New card - Abbey Zero

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gaol wrote: »

Direct debit indemnitys should be completed immediately (certainly within 24 hours) or they are in breach of the guarantee scheme.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

Yes. A few years ago I had a three figure DD done incorrectly by the Nationwide. I went into the branch with all the details and spoke to an advisor and was told they would ‘talk to Swindon’ about it. I queried the DD indemnity that mentions ‘immediate’ correction, and on referring it upwards within the branch, a manager/supervisor agreed, and it was processed on a terminal that minute right in front of me.

As a Nationwide customer of 22 years I have to say they generally get it right and also care when you have a problem/complaint. Know your rights before complaining!

Canny_mal wrote: »

Despite all the bad experiences documented ion this thread I am thinking of taking out an Abbey Zero card purely because there is no balance transfer fee. (I am right in thinking the Abbey Zero is the only card on the market that doesn't charge a blaance transfer fee at present aren't I?)

Anyway can anyone on here answer the following questions....

1) Can you do a balance transfer from a card in someone else's name. eg could I transfer a baance held on my mother's credit card onto my new Abbey Zero card?

2) What is the minimum monthly payment? Some posts seem to suggest it's just £5 regardless of your total balance while others have mentioned anything from 2-2.5%

3) Have people been given decent credit limits in comparision to other credit cards they may have?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Well, at least you’re in possession of ‘good’ information in advance of your approach to Abbey! Good luck! As my granny always used to say, ‘when you break your leg, don’t come running to me!’.

I think for your query #2 it is the greater of £5 or 2.25% minimum repayment. That was as per my original Ts & Cs. Unfortunately they’ve sent me new Ts & Cs twice now, and I have not had the time (or the magnifying glass) to read through all the paperwork.

For your query #3, as a 33-year customer who has never defaulted on a single payment, I expected a far better credit limit. Mine is far lower than the amount some of the blatant stoozers quoted earlier in this thread, and it is the lowest credit limit of all my cards.

Overall my rating for Abbey/Santander is 1 out of 10, very disappointing.

I will cease all of my Abbey/Santander business at the end of the 0% offer, and never do any business with them or any other Santander associate company again.

Foggy

gaol wrote: »

Direct debit indemnitys should be completed immediately (certainly within 24 hours) or they are in breach of the guarantee scheme.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

Thanks for this. My 48 hours passed today. I rang them and guess what, 'there has been a mistake' and he 'will submit the papers to the admin department' and it will 'take 48 hours'. I said I didn't believe this would happen and asked for his name to which he gave me his first name, refused to give me his second name and announced the call was over and disconnected the call.

This is getting surreal.

rl290

I applied for an Abbey Zero card in mid-August and never heard back. So, contacted them a couple of weeks ago and queried this; the resultant debacle has been a real comedy of errors...

I was told that the application had timed out, but they could not tell me whether any documents had been sent to me (which, say, had got lost in the post) or whether they had simply lost the online details that I provided(?!).

So, I was told to apply again. I decided to do this by phone and was told that the new process was to take some details and phone me back. They did indeed ring me back within an hour, leaving 2 messages for me to ring "Helen" back. Ring-back I did, and left a message which, the voicemail promised, would be replied to within 48 hours.

No ring-back was forthcoming, so I went ahead an applied online (again) on the 24th September. A few days later, I phoned to check the status of my application. Apparently the application on the 21st September(?) was rejected. I have a perfect credit rating...

I have just spoken with someone else at Abbey, who has told me what really happened... The application in mid-August wasn't processed and rejected until 21st September. Meanwhile, the application made on 24th September, because the online reference began "OLA" meant that the system experienced an error and my application maynot be processed anyway! Why my first application was rejected will take "10 working days" to find out. I can't be bothered, so have asked them to delete all information about me from their system. I will check that they have not tarnished my credit rating in the meanwhile.

Meanwhile, Nationwide have offered me their equally competitive credit card without even asking for it - I'll take that instead.

jackieblack

Canny_mal wrote: »

Anyway can anyone on here answer the following questions....

