, without having to understand any codes.

Why it was treated as cash is a different issue. But it should have been obvious to anyone with basic understanding of the product, even a mere customer like me, that the reason for the interest was that the purchase was treated as a cash transaction. Or at least, not as a normal purchase.

Why this happened would need further investigation by some techie offline but the front line staff should have immediately been able to identify that the transaction was not treated as a normal purchase, rather than wasting 30 mins of the customer's time, and having confirmed with the customer it was in fact a normal purchase (not currency purchase or similar "cash" type transaction), escalated it for further investigation.

Why is any techie going to investigate, as it's clear why interest has been charged. Although I still thinking it might be just estimated interest, which is always on statements. Only way to be sure is a copy of statement showing actual interest charged on statement in transactions 👍

As this is something that is set at retailer end. It is for the retailer to find out from their merchant bank, what has changed.

zagfles

born_again said:

zagfles said:

born_again said:

zagfles said:

Scooby1979 said:

zagfles said:

How did you pay for the holiday, online or over the phone?

Was the payment just for the holiday or did you order any foreign currency/pre paid card etc?

It was definitely interest charged and not "estimated interest" wasn't it?

Paid online. Definitely just the holiday, no currency. Definitely not "estimated interest".

Then I'd agree with above and suggest it's some problem with the retailer putting it through as a cash transaction. It's not a general problem with the Clarity as I've used it for a shedload of stuff over the years inc recently and never had purchases cause any interest, just genuine cash transactions.

It should have been obvious to the call handler but bank staff never seem to understand their own products these days.

Catsic code is set by retailers merchant bank. So unless call center staff understand these, & have access to the list of them. Then they will not know.
In my experience, they tend not to know, as they have more important stuff to remember.

What other reason would they be charging interest on a transaction on an account always paid in full? It's obvious this transaction was treated as cash just from that, without having to understand any codes.

Why it was treated as cash is a different issue. But it should have been obvious to anyone with basic understanding of the product, even a mere customer like me, that the reason for the interest was that the purchase was treated as a cash transaction. Or at least, not as a normal purchase.

Why this happened would need further investigation by some techie offline but the front line staff should have immediately been able to identify that the transaction was not treated as a normal purchase, rather than wasting 30 mins of the customer's time, and having confirmed with the customer it was in fact a normal purchase (not currency purchase or similar "cash" type transaction), escalated it for further investigation.

Why is any techie going to investigate, as it's clear why interest has been charged.

Because they might understand the "catsick" codes you mentioned. I, as a normal customer, can see it's obvious that the transaction was treated as a cash transaction. But I have no clue as to why. I guessed it may be foriegn currency/currency card etc included in the purchase, as that would make sense. But OP said not.

Although I still thinking it might be just estimated interest, which is always on statements. Only way to be sure is a copy of statement showing actual interest charged on statement in transactions 👍

OP said it wasn't "estimated interest". That occured to me too, so I asked OP specifically, see above. Anyway, if it was estimated interest, then the bank call centre agent would have spotted that immediately. Surely? They really can't be that bad as to not spot that?

As this is something that is set at retailer end. It is for the retailer to find out from their merchant bank, what has changed.

Yes. But not something the OP can do.