Virgin 0% Balance Transfer Scam
Discussion
Recently i took out a Virgin credit card as i had some money on another that i wanted to transfer and make the most of the 0% offers around.
I transferred the money from an Alliance and Leicester account and strangely it seems both cards are run by GE Money as shortly after they sent me details of my new card on A&L letter headed paper! A printing error apparently.
Anyway i have just got my statement through and there is interest and a late payment fee.
When i rang to find out why interest was added i was told that because i was late paying the money (2 days) i incure a £12 fee. Fair enough can't argue with that.
However in the T&C's there is a clause that says if you are late paying during the promotional period not only is there a late fee but you also get charged interest. In addition your promotional period is also cancelled and your interest rate goes back to the standard variable rate from then onwards!!!
Is this not whats known as un unfair contract term?
I have sorted it now and i am back on the old rate but they are refusing to credit the one months interest charged, so will take it further.
Just a bit of friendly advice for those of you who dont read the T&C's in detail.
I transferred the money from an Alliance and Leicester account and strangely it seems both cards are run by GE Money as shortly after they sent me details of my new card on A&L letter headed paper! A printing error apparently.
Anyway i have just got my statement through and there is interest and a late payment fee.
When i rang to find out why interest was added i was told that because i was late paying the money (2 days) i incure a £12 fee. Fair enough can't argue with that.
However in the T&C's there is a clause that says if you are late paying during the promotional period not only is there a late fee but you also get charged interest. In addition your promotional period is also cancelled and your interest rate goes back to the standard variable rate from then onwards!!!
Is this not whats known as un unfair contract term?
I have sorted it now and i am back on the old rate but they are refusing to credit the one months interest charged, so will take it further.
Just a bit of friendly advice for those of you who dont read the T&C's in detail.
10 Pence Short said:
It's a well known and reasonable clause in almost all 0% offers. They will give you 0%, you must pay on time.
How is that fair?I am late by a couple of days. Accepted. Late fee charged. No problem. Wipe out entirely the 0% offer which is the whole reason i took the card. Sorry but i dont see the fairness.
What i do see is a term put into a contract that has little to do with fairnes but is purely there to catch people out. Would understand it better if you lost the promotional rate if you missed the payment buy a month or two or were lates several months on the trot.
And its obviously not well known as i've had a number of 0% cards over the years, as have friends, and it is the first time any of us have come across this.
Soovy said:
colin72blue said:
10 Pence Short said:
It's a well known and reasonable clause in almost all 0% offers. They will give you 0%, you must pay on time.
How is that fair?I am late by a couple of days. Accepted. Late fee charged. No problem. Wipe out entirely the 0% offer which is the whole reason i took the card. Sorry but i dont see the fairness.
What i do see is a term put into a contract that has little to do with fairnes but is purely there to catch people out. Would understand it better if you lost the promotional rate if you missed the payment buy a month or two or were lates several months on the trot.
And its obviously not well known as i've had a number of 0% cards over the years, as have friends, and it is the first time any of us have come across this.
1. You have NO LEG TO STAND ON
2. This is NOT and unfair contract term
3. Next time you sign up for an offer, read the rules and stick to them. It's not difficult.
Listen, some free advice back to you
1. Leg to stand on for what? As i said i have sorted it but unlike you and your i'm alright jack f@$k you atitude i genuinely think it is wrong and they should not be able to duck out of the agreement for such a minor issue. Punishment does not exactly fit the crime now does it?
2. Worth checking your grammar before you type especially when giving advice about checking things thoroughly. It is clearly unfair. Am guessing you probably work in the financial world and believe everything is fair provided you make money.
3. Thanks for the pearls. Consider myself thoroughly told off and will go away to model myself on you and doing everything perfectly from now on. If only i wasn't born so stupid
TonyHetherington said:
Typing in "0% balance transfer card" to google, and choosing the top card other than virgin, the post office card, in their FAQs it says this...
And here was me thinking i could just pay it when i wanted! Doh! Silly mepost office said:
Interest free period
Up to 56 days for Purchases if you pay your statement balance, plus the minimum payment due on any Payment Plans, in full and on time every month.
Up to 56 days for Purchases if you pay your statement balance, plus the minimum payment due on any Payment Plans, in full and on time every month.
Next you'll be telling me that if i dont pay my mortgage they'll take my house away or something.
Soovy said:
colin72blue said:
Soovy said:
colin72blue said:
10 Pence Short said:
It's a well known and reasonable clause in almost all 0% offers. They will give you 0%, you must pay on time.
How is that fair?I am late by a couple of days. Accepted. Late fee charged. No problem. Wipe out entirely the 0% offer which is the whole reason i took the card. Sorry but i dont see the fairness.
What i do see is a term put into a contract that has little to do with fairnes but is purely there to catch people out. Would understand it better if you lost the promotional rate if you missed the payment buy a month or two or were lates several months on the trot.
And its obviously not well known as i've had a number of 0% cards over the years, as have friends, and it is the first time any of us have come across this.
1. You have NO LEG TO STAND ON
2. This is NOT and unfair contract term
3. Next time you sign up for an offer, read the rules and stick to them. It's not difficult.
Listen, some free advice back to you
1. Leg to stand on for what? As i said i have sorted it but unlike you and your i'm alright jack f@$k you atitude i genuinely think it is wrong and they should not be able to duck out of the agreement for such a minor issue. Punishment does not exactly fit the crime now does it?
