Has CC changed its practice on charges?

juliusceasor

Is interest for payments received late, the charge now, instead of a late payment fee?

Hello,

I always pay by statement date the balance in full, using debit card and the CC telephone banking service. Prior to this December i would occasionally get a charge automatically reversed if it was posted to my account a couple of days late despite being recorded on the automated system as paid on time.

I accept that there it states

"payments should be made at least 4 working days before payment your date"
- to be pedantic it says 'should' not 'must' implying there'll be charge.

Going back to Decembers statement instead of charging a late payment fee and an automated refund they charged interest which currently they won't refund (although initially they said they would), despite the payments and method being exactly the same for the past 18 months. Further on the statement it says :

"Interest- We will not charge interest on any purchase shown on your current statement if you pay in full the statement balance shown on your current statement by the payment date"

I am assuming that given the recent bank claims for charges, the CC has decided to go straight for interest instead.
However given that I have recorded proof payment is made on the statement date (the CC telephone payment system and the money leaving my account on the statement date) can i be reasonably be charged interest if I have fulfilled their terms regarding getting charged for interest?

What also niggles me is that a statement following this i did pay 3 days prior to the statement date and ! the money appeared on the statement the day I paid it !:rolleyes:

It seems crass to me that I should pay charges or interest having made payment to them on time or, why I should be responsible for the vagaries of the banks own payment system for processing payments. Next will they be charging us a fee for using a debit card to pay them like Ryan Air for example, do.

I would be interested to hear views regarding the interest free period.

If I have a period of 58 days interest free this would match up with the statement running from 3rd Nov to 3rd December with a payment due date 1st Jan = 58 days

If the bank should be paid 4 days prior then my interest free period is only 54 days and less if the payment date allowing 4 days prior straddles a weekend.
Money I send to them by debit card leaves my account the day it is paid. Therefore the payment system or the recipient bank has my money not myself - earning themselves some interest to boot.

To be fair this is an argument over a few days of interest which individually is neither here nor there but in the whole it makes a big difference for all the thousands of CC holders.

a11waysindebt

Was the payment date on the 1st of January.

juliusceasor

Hi thanks,

yes in this example the payment due date was January 1st - a bank holiday.

However in anticipation: 4 working days before hand would have in this instance meant payment on Dec 24th - 7 days prior to the payment date and 7 days loss of interest free period.

and if I may my main two points are:
Bank has changed from imposing a late payment fee with fee reversal for payments received within 2-3 days of payment date to charging interest which I argue according to its terms can't be applied if payment is made by statement date and this is recorded on their automated system as occurring.