Didn't tealize the crdit card interest scam, do you?

johnllew

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

Credit cards are a wonderful way to make money for the banks.

And a wonderful way to make money by the canny consumer, as long as know what you're doing. Many of us, including me, have made tens of thousands of pounds over the years from credit cards.

MarkyMarkD

Like so many threads on MSE, this degenerates into a "I want to pretend I've been ripped off because I didn't bother understanding the product I'd bought" and lots of "No you haven't, you've paid the right amount that you agreed to pay when you bought the product".

I think enough's been said, to be honest.

In fact, 99% of threads with "rip-off" or "scam" in the title are neither; they are just people who don't understand how things work because they didn't read the conditions.

PandaPants_2

Shall we have a whip round for £6.38 to quieten him down?? :rotfl: :rotfl:

NickX

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

In fact, 99% of threads with "rip-off" or "scam" in the title are neither; they are just people who don't understand how things work because they didn't read the conditions.

This is undoubtedly true but the Credit Card Companies have hidden several traps in their terms and conditions, namely :

(a) Interest charged on accounts not paid in full (as in this case)

(b) Different lengths for Balance Transfer and Purchases promotions, forcing one to pay interest when it should still be on a promotional rate.

(c) Precise ends dates of promotional periods not publicised and not coincident with a payment date, making it more likely that the customer falls into the trap of paying interest.

The details are all in the Terms and Conditions but they are buried in the small print. Not many people will study these Terms and Conditions that closely and they know this - they want to catch people out, and that is precisely what happened in this instance.

However, Martin has documented everything on this site, and there are numerous threads where people have fallen into these traps. Once people make these mistakes it is unlikely that they will make the same mistake again, and the benefit of this site is that by doing some research they should be able to avoid these pitfalls in the first place without having to understand complex Terms and Conditions.

At the end of the day that is what this site is about, understanding how these companies work so that we can work together and turn the tables on them. Nice One Martin :money:

MarkyMarkD

I'm with Al Max on this one, obviously.

Apart from the third point. The end date of your promotion is obvious. It's either an anniversary of the date of the balance transfer, or the date your account was opened, or the statement date in the relevant month.

In either case, it will say which of these it is in your original documentation and all you have to do is diarise it and repay on time.

"Not coincident with a payment date" - so what? Simply pay it off a few days early, if you really find that part so difficult.

NickX

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

IApart from the third point. The end date of your promotion is obvious. It's either an anniversary of the date of the balance transfer, or the date your account was opened, or the statement date in the relevant month.

Well if it can one of 3 different basis for calculation of the End Date than it is not obvious in my opinion.

I always phone the CC Company up well before the end date, get the response, also take a note of the Name of the CS Rep, the Date and Time of the call so I have the evidence if there is a problem. And Guess What ? I have known instances where they have charged me interest when they shouldn't, but I have all the evidence to prove that they are in the wrong.

For the record, I have never had a letter reminding me of a promotion End Date and I have been tarting and stoozing for 10 years.

The CC Companies purpose is to take money from the customers and it is not in their interests to make life easy. Unfortunately not all customers are as clued up as perhaps people on this board are, and unfortunately they do fall into these traps and I'm afraid it will tend to people that are less likely to be able to afford it that end up having to pay.

YorkshireBoy

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

In either case, it will say which of these it is in your original documentation...

And if it's still not 100% clear, then ask when you make the activation call. Here's an activation call checklist I posted on the stoozing site, but the basics can be used by anyone...

1. Date/time of call...................................................................

2. CSA name............................................................................
(plus surname and/or ext. number)
* If you're passed around, remember
to keep taking names

3. Confirm BT fee.....................................................................
(and any applying cap)

4. Confirm exact 0% end date...................................................

5. Set up minimum payment DD................................................

6. Request your own statement date..........................................
(to suit your preferred payment due date, or
set to 'yesterday' to maximise the interval to
your first payment - and also give your DD
plenty of time to be set up)

7. Request credit limit increase..................................................
(check, and decline if necessary, if any
further credit search is required)

8. Confirm any limit increase is effective immediately..................
(ie, doesn't have to be first referred to higher
authority before proceeding)

9. Action BT.............................................................................
(get them to read the card number back to you
IN FULL - even if they have just repeated each
each set of four numbers as you gave them)

YorkshireBoy

NickX wrote: »

Well if it can one of 3 different basis for calculation of the End Date than it is not obvious in my opinion.

It can be 4 actually, as Egg (and others?) ALWAYS run their introductory periods until the 1st of the month.

However, I'd agree with MMD that this would be glaringly obvious...but you'd still have to diarise somewhere. :rolleyes:

NickX

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

It can be 4 actually, as Egg (and others?) ALWAYS run their introductory periods until the 1st of the month.

However, I'd agree with MMD that this would be glaringly obvious...but you'd still have to diarise somewhere. :rolleyes:

OK maybe its me, I don't always find the end date glaringly obvious and because I know it is crucial to the deal working in my favour I always confirm it with the company when I know its approaching. I also once got an extension this way by complaining that I had lost a couple of weeks because it took them so long to process the application initially.

NickX

Al_Mac wrote: »

Well pardon me.

Not quite sure what you meant by this, I wasn't saying that I didn't believe you, I just relayed my own experience which was that I haven't received such letters, maybe it is new.