Paid off Washing Machine with Credit Card and been charged a cash advance!

Donegal_Paul

So, bought a washing machine from Currys, used buy now pay later 0% using their Creation Finance firm. Paid it using a virgin credit card in one hit so as not to incur any interest. All good, paid on time and my budgeting is on schedule to pay the CC on pay do, no problem. 

Today I see that there is a Virgin "cash advance fee" attached to the payment AND interest on top!

Virgin say the merchant have put it through as cash so nothing they can do, Creation say I should have been shown a pop up to say check with your card to ensure it won't go through as cash (side note - I got no such pop up on the app when paying) so the only way to resolve is Bank Transfer another £229 to Creation so it's overpaid, then they can request the payment back from Virgin and hopefully they will then refund the interest and the charge but that will be up to them!

I mean, I don't know if it's illegal to do this shenanigans but it's at the very least immoral surely! 

Has anyone heard of this practice, is there much I can do?

la531983

No you have essentially paid cash with cash, seems correct to me.

Brie

I have a Creation Finance account via B&Q and frankly find them appalling.  It's taken over 6 months to get any kind of statement from them to show what was charged to this account and what was being paid.  I do think it's dodgy dealing myself and wouldn't be surprised if they are receiving a lot of complaints about it.  

But yes, unfortunately, having paid off a loan (which this is) that would look like a cash advance to your credit card.  

molerat

You paid off credit with a credit card which is considered a cash transaction by many cards.  Have Creation said they will accept your idea ?  If not then it is likely they will bounce the second transaction.

Donegal_Paul

la531983 said:

No you have essentially paid cash with cash, seems correct to me.

Surely I've paid Credit with Credit which then I'll be paying from my bank account?

Donegal_Paul

molerat said:

You paid off credit with a credit card which is considered a cash transaction by many cards.  Have Creation said they will accept your idea ?  If not then it is likely they will bounce the second transaction.

Of all the years of having CC's etc I've never come accross it before, so you're saying it's standard practice?
The bank transfer isn't mine, it's theirs. 

molerat

Of all the years of having CC's etc I've never come accross it before,

It has always been a thing but is getting more common and the definition is becoming broader, even topping up payment cards - such as the kid's school dinner payment card - is treated as cash by some.

la531983

Donegal_Paul said:

la531983 said:

No you have essentially paid cash with cash, seems correct to me.

Surely I've paid Credit with Credit which then I'll be paying from my bank account?

Thats not how it works. You have paid cash with cash. Obvious you will then be paying it off as thats what everyone is meant to do anyway.

th081

The driver for this to be treated as a cash advance is surely creation as they label the transaction so they should be explicit so people are clear

Stuart_W

This whole situation needs to be made much clearer. It ends up being guess work on the part of the end customer.

In contrast, whenever anyone uses one of those dreaded "convenience" cash machines that charges a fee you are told of this explicitly before you proceed with the transaction and can choose to cancel at this point. eg - "This machine will charge you £1.99 for this withdrawal. Your card issuer may also charge a fee. Do you wish to continue?"

There is no consistency or pre-warning with cash-like transactions, either with merchants or credit card providers, and they all vary.

Credit accounts from the likes of Very, Next and Littlewoods for example can all be paid off by credit card and are treated as purchases by all credit card providers due to the transaction code the retailer uses.

Then there are some credit providers that will charge some transactions, such as council tax or utility payments, that some cards will allow fee-free. Even if you do find out which transaction code any retailer uses, there is then in turn no consistency amongst card providers on which transaction codes will raise a cash-like fee, and the end consumer can only find out by trying it and seeing what ends up on their bill. Buying a gift card in a supermarket - often a purchase. Buying a gift card online - often treated as "cash-like" depending where it's from.

I am not complaining about the existence of cash-like fees. The system just needs to be more transparent so folk can understand fees clearly. Vague references to cash-like transactions, which has variable definitions across banks, are not good enough.

born_again

Donegal_Paul said:

So, bought a washing machine from Currys, used buy now pay later 0% using their Creation Finance firm. Paid it using a virgin credit card in one hit so as not to incur any interest. All good, paid on time and my budgeting is on schedule to pay the CC on pay do, no problem. 

Today I see that there is a Virgin "cash advance fee" attached to the payment AND interest on top!

Virgin say the merchant have put it through as cash so nothing they can do, Creation say I should have been shown a pop up to say check with your card to ensure it won't go through as cash (side note - I got no such pop up on the app when paying) so the only way to resolve is Bank Transfer another £229 to Creation so it's overpaid, then they can request the payment back from Virgin and hopefully they will then refund the interest and the charge but that will be up to them!

I mean, I don't know if it's illegal to do this shenanigans but it's at the very least immoral surely! 

Has anyone heard of this practice, is there much I can do?

Paying credit with credit is classed as a cash payment & has been as long as I can remember on many CC's

Creation are also a financial service provider & as such have a Catsic code to match. Which is the trigger for the cash transaction fee & interest (3 months max trailing interest)

More & more retailers are now falling under cash transaction banner. Some even when making a friends & family PayPal payment, as that is in effect sending cash & not making a purchase.