Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

stitched

Hi,
thought you all might be interested, I have been on a 0% interest credit card with virgin for the last 10 months which runs out in July.After being inundated with balance transfer cheques and e-mails from virgin saying how much I can save and their website showing a typical rate of 15.9%.
I have received a letter this morning to say the rates are going up to 34.9% from may.
I have rung virgin and they say this is correct and there is nothing they can do.
BEWARE

Moggles_2

stitched wrote: »

Thought you all might be interested. I have been on a 0% interest credit card with Virgin for the last 10 months which runs out in July. After being inundated with balance transfer cheques and e-mails from Virgin saying how much I can save and their website showing a typical rate of 15.9%, I have received a letter this morning to say the rates are going up to 34.9% from May. I have rung Virgin and they say this is correct and there is nothing they can do.BEWARE

Come July, you'll have benefitted from 0% interest for some 15 months on any balances transferred at account opening. Can't be bad, surely?

Raymondo111

Hi,

Anybody know what cards link to what Companies?

I have a specific question re Marks an Spencer and More cards I thought I saw somewhere that they were part of HSBC but not sure?

Thanks,

Moggles_2

Raymondo111 wrote: »

Anybody know what cards link to what Companies? I have a specific question re Marks and Spencer and More cards. I thought I saw somewhere that they were part of HSBC but not sure?

That's right. Marks & Spencer cards have been taken over by HSBC.

There's a pretty comprehensive list of card issuers here:
http://www.stoozing.com/cards.htm

sammy452

Moggles
If my balance transfers have gone through (have confirmation over phone) and are showing up online. Can I now go ahead and bt back to barclaycard or would you wait until you got the paper statements.
Thanks

Moggles_2

sammy452 wrote: »

Moggles
If my balance transfers have gone through (have confirmation over phone) and are showing up online. Can I now go ahead and bt back to barclaycard or would you wait until you got the paper statements.

If you were charged anything other than 0% interest on your previous Barclaycard balance, there may be some residual interest to pay.

Your monthly statement, which will be ready to view online any day now, should confirm the amount. Personally, I would settle this first, but it's your call really.

dhassen

stitched wrote: »

Hi,
thought you all might be interested, I have been on a 0% interest credit card with virgin for the last 10 months which runs out in July.After being inundated with balance transfer cheques and e-mails from virgin saying how much I can save and their website showing a typical rate of 15.9%.
I have received a letter this morning to say the rates are going up to 34.9% from may.
I have rung virgin and they say this is correct and there is nothing they can do.
BEWARE

34.9% is higggggh! Similar happened to me when my virgin offer ended, but the rate was due to rise to 29.9%. I rang twice, to no avail, then wrote a letter of complaint (disgusted with high rate, will close card, never use them again blah blah). Within a few weeks I received a letter back from the complaints department saying they were so sorry etc and the rate would be staying at 15.9%. They've been good ever since (so far) and are now offering me 2.9% for purchases. Writing a letter of complaint always seems more effective than ringing some numpty who has no power to do anything.

Moggles_2

dhassen wrote: »

Similar happened to me when my Virgin offer ended, but the rate was due to rise to 29.9%. I rang twice, to no avail, then wrote a letter of complaint (disgusted with high rate, will close card, never use them again blah blah). Within a few weeks I received a letter back from the complaints department saying they were so sorry etc and the rate would be staying at 15.9%. They've been good ever since (so far) and are now offering me 2.9% for purchases. Writing a letter of complaint always seems more effective than ringing some numpty who has no power to do anything

Virgin is not there to help you and me. It's there to make a profit.

It's important to realise that the standard rates quoted by almost all card companies are not fixed (like some promotional offers). They're variable. That means the lender can raise the rate at any time.
===

Originally Posted by stitched
I have rung Virgin and they say this is correct and there is nothing they can do.

But there's something we can do, isn't there?

If you've benefitted from 0% on balance transfers for 15 months, you cannot realistically expect the card company to continue lending money at a loss-leading rate.

15 months is more than enough time, I would have thought, either to budget for repayment or shift any balance remaining to another 0% or low-rate BT card, as Martin advises. Unless you're prepared for this then, as sure as night follows day, it will cost you.

Moggles_2

dhassen wrote: »

Similar happened to me when my Virgin offer ended, but the rate was due to rise to 29.9%. I rang twice, to no avail, then wrote a letter of complaint (disgusted with high rate, will close card, never use them again blah blah). Within a few weeks I received a letter back from the complaints department saying they were so sorry etc and the rate would be staying at 15.9%. They've been good ever since (so far) and are now offering me 2.9% for purchases. Writing a letter of complaint always seems more effective than ringing some numpty who has no power to do anything

Virgin is not there to help you and me. It's there to make a profit.

It's important to realise that the standard rates quoted by almost all card companies are not fixed (like some promotional offers). They're variable. That means the lender can raise the rate at any time.

Originally Posted by stitched
I have rung Virgin and they say this is correct and there is nothing they can do.

But there's something we can do, isn't there?

If you've benefitted from 0% on balance transfers for 15 months, you cannot realistically expect the card company to continue lending money at a loss-leading rate.

15 months is more than enough time, I would have thought, either to budget for repayment or shift any balance remaining to another 0% or low-rate BT card, as Martin advises. Unless you're prepared for this then, as sure as night follows day, it will cost you.

dhassen

Moggles, indeed.......

I wasn't implying that Virgin was there to help anyone, or that they should....
I'm sure everyone's aware that variable rates are just that - variable, and the likelihood is that they will vary upwards! Everyone who signed an agreement agrees that the issuer can change the APR at any time, and to whatever they want... it's up to us to remember that.

My post was in response to the other poster, as a bit of advice, if the CC company does something you don't like you can try to do something about it, and sometimes, it pays off....