Lloyds TSB card and minimum payment hassle

sitroenn

This is more of an observation than a request for help but I'd be interested to know other people's experiences::mad:

I have had a Lloyds TSB card for something like 6 years. I use it regularly and always pay off the full amount every month. Over Xmas I was very busy like everyone else, we were all poorly, like everyone else, and we also had a big family birthday celebration. The result of this was that I forgot to pay the balance on my December statement (the incredibly large sum of £64.88;) ) and I forgot to pay the minimum £5 too -- because I don't have a DD to do that for me.

I didn't worry about it. I knew I'd incur a late payment fee (£12) but it isn't the end of the world. HOWEVER yesterday I received a phone call from LTSB's Indian call centre's Collection dept. asking why had I not sent the minimum payment, was I going to pay it NOW ? I paid the full balance there and then to get them off my back. Lo and behold they phoned again two hours later asking the same thing and when I gave them my ref. no from the first call said it had been their mistake.

This worried me, as I had never heard of someone receiving unsolicited phone calls about failing to pay the minmum payment so I phoned TSB's Customer Services and they verified that all was OK.

This morning I received a letter (which is heavy handed and, I think, quite threatening in its tone) asking, again, why I have not sent the minimum payment and threatening to take away 'privileges' if I don't send it now.

Never before had I realised how heavy handed such Companies can be. As it happens I had £64.88 to hand yesterday and could pay them but what if I was in real debt ? What if some tragedy had befallen me and that was why I had forgotten to pay ? ( I had a similar experience with my Abbey card 4 years ago when my mother had just died after a long and gruelling 2 weeks. Abbey were extremely unsymapthetic, even thoug I had banked with them for 20 years at that point so I cut up their card and sent it back to them )

I know a lot of this tsuff is automated now. I know that we are all dealing with huge faceless multinationals but, even so, I am appalled by all the hassle and heavy handedness TSB shows for the sake of £5. This cannot be right or justified or any way to treat people.



*(I am setting up a DD today so that this never happens again --learnt my lesson)

MABLE

sitroenn wrote: »

This is more of an observation than a request for help but I'd be interested to know other people's experiences::mad:

I have had a Lloyds TSB card for something like 6 years. I use it regularly and always pay off the full amount every month. Over Xmas I was very busy like everyone else, we were all poorly, like everyone else, and we also had a big family birthday celebration. The result of this was that I forgot to pay the balance on my December statement (the incredibly large sum of £64.88;) ) and I forgot to pay the minimum £5 too -- because I don't have a DD to do that for me.

I didn't worry about it. I knew I'd incur a late payment fee (£12) but it isn't the end of the world. HOWEVER yesterday I received a phone call from LTSB's Indian call centre's Collection dept. asking why had I not sent the minimum payment, was I going to pay it NOW ? I paid the full balance there and then to get them off my back. Lo and behold they phoned again two hours later asking the same thing and when I gave them my ref. no from the first call said it had been their mistake.

This worried me, as I had never heard of someone receiving unsolicited phone calls about failing to pay the minmum payment so I phoned TSB's Customer Services and they verified that all was OK.

This morning I received a letter (which is heavy handed and, I think, quite threatening in its tone) asking, again, why I have not sent the minimum payment and threatening to take away 'privileges' if I don't send it now.

Never before had I realised how heavy handed such Companies can be. As it happens I had £64.88 to hand yesterday and could pay them but what if I was in real debt ? What if some tragedy had befallen me and that was why I had forgotten to pay ? ( I had a similar experience with my Abbey card 4 years ago when my mother had just died after a long and gruelling 2 weeks. Abbey were extremely unsymapthetic, even thoug I had banked with them for 20 years at that point so I cut up their card and sent it back to them )

I know a lot of this tsuff is automated now. I know that we are all dealing with huge faceless multinationals but, even so, I am appalled by all the hassle and heavy handedness TSB shows for the sake of £5. This cannot be right or justified or any way to treat people.



*(I am setting up a DD today so that this never happens again --learnt my lesson)

Never use to do this but I suppose all these late payments mount up and because of the credit crunch they are determined to nip the customer asap.

A friend of mine had a Lloyds credit card and the same thing happened to him but he did make the payment on time only he transferred the amount to one of his other Lloyds accounts and not the credit card.

He received a call and suitably told off by an Indian style Mr Manwaring figure. However they did refund his fee as this was the first time it had happened.

I hasten to add he now has a dd in place to prevent any further telling off.