warning!! virgin/mbna 1st payments

queen_of_leon

i've recently been accepted for a virgin/mbna cc. when i gave them the 'courtesy call' for my initial application a very helpful woman told me how much the BT fee would be on my 1st payment but warned me also to pay the minimum payment with it.

apparently if i didn't make that payment they can remove the 0% interest free period...is this true?

my 1st statement has arrived this morning and the minimum payment only states the BT fee. now i was going to pay a few hundred off it anyway as i want the debt cleared but surely this is deliberately misleading people in the hope they slip up and have the full interest applied?

clio

Can you make payment as well as pay direct debit, dunno how they work but some companys allow this.
Y/B says min pay is £5 my m8 got told his will be £25 so t&c,s must be looked at ..

ps it could even be 3% according to their website info.

queen_of_leon

now i asked them that question and i really can't remember their reply...must check that out.i deliberately haven't set up a dd cos as my income fluctuates i want to pay off as much as i can per month and if the dd is in place and they don't take that also it's a waste of time trying to pay extra.
i'll check the t&cs also....cheers!

YorkshireBoy

queen_of_leon wrote: »

apparently if i didn't make that payment they can remove the 0% interest free period...is this true?

Oh yes!...as reported by many people on this board.

my 1st statement has arrived this morning and the minimum payment only states the BT fee. now i was going to pay a few hundred off it anyway as i want the debt cleared but surely this is deliberately misleading people in the hope they slip up and have the full interest applied?

Your minimum payment should be the LESSER of:

3% of the balance

or

PPI (£0) + interest (£0) + fees (the 2.98% BT fee) + £5

...providing it will always be at least £25

In order for your first minimum payment to be based on the first option (3%) you must have BT'd less than £4,570 to the card.

clio wrote:

Y/B says min pay is £5 my m8 got told his will be £25

I may have said MY minimum payment is £5 (in the second and subsequent months), but for new customers it's £25 according to the current online T&C's. MBNA also have a £10 minimum payment, so it pays to familiarise yourself with your own T&C's (and any notices of variation received).

YorkshireBoy

queen_of_leon wrote: »

...i deliberately haven't set up a dd cos as my income fluctuates...

It's only £25 in months 2-15, and for peace of mind I would recommend you think again.

i want to pay off as much as i can per month and if the dd is in place and they don't take that also it's a waste of time trying to pay extra.

With MBNA run cards your minimum payment DD is unaffected by any additional payments you make. ie, they will collect the DD, as shown on your statement, even if you pay off the card in the interim.

One final word of warning...the 0% period on MBNA run cards always ends on your statement date. So, on the current Virgin deal, that'll be the date the 15th statement is produced.

clio

My mates here and he rang them up and they said his min payment is £92.68 and he doesnt know how they got that figure , he is worried now coz when he set DD up he was told his min payment was 114.40, he said they said something about 2.75 %. and on his banks website DD is showing up, on his Virgin CC it,s not. do they know what they are doing them at MBNA!!!

Y/B can you work out my friends 1st payment before he pays extra payment to cover any problems . no PPI B/T,d 3000. they did say he could make extra payment anytime and DD would still go out on due date.

YorkshireBoy

clio wrote: »

My mates here and he rang them up and they said his min payment is £92.68 and he doesnt know how they got that figure , he is worried now coz when he set DD up he was told his min payment was 114.40, he said they said something about 2.75 %. and on his banks website DD is showing up, on his Virgin CC it,s not. do they know what they are doing them at MBNA!!!

Is he/are you summising what it will be, or has he had his statement yet?

Y/B can you work out my friends 1st payment before he pays extra payment to cover any problems . no PPI B/T,d 3000. they did say he could make extra payment anytime and DD would still go out on due date.

On £3,000 BT'd the options are...

(£3,000 + (£3,000 x 2.98%)) x 3% = £92.68

or

(£3,000 x 2.98%) + £5 = £94.40

...so he'll pay £92.68 (which is the LESSER of the two options)

If his statement doesn't say "your minimum payment will be collected from your nominated account on xx/xx/xx", then he must pay by other means...ensuring that his payment clears by the payment due date.

Haven't we been here before?

clio

Nah he checked his Online Virgin credit card account. i better ask him if he has received a paper statement.
aye we have i,m just making sure MBNA don,t take my friend for a ride by removing his 0 % offer if an error
occurs. so when i saw this post i,d thought i,d ask again . sorry for that. why are there x 2 amounts m8 [ x
2.98% and x3 % (£3,000 + (£3,000 x 2.98%)) x 3% = £92.68

clio

3000 x 2.98 bt fee = £89.40. total balance is now 3089.40 x 3% = £92.68

queen_of_leon

just checked what woman on phone said and the 1st payment is £25 plus bt fee.
i dunno what they're playing at either but it's certainly misleading to customers.
i think the best rule would be to always overpay!!

YorkshireBoy

queen_of_leon wrote: »

just checked what woman on phone said and the 1st payment is £25 plus bt fee.

She was probably the cleaner, or maybe they had the decorators in!?

The T&C's are very clear (to me, and other existing customers, anyway) on what the minimum payment calculation is, and I've reproduced it above.

i think the best rule would be to always overpay!!

No. The best rule, if you're not willing to take my word for it/set up a minimum payment DD, is to wait for the statement to arrive and simply pay the minimum payment shown.