TESCO cc late payement trick

discoass

forgive me if this has been covered before.
my bill date for a tesco credit card is the 30th of each month.
I get paid every 28 days so i generally pay it early.
I paid on the 5th december for the 30th decembers bill therefore paying 25 days early,only to be whacked with a £12 late payment fee in january 2008.
when i queried this i was told that because I paid it on or before the 5th of the month(the day they send out the bill) It counts towards novembers bill ,effectively paying twice in november.surely if the due date is the 30th of the month anything i pay after that should be counted towards the next bill.
now i have to re-budget to pay off januarys bill as i did the same again.
I got the £12 back but i think this is a tactic to hit u with late payment fees.
hope it makes sense:(
(from the 30th to the 5th is no mans land)

youknowwho

just set up a DD for the min payment each month, then when its convenient for ou just make additional payments. This will stop this happening.

johnny_c-l

No, it's not a trick. You paid before the bill arrived, therefore it was recognised as just an additional payment.
Agree with the above, set up a DD to avoid this in future.....or just wait until the bill arrives before you pay it!

ALIBOBSY

I think the OP was paying on the 5th as she wanted to pay it when she was paid.I know what they mean as I prefer to pay all my bills on payday so I know what I have left. All you can do is budget to hold the money till after your billing date, which at least now you know.
ali x

discoass

but surely limiting the amount of time you can pay is just a tactic .
bill sent on 5th,take 2-3 days to arrive leaves 22 days to pay a bill of which 6 are a weekend leaves about 15 days in which u can actually pay the thing .
next they will say pay on a wednesday between the hours of 0000 and 0100
otherwise u will get A £12 PENALTY CHARGE

johnny_c-l

discoass wrote: »

but surely limiting the amount of time you can pay is just a tactic .
bill sent on 5th,take 2-3 days to arrive leaves 22 days to pay a bill of which 6 are a weekend leaves about 15 days in which u can actually pay the thing .
next they will say pay on a wednesday between the hours of 0000 and 0100
otherwise u will get A £12 PENALTY CHARGE

The point I tried to make was that you cannot pay the bill before you recieve it. It's not a tactic, just a sensible way to keep things organised; you recieve a bill then pay it within a month when the next bill will arrive. It would be very complicated (perhaps irresponsible) if an early payment was offset against future bills. I think a month to pay a bill is chosen since most people are paid monthly.

Anyway, I'm pleased you got your £12 back, so at least you know how they work the payments, and it hasn't cost you anything in the end.

P.S. You could phone up Tesco and change the statement date to coincide with your wages.

sicker

If they send the account out on the 5th of the month it must mean it has been generated and will have a pay by (minimum payment must reach us by) date on it. This date does not say DON'T pay before a certain date. Unless the date the bill is generated is not the 5th it should not matter how early you pay from that date.

johnny_c-l

I think the OPs bill date is 30th, so when they paid on 5th December, it went towards the 30th November bill, rather than the 30th December bill.

GoToGal

Actually I've found the Tesco statements to be a little odd. It says on my bill payment due on say the 30th/31st and minimum payment DD goes out that day. When I ring or go online to pay the balance, though, I'm usually told I have until the 5th/6th of the next month. This doesn't appear on my statement but does online.

So in essence is the date shown on my statement the due date for cleared funds or the due date for sending funds, giving you 5 days "leeway" for funds to clear?

In any case, I always pay my balance in full less DD amount via online banking / telephone on the last day of the month.

YorkshireBoy

johnny_c-l wrote: »

P.S. You could phone up Tesco and change the statement date to coincide with your wages.

OP has stated they are paid 4-weekly, not monthly, so that probably wouldn't work.

discoass

sofa_surfer wrote: »

was it a wild guess discoass is a she?

a wild guess in the wrong direction ,last time i looked anyway:)