Mortgage valuation fee Credit Card "cash transaction"

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Sjk1
Sjk1 Posts: 6 Forumite
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in Credit cards
Hi all,

I used my credit card to pay for a mortgage valuation fee, when I got my credit card statement I noticed they have classed this transaction as a cash transaction and charged me significantly for it. Is this standard? I only used my credit card as I prefer to pay on credit card over the telephone or online.

If it is hopefully my post will stop someone else making the same mistake.
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  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 14,571 Forumite
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    Who's card and which company did you pay would help more than a vague "Maybe"
    Life in the slow lane
  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821 Forumite
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    edited 18 January 2020 at 10:37PM
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    Personally I am surprised that this was treated as a cash transaction.
    How is this actually reflected on your credit card statement for you to have realised this.
    When you say you have been charged significantly, can you clarify what these significant charges are?
    Sjk1 wrote: »

    hopefully my post will stop someone else making the same mistake.
    Not unless you tell us who the payment was made to it won't
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,483 Forumite
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    Were you paying the mortgage company for the mortgage valuation?

    I suspect that most credit card payments to the mortgage company are people paying off mortgage arrears - which are probably treated as cash transactions.

    So somebody failed to pick-up that your transaction should have been coded differently.
  • SuperPikachu
    SuperPikachu Posts: 344 Forumite
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    I thought that gambling/lottery, foreign transactions and cash withdrawels from a cashpoint would be the only ones to do that to you.


    Checking the Internet is a list of these -


    • Gambling
    • Gaming
    • Lottery websites
    • Crypto-currency
    • Money orders
    • Wire transfers
    • Stocks and shares
    • Buying foreign currency from a UK bank or Bureau de Change – including traveller’s cheques and pre-paid foreign currency travel cards
    So I would assume they have taken your payment in a weird way or their business has the incorrect merchant code for some reason?


    Maybe ring your Credit Card providers CS team and ask them to check what the transaction states.
  • boo_star
    boo_star Posts: 3,202 Forumite
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    edited 19 January 2020 at 10:55AM
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    SuperPikachu wrote: »
    I thought that gambling/lottery, foreign transactions and cash withdrawels from a cashpoint would be the only ones to do that to you.


    Checking the Internet is a list of these -


    • Gambling
    • Gaming
    • Lottery websites
    • Crypto-currency
    • Money orders
    • Wire transfers
    • Stocks and shares
    • Buying foreign currency from a UK bank or Bureau de Change – including traveller’s cheques and pre-paid foreign currency travel cards
    So I would assume they have taken your payment in a weird way or their business has the incorrect merchant code for some reason?


    Maybe ring your Credit Card providers CS team and ask them to check what the transaction states.

    Hardly worth bothering with for a couple of quid, at best.
  • SuperPikachu
    SuperPikachu Posts: 344 Forumite
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    Well they do state a "significant charge" so may well want to follow up on it further.
  • Ohfeelya
    Ohfeelya Posts: 70 Forumite
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    This happened to me! I used my tesco credit card to pay my mortgage fee £995 and the valuation fee £200. I asked my broker if it was OK to use a credit card and they said yes.

    Tesco bank immediately charged a £48 cash transaction fee plus 77p interest. I called and said they had sent me a notification in 2018 that all transactions with financial institutions would be treated as cash transactions.

    The reason I used my credit card is because my debit card had expired and Barclays hadnt yet sent me my new debit card. I called them to complain and they agreed to credit my account £47.

    As for tesco I am just going to start using another card.
  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post Newshound!
    edited 19 January 2020 at 9:02PM
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    Ohfeelya wrote: »
    This happened to me! I used my tesco credit card to pay my mortgage fee £995 and the valuation fee £200. I asked my broker if it was OK to use a credit card and they said yes.

    Tesco bank immediately charged a £48 cash transaction fee plus 77p interest. I called and said they had sent me a notification in 2018 that all transactions with financial institutions would be treated as cash transactions.

    The reason I used my credit card is because my debit card had expired and Barclays hadnt yet sent me my new debit card. I called them to complain and they agreed to credit my account £47.

    As for tesco I am just going to start using another card.
    Are you sure about this?
    Also very odd about the Barclays debit card. Banks usually send out replacement debit cards before the old one has expired. Did you not think to question the non-receipt of the debit card when the old one was close to expiry? Who refunded the £47? (Why £47 not £48?). I can't see any reason why Barclays would accept any responsibility as it was after all your choice to use a Tesco credit card
  • Terry_Towelling
    Terry_Towelling Posts: 2,279 Forumite
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    Notwithstanding the fact that Tesco has T&Cs that state they will treat all transactions from Financial Institutions as cash, I think their stance is sharp practice and they really should be taken to task over it.

    Paying for a service should never be treated as cash. The historic reason for a card issuer to charge for a cash transaction is because they get charged by the sender for processing it; the fee therefore covers that cost (and a bit besides).

    Where a transaction is profiled as a 'purchase', that cost to the issuer isn't there - instead they actually receive a credit from the processor (which the processor recovers from their institution via a service charge).

    So, Tesco is receiving double-payment for these transactions.

    One caveat, I obviously cannot say which transactions are being profiled as cash by the senders and which as purchases, but I'd be surprised if any mortgage valuation fee were profiled as a cash transaction.
  • BoGoF
    BoGoF Posts: 7,099 Forumite
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    Are you paying for a 'service' in this situation though?

    You are not paying the surveyor directly, you are paying the mortgage company a fee which forms part of the mortgage. Normally you can add fee to mortgage or pay. Could it be argued that this is not a service but a cash debt.
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