3) Have people been given decent credit limits in comparision to other credit cards they may have?

No, only about half the limit on the card I was thinking of replacing with this one.

RUBBISH!

HamiltonL

Foggy wrote: »

A WARNING REGARDING THE 'MINIMUM PAYMENT' - I'VE BEEN ROBBED

OK it's their money but I have been well and truly fleeced by this bunch of incompetents.

Abbey has been my main account for nearly 20 years but I applied for the Zero card online and not via the 'pre-approved' method that so many others have had problems with. My card came through in 2 weeks at the beginning of August, to use for my holiday at the beginning of September.

I rang up to register for online banking (it is separate from the main online banking) and rang to let them know when I would be abroad to ensure the card wasn't declined. So far so good.

I returned from abroad having used the card to pay for the holiday and while abroad and had a balance of £1160. My passwords had arrived so I logged on and noticed the payment was set to pay the full amount by direct debit from my Abbey current account. I tried to change it online but a 'technical fault' prevented this. I rang them and they changed it. I logged on half an hour later and sure enough it had changed to minimum payment (£5 to be taken on 29 September). This was on the 15 September, a full 2 weeks before payment was due.

I guess it was set at full payment because when the account is created, the DD on the account is set at full payment as a default, and this needs to be adjusted straight away by either an agent over the phone or those who set-up the account. Now I guess you asked for it to be set-up when you applied and they did indeed do that, however it seems they somehow forgot to adjust your account.

Usually if the settings are changed no later than ten working days before the due date (I assume is the case here?) the Direct Debit should come out for the revised amount, so why it didn't in this case, I am perplexed as to why.

On 26 September I logged on to my Abbey current account and to my horror the full amount had been taken and I was now £1100 overdrawn. Now this is where it all starts to go wrong and I was to find out the Abbey Credit Card people are from Mars and the Abbey Banking people are from Venus. Over an hour was wasted last Friday until I reached a point where if I rang back today (the Credit Card) side would arrange for the amount to be refunded to my current account.

Unfortunately in this situation the local branch would be the only body to sort this out. I assume when you receive confirmation of charges on your current account, if they are presented to the branch as proof, there should be no problem refunding them. This is a truly regrettable error that should have been easily avoidable. This isn't a system error, it's a human error.

Initially it was apparently my fault as 2 weeks is insufficient to change a DD even the online system showed the changed immediately and the automated robot voice was still telling me that £5 would be taken out on 29 September.

I think the automated service just confirms the minimum payment (in this case five quid), rather than specifying the amount to be taken on the due date? Or maybe that is wrong?

The last one who I have to admit was unlucky to be the last one as my patience had by now gone. He said they could do an indemnity claim on the DD which if I did this over the phone would take 7-10 days or would be done immeditely if I visited the local branch.

Technically under the Guarantee Scheme, he is correct, or at least within one working day. Not sure about doing it via the back office. I believe the branch are the main body to intervene.

So I made a special trip into town, waited patiently and repeated my tale of woe for the millionth time only to be told it would take 7-10 days. I actually started to laugh... No matter what I said I'd been told she kept repeating 'it will take 7-10 days'. I said I heard and understood the first time but I was only there because I had been told different. I actually remembered to ask them to make a payment of £5 as knowing my luck when the DD is returned they will try and charge me for missing a payment.....

Not sure what the branch are talking about regarding 7-10 days. I've spoken occasionally to branches about this and they get the money back in a few hours max. Paying a fiver is probably the best thing to do for now. My concern is any late charge on the credit card will inflate that minimum payment as a one-off for the next statement (about to be produced I expect). Of course given the circumstances you are entitled to a refund of any late charge if you do get one. If your 0% is curtailed there should be no problem reinstating it.

Anyway a warning to anyone using this card. It seems the default payment is for the full balance and any attempt to change it may not work.

