Virgin credit card

juliedawn_2

I'm annoyed with these people.I had a letter this morning telling me the interest rate is going up to 29.9%......which is a rip off.
My main worry is that my balance is £5,500.I've just transfered £1000 on it at 0 % til september to pay off my homebase card .The minimum payment at 2 % of the balance so i knew i could afford the extra £20 a month as i was paying £45 a month on the homebase card.Now they are saying the minimum payment is going to be 5 % of the balance so my minimum payment will go from £100 a month to £225 a month.Can they do this?
i can't afford that.

YorkshireBoy

Isn't your Virgin minimum payment the LESSER of...

5% of your balance (£5,500 x 5% = £275)

or

fees + interest + ppi + £5 (£0 + [5,500 x 2.2039%] + £0 + £5 = £115.19)

If so, your minimum payment will be £115.19


Assumptions:

• You haven't paid a BT fee for the £1K Homebase transfer (if you have, there'll be another £30 or so to pay on your next minimum payment)
• You don't have PPI

Fact:

• It's going to take you an incredibly long time to make any significant inroads into reducing this debt. Do you have a plan? If not, visit the debt-free wannabe board for more help.

juliedawn_2

O.k i'll shut up.

Superheavy

Don't worry Julie, you're not the only one to get stung by this one, it's a real stinker for me too, as I have a large balance also on my card, and am trying to find a way to get it off with some sort of balance transfer deal. Unfortunately, the Virgin card has given me the highest limit of my cards, so I will need to shuffle a fair bit. I'll need to see what I can do.

Good luck with yours, I'm on cheese sarnies pasta and Tesco Value cornflakes for the next few months anyway!

juliedawn_2

Beans on toast for me !!

simonts

Its only going to get worse, I would do whatever you can to remove the balance from Virgin/MBNA as they have become Highway Robbers.

I used to always have a stable 15.9% with them and never miss payments etc, I used the last few months of a 0% BT offer with them to save a few pennies and took the card to the limit £6k..Immediatly after the offer expired I had a letter like yours saying the rate was changing to 24.9% so I complained and it went to 17.9% (Oct07)

Again in about December it happened again this time 29.9%..I didnt have the will to fight anymore...And Saturday morning i get another letter this time 34.9% !!!

My credit history is a bit patchy but I have never missed a payment with them so they are clearly just robbing me for all its worth knowing its difficult to remove that sort of balance..Unfortunatly with the credit crunch and my patchy record 0% deals are a bit of a !!!!!! to find...I have moved £1800 off and will move another £2500 this week...gits gits gits

maz1964

hiya all

ive just had a letter too today from virgin - which is mbna i think and they have increased my apr to 34.4 from 1st April 2008, so alas, in the same boat as you, the credit card companies are stinging everyone now as they know it will be difficult to obtain a cheaper transfer deal , still possible of course but my patchy last 6 months of a few missed payments will now go against me, just as id got to the point of entering all into the snowball, i now need to amend. This has now fully inspired me to check my credit card charges and apply and as soon as possible clear this debt too.
Guess its making us all a little wiser and in a way making us action stuff now anyway its inspired me to take that action i know i must do.

To be financially free of debts will be my guide.

Good luck to all and have a fun day

Ciao MAZ

EvilKumquat

I posted in the other one as well but I got it too. 15.9 straight to 34.9, perfect repayment history, never over limit. No problems on other cards. But made the mistake of using the balance transfer.

I think they're just profiteering, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a proper strategy, give people the highest limit of any of their cards and wait for the transfer and then when they're effectively trapped send the APR ballistic.

Oh well, they'll get a couple of months interest and then I'll be off their card and never deal with MBNA again. No great loss.

debbie_debt

Looks like they're doing a job lot - I got the same letter upping my apr with virgin to 34.9% and i too have a credit limit at 5000. I thought it was their sweet little snigger at me applying for a copy of my charges to claim them back but looks like its just plain profiteering. Nice. My credit history's been patchy but not appalling by any means so I may struggle to juggle this debt off them but I'll certainly be getting it off asap!! Happened just as I'm throwing every spare penny at my debts and virgin were next on the list. oh well... 9p baked beans anyone?

overlander

Done the same with me on Saturday, really annoyed me, i hate these credit card firms. I was on interest free until February and then out of the blue a letter saying that my APR was now 34.0 %, fortunately i am in the position to pay it off immediately. But what if you were not this is just legalised robbery, they should be held accountable for any major changes to their terms and conditions. I can see their point if it was indeed to target poor payers etc but it is clearly not it is just pure greed.

CannyJock

overlander wrote: »

Done the same with me on Saturday, really annoyed me, i hate these credit card firms. I was on interest free until February and then out of the blue a letter saying that my APR was now 34.0 %, fortunately i am in the position to pay it off immediately. But what if you were not this is just legalised robbery, they should be held accountable for any major changes to their terms and conditions. I can see their point if it was indeed to target poor payers etc but it is clearly not it is just pure greed.

Best bet would be to have tracked the end of your 0% period and applied for another card 6 or 8 weeks before hand. That way you get to do a balance transfer to clear the card and keep it on a low interest base.