Zopa balance transfer scam

zopascamming

Hi 


I’m new here so please be kind. I have a credit card with zopa and got a 6 month 0% balance transfer which ended 6 may. You can’t pay towards the balance until the credit card is 0 apparently. 

Balance on cc 882
balance on bt 1450

29.9% apr but they can’t tell be how much I will pay monthly towards the balance transfer. Is there a loophole to pay off the balance transfer only or am I screwed because of the contract? 

I don’t want to give them money for nothing. 

Thanks 

Brie

zopascamming said:

Hi 


I’m new here so please be kind. I have a credit card with zopa and got a 6 month 0% balance transfer which ended 6 may. You can’t pay towards the balance until the credit card is 0 apparently. 

Balance on cc 882
balance on bt 1450

29.9% apr but they can’t tell be how much I will pay monthly towards the balance transfer. Is there a loophole to pay off the balance transfer only or am I screwed because of the contract? 

I don’t want to give them money for nothing. 

Thanks 

If the 0% balance transfer period ended on 6th May then any money you pay towards the card will first be applied to the portion with the highest interest rate.  So if the BT has a rate now of 29.9% and the purchases have a rate of 20% then if you pay anything it will go to the BT portion as the rate is higher.  Well actually you'll likely pay the interest on the whole thing first and then the BT.  

I don't know what you mean by "you can't pay towards the balance until the credit card is 0".  Unless that's saying that you can't pay towards the purchases until the BT balance is 0.  Which implies the interest on purchases is lower than the BT.  

Does that make sense??

zopascamming

Brie said:

zopascamming said:

Hi 


I’m new here so please be kind. I have a credit card with zopa and got a 6 month 0% balance transfer which ended 6 may. You can’t pay towards the balance until the credit card is 0 apparently. 

Balance on cc 882
balance on bt 1450

29.9% apr but they can’t tell be how much I will pay monthly towards the balance transfer. Is there a loophole to pay off the balance transfer only or am I screwed because of the contract? 

I don’t want to give them money for nothing. 

Thanks 

If the 0% balance transfer period ended on 6th May then any money you pay towards the card will first be applied to the portion with the highest interest rate.  So if the BT has a rate now of 29.9% and the purchases have a rate of 20% then if you pay anything it will go to the BT portion as the rate is higher.  Well actually you'll likely pay the interest on the whole thing first and then the BT.  

I don't know what you mean by "you can't pay towards the balance until the credit card is 0".  Unless that's saying that you can't pay towards the purchases until the BT balance is 0.  Which implies the interest on purchases is lower than the BT.  

Does that make sense??

This is where it’s confusing. Not apr 29.9%

I can’t pay off just balance transfer. I have to clear the whole credit limit of 882 before any payments will go towards the balance transfer. 

Brie

OK so you need to ask them how much the interest is on the BT and how much on the purchases.  Legally they MUST apply payments to the higher interest.  And normally BTs when the 0% period is over has higher interest than purchases.  But maybe Zopa don't.  But payments must go towards the higher interest balance.  It should state that in your T&Cs.  Granted T&Cs are, in my opinion, written so as to confuse rather than educate.  

molerat

I see no scam.  All cards will allocate payments to the highest interest portion of the balance, if they are at the same interest rate there are various ways they allocate the payments according to type of balance or end / start dates. Although Zopa don't seem to specify with most cards "spending" is usually paid off before "transfers".  As long as you are paying down the highest interest balance why does it matter ? Are you still spending on the card ?

zopascamming

molerat said:

I see no scam.  All cards will allocate payments to the highest interest portion of the balance, if they are at the same interest rate there are various ways they allocate the payments according to type of balance or end / start dates. Although Zopa don't seem to specify with most cards "spending" is usually paid off before "transfers".  As long as you are paying down the highest interest balance why does it matter ? Are you still spending on the card ?

I want to pay the bt balance off in full but they won’t let me until I pay the credit card off first 

Rhubarb_Shed

Since 6th May I presume that the whole lot (Spending balance + BT) is now being charged at your standard interest rate.  Is that 29.9% APR?  In which case I can't see why it matters which part of your balance they apply your payments to first. 

CliveOfIndia

zopascamming said:

molerat said:

I see no scam.  All cards will allocate payments to the highest interest portion of the balance, if they are at the same interest rate there are various ways they allocate the payments according to type of balance or end / start dates. Although Zopa don't seem to specify with most cards "spending" is usually paid off before "transfers".  As long as you are paying down the highest interest balance why does it matter ? Are you still spending on the card ?

I want to pay the bt balance off in full but they won’t let me until I pay the credit card off first 

The only way that makes sense is if the remaining BT is at a lower APR than the £882 balance.  If that is indeed the case, then they are allocating you payments in accordance with the law - payments are prioritised to the highest-interest portion of the debt first.

But if both the purchases and the BT are now being charged at the card's standard APR then it makes no difference which portion gets paid off first.

You need to clarify whether the purchases and the remaining BT are indeed being charged at different rates.