Saga Visa payments

jeanssis

We use Saga Visa CCs. We always pay in full each month, sending Saga funds online without problems out of A & L current or Halifax current a/cs. Lately we've begun spending almost a month at a time in Spain & last trip we believed that we would come home, find the statement on doormat & sort out payment online immediately to get there for 13th as previous month but we came home 6th Jan (late evening) & statement said payment needed by 10th. OH made online payment 6th & it said it would go 7th. I was concerned we'd be charged interest so I rang Saga on 7th & lady said I could've just rung up & paid with a debit card on the spot. Thankfully when we rang on 11th the payment had arrived on 10th, whew !!

Now, we are going to Spain again in future for 25 days each in March, June & Sept. I was hoping Saga Visa had an online service so we could check whilst away what they wanted to settle the statement & by what date so we could then check bank balances & choose which bank to pay it out of that particular month to ensure the funds arrived in time but I can't find one so seems that's not an option.

I know I can set up a DD with Saga Visa but, with not knowing how much the statement will be, I don't really want that in case we haven't enough funds in that particular bank at that time to pay Saga.

I feel out of control, any ideas ?

I'm going to have to phone Saga Visa, aren't I, to get nowhere, no doubt !

gt94sss2

jeanssis wrote: »

I feel out of control, any ideas ?

Open an credit card account with another provider..

For instance, try one of the following:

- Nationwide
- Post Office
- Thomas Cook

All the above will give you online access to statements and none of them will charge you foreign exchange loading on purchases abroad.

If opening a Nationwide credit card account, you may also want to apply for their current account as well - as their debit card doesn't charge foreign exchange loading either and is the cheapest way to withdraw cash from ATM's abroad (rather than using a credit card)

Regards
Sunil

jeanssis

Hi Sunil

Now WHY didn't I think of that ? We're not tied to Saga Visa & we already have a Nationwide flex a/c to enable us to get euros out of Visa ATMs without charges in Spain. (We were offered a Nationwide cc too but said we didn't need it).

THANKS SO MUCH from a quite embarrassed lady. I think when you're stressed you just can't see the wood from the trees.

So, tomorrow we put our Saga Visa cards away & pay for groceries in future with Halifax or A&L debit card then settle Saga Visa asap & close it. Nationwide here we come in the morning.

A weight off my shoulders. :T I'll sleep well tonight.

gt94sss2

You're welcome

The only other thing I might mention that you may also want to ask Nationwide about their planned introduction of card readers for their accounts - as it sounds as if you will be doing quite a bit of travelling over the next few months and might need one!

Regards
Sunil

jeanssis

Hi again Sunil

Funny you should mention a card reader. We don't bank online with Nationwide as basically all we opened the Flex a/c for was to use the debit card in Spain to get the best rate. We only put money in immediately before going to our place in Spain & take anything left out on our return. We only keep around £10 in to keep it open.

My friend does bank with Nationwide online & she told me about 10 days ago that it had flashed up a message when she'd logged into her a/c saying they were sending new debit cards out for added secirity from March to June. As she is going to Spain in March & staying till June she rang them & has now got her cards. She told me as she knew we'd be in the same situation & hubby rang & they said they would send a card reader, pin advice & new cards. We have received the pins & cards but totally forgot about the card reader till you mentioned it now so another question added to the list for morning.

Thanks.

Alfie_E

jeanssis wrote: »

I know I can set up a DD with Saga Visa but, with not knowing how much the statement will be, I don't really want that in case we haven't enough funds in that particular bank at that time to pay Saga.

Also, Nationwide have just introduced the option of a ‘capped’ Direct Debit payment. So, you can say something like, “take the whole balance by Direct Debit, unless the balance is more than £500, when you should limit the amount you take to £500.” You get to choose the limit. An exception to that is if your minimum payment becomes more than your limit, when the minimum payment will be taken. Although, unless you have a very low cap and you spend a huge amount in one month, that’s not likely to happen.

You may be able to set it so that you can let things happen automatically for almost every month.

jeanssis

Thanks Alfie. As we will be in Spain at the time we need to pay AND we want to pay it ALL off, we want to know the amount. If we have this facility ONLINE we can then check funds in both our A&L & Halifax current a/cs & decide which bank funds can come out of. It's not that we haven't the funds, it's that we aren't sure without checking online exactly how much is where at time we need to pay our Visa bill. I've rung N/wide's freephone number to ask if we definitely will be able to see statement amount they want so we can organise payment (thus incurring no interest) & girl assured me we can. Just going into town shopping so will call in branch (yes I was told by girl she could do it all on phone but we never received card reader so we'll ask about that at branch too)

Kind regards to you & Sunil.