New card - Abbey Zero

exel1966

Watching this with interest as finally got round to getting a Zero card for a little more stoozing

This is a first for me when I say that Abbey were very efficient in the processing of the application. Walked into branch, applied, accepted, 2 X BT's processed within 5 days, card received within 8 days, card shredded !

Now if I only knew what date I have to clear my balance by !

NickX

exel1966 wrote: »

Now if I only knew what date I have to clear my balance by !

Would you mind calling them and asking the question ?

I would be interested to hear what they tell you. Thanks.

exel1966

I certainley will be calling them to find out (India and UK) and will probably put the same question in writing so I've got something to fall back on if problems arise when that time comes. It wouldn't surprise me though If I get contradictory answers.
I'll post the results here.

jackieblack

barneypanda wrote: »

I applied for an Abbey Zero card online and still haven't heard anything either way for a month now. I've decided to go for an Egg card now as my 0% deal on BTs is about to run out on my Tesco card. I have just got sick of waiting!

We applied back at the beginning of May after receiving a letter from Abbey inviting us to apply for the Zero card. The letter said that because we have our mortgage with them we were guaranteed to be accepted, we just had to sign the form they had pre-printed with our details and send it back. My gut feeling was not to bother (they're not known as 'the Shabby' for nothing) but as we are going to the US next year thought the card might be useful.:doh:

I now have a stack of correspondence, each letter contradicting the last, from them that appeared in a fairly continuous stream from mid June, (all of which I have ignored). :wall:

:think:We finally received the cards last week (although their previous letter said that the cards could not be sent out until we had visited the branch with ID - we have not done this, but the cards still arrived a few days later!):wall:

I'm not holding my breath that anything related to this will run smoothly.
I've decided its best to presume the worst, that way we won't be disappointed!

coord47

I received my card very efficiently....however beware-!

All Abbey's literature, adverts and even verbal from their shops tells me that cash and foreign money transactions are free. Well yes they are free but they don't tell you you will pay interest on any such transactions.....and interest at an extortionate rate of 25.9%.
Everything I have seen tells my there is no charge, even their web site states;
" if you ever unexpectedly need cash from an ATM, you'll pay zero fees"

How do they get away with it?

exel1966

coord47 wrote: »

they don't tell you you will pay interest on any such transactions.....and interest at an extortionate rate of 25.9%.

I'm not one of Abbey's biggest fans by a long way, but to be fair they do tell you..............HERE

Cloudane

It's not a fee, it's interest (in APR - you don't literally pay 25.9% of what you withdraw!)

Also, re-read Martin's page on this - he does mention this, and even with the compulsory interest, as long as you pay it off within a month it works out cheaper than the cards with fees. In fact it comes second only to Nationwide

Doesn't apply to card transactions at all BTW - if you pay the statement off in full, you pay zero interest as usual. But it *does* apply to cash withdrawals regardless of whether you pay the full balance.

Probably doesn't work out so well if you don't intend to pay it off straight away, but that's not the MoneySaving way is it

HamiltonL

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

That's a different product though isn't it?

It is, but as that 0% is expiring I'm using it as an example to show the interest free period runs out at the beginning of month x.

Maybe the Zero card operates differently, and you're mistaken? PBA does seem awfully sure of him/herself.

Then again, it doesn't (really) explain NickX's situation.

Hmmm...the plot thickens.

Maybe PBA is right, but official guidance that we have received in customer services says 1st of the month. We'll know for sure after November 1st when the first of the 0% Zero cards run out.

excel1966, I think you will need to have your card reissued. New Abbey security policy (unless the branch intervene) means you have to give your CVV/Exp date over the phone to enquire or request something for your account. Even the card number (statement ref) alone will not be sufficient.

As for the cash, yes it is on the website, no fees that is all. However (and I point the finger here at just a very small silly minority), I have had customers calling up, advising me the branch have told them there is no interest on cash on the Zero card when selling it to a customer. That is annoying, although it still states on the literature and the terms and conditions about the charges so you can't really use that as an excuse.

Cloudane

Seems they can't tell me whether they've received my signed credit agreement or not! ('computer doesn't knooowwwww'). Just got to sit tight and wait.... the only thing they know is that the card hasn't been sent out yet so "we might've received the agreement and might be processing it"....

Not the greatest application tracking in the world. Wouldn't bother, but the signed form might've received some water damage *cough* (spilled my drink on the sealed envelope!) so I want to make sure they accepted it and the signature was intact etc.

Just got to give it another week I guess (sent the form back on Monday). Hope it all gets sorted before September.

not_loaded

If you mean September this year I wouldn’t hold your breath…

I am just SO tired of dreadful UK customer service people. My wife and I are long-term customers of Abbey (when they were Abbey National) and of course it’s only when something goes wrong that you discover how bad any company’s customer service attitude is.

I’ve been chasing Abbey Zero for two weeks now over my ‘guaranteed approved’ pre-printed CC application and they really are hopeless. Having read the various threads on this forum I now realise it’s not just me suffering. Not that that helps much.

Come on Abbey/Santander, customers ARE business! Wake up to what you are doing with your shabby service!