Pulse monthly interest charge advise

Redbullmaster

I have £1600 on the card maxed out, but I spend about 700 a month and replace that money so it's still maxed by the end of the month.

Standard Purchase rate is 34.998 on the statement. 
I was charged £95.05 interest for the month and a overlimit fee of £12 as this took me over my £1600 for the month.

The £95 seems high as when the card was at £3000 max I was getting about £75 interest per month.

No interest for the last two months as i had reduced the card down to £1600 and i think i must have paid the balance in full each month.

Phoned up Pulse (New day) to find out why the interest was so high, as I thought it should be about £45ish.

Told me he couldn't help me, I needed to consult a financial advisor as the interest is worked out by the system and there's nothing they could do to check out the math and the figure on it. 

Also told me I was being charged 40% interest, I need to try and find my original letter sent with the card, as I can't find a email with the terms and conditions.

All he said is i could escalate it with complaints team tomorrow between 9am and 5pm.

Just checking if i'm overlooking something obvious as to why the interest is so high. 
Thanks for any help in this.

eskbanker

Redbullmaster said:

No interest for the last two months as i had reduced the card down to £1600 and i think i must have paid the balance in full each month.

I don't understand this sentence at all in the context of your description of a maxed-out card where you're spending again as fast as you pay anything off?  Did you pay the balance in full or not, i.e. were you starting again from a zero balance at any time recently?

40% interest on £1600 will be about £50 so it sounds like it could be more than one month's interest, but again it's unclear what you mean by 'no interest for the last two months' in the context of the rest of the post?

Redbullmaster

eskbanker said:

Redbullmaster said:

No interest for the last two months as i had reduced the card down to £1600 and i think i must have paid the balance in full each month.

I don't understand this sentence at all in the context of your description of a maxed-out card where you're spending again as fast as you pay anything off?  Did you pay the balance in full or not, i.e. were you starting again from a zero balance at any time recently?

40% interest on £1600 will be about £50 so it sounds like it could be more than one month's interest, but again it's unclear what you mean by 'no interest for the last two months' in the context of the rest of the post?

In the October and September statements say no interest was billed on those two months.  The card was for £3000 and I have reduced it down to £1600. So i'm guessing I had got the card paid to "0" at some point and then i used it up again to £1600. 

If they missed interest on last months bill it makes sense, but not sure why this is so hard to tell me in the statement or by phone. 

My statement says 34.998, so not sure where the 40% figure is from the agent told me on the phone? 

Just want to know, so I know what to expect on next month bill.

ManyWays

It's hard to forget clearing a card like that down to zero, what do your statements show? 
This is a really high interest rate, and maxing out the card every month suggests you are in financial difficulty. Try posting on this forum for suggestions https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

Smick100

Zero balance doesn't necessarily have an impact on interest charged.

If you clear to zero within the cycle, but do not clear your statement balance between cycle date and due date, you will be charged interest, usually on average daily balance. 

So, to make things easy, start a 30 day cycle with a balance of 1,000, reduce that to 0 for 5 days, go back to 1,000 by the end of the cycle, your average daily balance will be £833.33 and you will pay interest on that.

You have a bill of 833.33, you spend 167.67 which gets you up to 1,000 again, but you pay £833.33 within the period between cycle and due date (15 days on Pulse), you will not pay interest.

It is completely normal to pay no interest indefinitely, while never actually getting the balance down to 0.

Nasqueron

In most cards, interest is charged on the whole balance if it's not repaid in full, even if you pay some of the balance. There is then trailing interest the next month on the amount left on the card + all new purchases. It's not unheard of for companies to make mistakes but generally speaking an automated system will be getting it right 

Smick100

Nasqueron said:

In most cards, interest is charged on the whole balance if it's not repaid in full, even if you pay some of the balance. There is then trailing interest the next month on the amount left on the card + all new purchases. It's not unheard of for companies to make mistakes but generally speaking an automated system will be getting it right 

I have had a Pulse card until recently, and also have worked in the profitability department of a UK credit card issuer.

Believe me, NewDay are running everything correctly. I paid my statement balance in full each month and never paid interest.

Due to the shortening of days between cycle date and statement date, in effect a price increase without changing finance rate, I am changing to another issuer.

penners324

Why on earth are you doing this? It's costing you a fortune in interest.

There a debt free board that can offer solid guidance of getting out of this very costly debt spiral