Egg Money "minimum finance charge"

Badger_Lady

What's this?

I've had my Egg Money card for a couple of years, and have recently been using it for all my spending (about £500 a month) and paying off the full balance by Direct Debit.

On this month's statement, I've got:

MINIMUM FINANCE CHARGE - £0.50

What's this for and how do I avoid it? I thought this only applied if you had less than the minimum amount to pay off, but I had around £370 outstanding at this point..?

Is it something new to get money from you if you're avoiding paying interest (by paying off in full)?

Lavendyr

No, it's not. Did you withdraw cash at any point, or go onto any gambling websites (which typically treat credit card payments as cash advances rather than purchases)?

Badger_Lady

No, I don't visit gaming websites... it's possible that I may have withdrawn cash although I normally use my debit card for that - but I thought cash withdrawals just incurred a higher interest rate, not one-off charges..?

In fact, scratch that - there's no cash withdrawal amount shown on the statement, so it can't be that

I have submitted a "secure message" but, knowing how long they take to respond, I'm really curious as to whether this is something standard!

Paul_Herring

This sounds like their 'minimum interest' clause - specifically, if you incur interest (for any reason) if it's below 50p, then it's rounded up to 50p. If it's over 50p, no rounding happens. (Doesn't happen at all if you don't incur interest.)

Badger_Lady

Why should I incur interest if I pay off every month? That's what I don't understand - surely payment within the 56 days (?) interest-free period completely negates this..?

Paul_Herring

Are you sure they're saying:
"You will be paying this"
and not
"You may end up paying for this if <fill in reasons>"
?

I'd check myself, but the Egg's site is being (unsurprisingly) [STRIKE]slow today[/STRIKE] broken at the moment.

Badger_Lady

Tee-hee... no, it's actually an item on my "statement", dated 17th April. So it's saying I've already paid.

YorkshireBoy

Have you BT'd to the card...either from another card or from your current account?

...or maybe you've bought a 'shopping or gift voucher' on the card?

Badger_Lady

Nope

zx2011

CREDIT CARD AGREEMENT REGULATED BY THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974

KEY FINANCIAL INFORMATION

4.5 If any interest is payable, there is a minimum interest charge of 50p. This means that if the interest amount is calculated to be less than 50p, the amount of interest shown as payable in your monthly statement will be 50p.

YorkshireBoy

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Nope

Did you see my edit before replying?

Since we seem to have exhausted all the 'normal' possibilities, it may simply be an error on their part. The reply to your secure message should explain.