Again, it is very disappointing what has happened in your case but 99% of the time any advance changes before the ten working days mark will take effect, and 99% of the time anyway the DD will be correctly set-up.

Let us know if this has been sorted and your pursuit of any charges on your current account.

HamiltonL

Canny_mal wrote: »

Despite all the bad experiences documented ion this thread I am thinking of taking out an Abbey Zero card purely because there is no balance transfer fee. (I am right in thinking the Abbey Zero is the only card on the market that doesn't charge a blaance transfer fee at present aren't I?)

I'm fairly sure there are one or two others but they are quite rare these days.

Anyway can anyone on here answer the following questions....

1) Can you do a balance transfer from a card in someone else's name. eg could I transfer a baance held on my mother's credit card onto my new Abbey Zero card?

As far as I am aware, no.

2) What is the minimum monthly payment? Some posts seem to suggest it's just £5 regardless of your total balance while others have mentioned anything from 2-2.5%

Usually about 2.25% plus interest if applicable.

3) Have people been given decent credit limits in comparision to other credit cards they may have?

I know of some existing and new Abbey customers who got five figure credit limits for the Zero. Most though are in the mid four digits area.

HamiltonL

Foggy wrote: »

Thanks for this. My 48 hours passed today. I rang them and guess what, 'there has been a mistake' and he 'will submit the papers to the admin department' and it will 'take 48 hours'. I said I didn't believe this would happen and asked for his name to which he gave me his first name, refused to give me his second name and announced the call was over and disconnected the call.

This is getting surreal.

I feel the same, but I can't help but wonder why the branch haven't already sorted this? Maybe the error lies with them?

No surnames are given out for security reasons but we can give identifiable reference numbers, which should be logged on the account comments after every call. I'm disappointed by the way he handled your call though, especially at the end. His line manager will pick him up on that.

HamiltonL

rl290 wrote: »

I applied for an Abbey Zero card in mid-August and never heard back. So, contacted them a couple of weeks ago and queried this; the resultant debacle has been a real comedy of errors...

I was told that the application had timed out, but they could not tell me whether any documents had been sent to me (which, say, had got lost in the post) or whether they had simply lost the online details that I provided(?!).

So, I was told to apply again. I decided to do this by phone and was told that the new process was to take some details and phone me back. They did indeed ring me back within an hour, leaving 2 messages for me to ring "Helen" back. Ring-back I did, and left a message which, the voicemail promised, would be replied to within 48 hours.

No ring-back was forthcoming, so I went ahead an applied online (again) on the 24th September. A few days later, I phoned to check the status of my application. Apparently the application on the 21st September(?) was rejected. I have a perfect credit rating...

I have just spoken with someone else at Abbey, who has told me what really happened... The application in mid-August wasn't processed and rejected until 21st September. Meanwhile, the application made on 24th September, because the online reference began "OLA" meant that the system experienced an error and my application maynot be processed anyway! Why my first application was rejected will take "10 working days" to find out. I can't be bothered, so have asked them to delete all information about me from their system. I will check that they have not tarnished my credit rating in the meanwhile.

I wonder if it's a problem with your address on the system, as I can't think of any other reason why the original application would 'drop off'. I assume because the application done on September 21st wasn't the first, it was declined? I don't know. Hopefully the letter will shed some light on this when it arrives.

SirAlfonso

Hi, i currently have a positive balance on my abbey zero card for various reasons and was wondering if anyone knew how i go about getting it off there and into my normal account? Would it just be a normal balance transfer thus incurring no fees?

rl290

HamiltonL wrote: »

I wonder if it's a problem with your address on the system, as I can't think of any other reason why the original application would 'drop off'. I assume because the application done on September 21st wasn't the first, it was declined? I don't know. Hopefully the letter will shed some light on this when it arrives.

We'll see, but I won't be holding my breath...

I simply do not understand how service can be this bad. This was the first time I've touched a high-street bank for years, and quite appalled at the lack of quality (I've been with online banks for years, and have received great service).