Help.balance Transfer Rate Confusion

rainbowbrite_2

I could scream.My partner has just transfered 2 credit card debts for me onto one of his cards(MBNA).It was meant to be 0% but I havn,t a clue what he has gone and done or what he has agreed to in the end.Neither has he:mad: ,he is adamant it is at 0% but thats not what the statement says.

The deal was meant to be 0% on Bt,s for 9 months and he was going to try for 12 with a 4% fee.First statement recieved today since the transfers last week So 2 transfers fees just over £400 but this is the confusing but,there is no 0% bt rate on the statement.There are 2 lines of details and I dont know which is right.
First line says mthly int rates BTs & Cheques 0.1610%,cash transactions 2.0751%
next line says mthly int rates Retail 0.0000%,Non prome Retail,BTs & Cheques or Other1.6674%
Help,what interest am I paying.Does anyone know why there are 2 different rates on the MBNA statement?What a mess.
He told me the repayments would be 2.5% of the balance at 0% so £250 a month but the minimum payment this month is £417.50:eek: which I cannot pay.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire!!!

rainbowbrite_2

He got them on the phone and apparantly when they phoned and offered him the 0% it was only available on that one off occassion if he had did the transfers there and then,but because he said yes,but had to check the amounts to be transfered and phoned them back the next day the 0% was no longer available.
He has 4.9% until december then it goes up to over 20%.He has asked for the 0% which is what he thought he was getting but they said no.
Is there anything we can do?Can we reverse the BTs at all?We did this to reduce my monthly payments because I couldnt afford them but now they are even higher!!!

Bokkens

The only way to get to the bottom of it is to phone customer services ask them the questions and make a note of the answers then see if your happy with what they say or plan your next move.
There are always several different rates on one card this is called "The allocation of payments".If you take cash from a ATM the interest is about 25%,if you purchase something on the card say petrol it may be 15.9%.
This is how MBNA and other cards make their money.
To get around this people apply for a card that has 0% interest rate on Balance Transfers or Purchases.
The second line you have quoted says;
monthly introductory rates retail at 0%(that is purchases like shopping and petrol) non promotional retail(spending after the 0% offer period has ended)BT&cheques are at 1.6674% per month so a year would be= 20%approximately.
So it appears that you have a 0% offer on purchases and not on the BT which is what you wanted.If you have BT £1000 to the new card you will pay in interest over the year about £200.That is £200 on every £1000 shifted.
Normally if you pay the minimum payment this is between 2.5 and 3% of the oustanding debt so on a £1000 you would pay between £25 and £30,remember this is the minimum required so you should aim to pay more if you can.
Really the way forward is to speak to MBNA and see how they explain it,you may have to apply for another 0% card for BT's and BT your debt to that this will be expensive as you will incur more fees for moving the debt again.
Hope that helps

GeorgeUK

If he said yes, but that he would call them back when he had the amounts, what was their reply to this? Was he wrongly advised? If they couldn't do it the following day, surely they would have said something.

I'd ask about getting a copy of the conversation if it was recorded and take it straight to customer complaints - then FOS after this as, if what your partner says is confirmed in the recording, then they have missold this service.

rainbowbrite_2

He did phone them back and query the % again and they said they have no record of the call where he was offered 0%.I am very upset because he had other cards offering him 0% too so there is no need to be paying any interest at all.

rainbowbrite_2

We moved over £10,000 to his cc so we will,or rather I will be paying dearly for the misunderstanding between him and his cc company.I wish I could just go back in time and sort it out myself.Stuck now ,and instead of owing my cc,s £290 a month I have to find almost £420 a month to pay OH to give to his cc company,and he thought he was helping.

Bokkens

okay all is not lost at this point it is going to be expensive this month and to get out of this situation you will need to BT again to a Life of balance card or to a 0% card.
This will at this time seem like throwing good money after bad but! once some/or all the debt is on 0% cards this will give you extra allowance within your budget to pay extra towards the debt and reduce it sooner .
So, a mistake has been made .
Are you going to give in now or seek revenge and get all your debt on to 0% and aim to never pay interest or charges again?
I save £000's each year because I go out of my way to make sure they don't get my hard earned money in interest payments and it keeps Mrs Bokken in handbags.
Sit back think about it and plan carefully what you want to do ,read Martin's articles to double check what you want to do it possible.If you get stuck or are unsure post here again.

YorkshireBoy

Seems to me, with a monthly rate of 0.1610%, his BT's are on 1.9% APR...not a bad rate?

The first minimum payment includes the BT fees, so is high, but subsequent minimum payments will be interest + £5-25 depending on his personal T&C's.

Questions:

1. How much is the interest charged this month?

2. What is the estimated interest for next month?

King_Weasel

Point no 1 : your husband really MUST make the minimum payment if at all possible or you will get financial penalties and any deal your husband had could well become void.

Point no 2 : I generally find card statements uninformative if not misleading on interest rates, as they seem to quote their standard rates not their introductory rates. So your husband may still have a 0% deal here.

Point no 3 : if he missed the 0% deal in the circumstances you describe, it sounds as though he has been misled and has strong grounds for redress. But make sure he really has missed the deal first.

Point no 4 : I'm not your husband, but I confess I'm just as bad!