Barclaycard - Cancelled my promotional 0%!

sockdogg

Hi there,

We are currently living in Canada. We have set up a postal redirection service so that we can get our monthly Barclaycard statement.

I missed a payment for the month of March - although I didn't receive the statement I admit it is my own fault for not remembering to pay them. When I received my new statement not only have they charged me for a late payment (which is fair enough), they have cancelled our 0% promotional rate which we only took out last September and I think it was a good 18 month deal.

Their argument is that I have defaulted on their terms and conditions but I have never missed a payment with them before. I know that my good payment history will stand for nothing because it is in their terms and conditions but it just seems really harsh.

Anyway in a moment of madness I paid the card off in full with our savings. Which I now regret!

I just don't know what the best thing to do is now. Do I cancel the card because I feel betrayed by them or go back to them and ask them to re-instate my 0% status now that the card balance is at 0? I'm also worried that its going to be hard to find a UK credit card now we are temporarily living in Canada.

Thanks for any replies

Sam

GreyPilgrim

0% balance transfers are sweeteners to get you on board. I suppose they are loss leaders in so much as they don't give the credit card companies any profit as such (even with the 3% balance charge)

What they rely is that you will either:

Use the card for purchases after you have paid off the balance,
Not pay off the transferred balance in full by the end of the 0% offer,
Make a purchase on the card, which will sink to the bottom of the balance pile, will accrue interest and be paid of last,
Miss a payment and forfeit the 0% offer.

Seems you have fallen for the last one. I suppose given the circumstances your only option was to use your savings to pay off the balance, or to try to transfer it to another promotional rate.