2. Worth checking your grammar before you type especially when giving advice about checking things thoroughly. It is clearly unfair. Am guessing you probably work in the financial world and believe everything is fair provided you make money.
3. Thanks for the pearls. Consider myself thoroughly told off and will go away to model myself on you and doing everything perfectly from now on. If only i wasn't born so stupid
If you'd READ them before you signed up, then you would have KNOWN that if you were late paying then the deal is off.
I am afraid you'll have to chalk this one down to expensive experience. Oh, and I hear they're going to raise their APR to 36% shortly like Marbles have. Bad luck.
Edited for spelling, but not puctuation or conjugation
Edited by Soovy on Friday 15th May 16:12
I am sure the terms and conditions say lots of things but like many (possibly even the majority) i can't say hand on heart that i read and accept every one of them. And this is true of lots of contracts that people accept on face value. I am sure even someone like your good self has been guilty of unwittingly agreeing to a contract without reading every single term and accepting them. Hence the reason why the unfair contract terms act was introduced. Contracts are drawn up by very clever business people who are experts in contracts. However it doesn't mean that simply becuase it is written in a contract it is fair. Us poor ordinary people are not contract experts and may not have appreciated what is a fairly important term that, in my view, should have been highlighted a bit more.
But i have put it down to experience and just thought i would share it.
Why is the 36% variable rate bad luck for me then?
TonyHetherington said:
colin72blue said:
TonyHetherington said:
Typing in "0% balance transfer card" to google, and choosing the top card other than virgin, the post office card, in their FAQs it says this...
And here was me thinking i could just pay it when i wanted! Doh! Silly mepost office said:
Interest free period
Up to 56 days for Purchases if you pay your statement balance, plus the minimum payment due on any Payment Plans, in full and on time every month.
Up to 56 days for Purchases if you pay your statement balance, plus the minimum payment due on any Payment Plans, in full and on time every month.
Next you'll be telling me that if i dont pay my mortgage they'll take my house away or something.
If they did take your house away because you didn't pay, would you claim the mortgage was a "scam" ?
johnfm said:
I think you're all being a bit harsh - he's not an MP FFS!
I don't thing the OP is b
hin and whinging about not gettign a free plasma with every sprog.
He's missed a payment by a couple of days. He expected some interest, and a late payment fee. He was surprised to find a further remedy to the event of default was the reversion to standard interest charges.
I don't think it is a scam - or an unfair contract term. I think it is not proportional and, for such a remedy, it should appear more prominently than it does in the T&Cs.
I was beginning to lose my hope for humanity. Thanks John. Looks like there is life out there yet and people with enough sense to see the big picture. You have hit the nail on the head. Maybe its not an unfair term as such but certainly not reasonable and presumably why the finance company have now credited the interest and re-instated the promotional rate. They should be flagging this up far more than they do and maybe encourage people to set up DD's straight away. This was the sort of response i had hoped to get but, sadly, it seems it is not the pistonheads way! WHAT? HE MADE A MISTAKE! STONE HIM!I don't thing the OP is b
hin and whinging about not gettign a free plasma with every sprog.He's missed a payment by a couple of days. He expected some interest, and a late payment fee. He was surprised to find a further remedy to the event of default was the reversion to standard interest charges.
I don't think it is a scam - or an unfair contract term. I think it is not proportional and, for such a remedy, it should appear more prominently than it does in the T&Cs.
Funnily enough i had this discussion with a fair number of people this evening from a range of backgrounds (including, admittedly, differing levels of drunkeness). Despite that not one person turned round to me this evening and said "...serves you right you numptee. You deserve everything you get! Hangings too good for your sort" Could it be that this place is full of keyboard warriors. Those that are more than happy to be bold and aggressive while hiding behind there computers and would never dream of actually having balls big enough to say these things face to face in a day to day conversation with complete strangers! No one would have butted in to the conversation that i was having with mates in one of my local pubs tonight in the way they have here.
FFS! I come on here to offer help to fellow forum users and get slagged off by the right wing pistonazzi for making one simple minor mistake which i have now completely resolved with that company. Even the company has admitted they should flag it up more and that the way they dealt with it, in my situation, was a bit harsh!
As to the earlier comment about "...another sign of all that is wrong with this country...". Can you actually read? Have you read the whole post? Do you really believe that i am the source of this countries problems? A middle aged professional man misses a payment date by 2 days and causes a global recession! Really? If that is the case then i am REALLY sorry. Lock me up! Must have missed that bit of small print too! Get a life! Better still take the time to actually see what is going on in the real world. By that i mean what is going on outside of pistonheads AND, shock horror, what is going on outside the UK. There are views that we are in this mess because of the policies of financial institutions and not the public! Maybe these problems are caused by narrow minded people like yourself who accept things as they are but dont have the wit or intellect to challenge anything to see if YOU think its right or not! These contracts are always drafted massively in favour of the client. Doesn't make them right though does it, as we are now finding out. Its people like you that were convinced the world was flat!
Maybe my initial title was wrong or maybe i was not clear enough from the start but i have now sorted it and the finance company accepted they were wrong. I will still make the effort to put my complaint in writing and maybe that will change the way they word the contracts from now on. Perhaps someone here will get paid another extortionate amount of money to cobble some new terms together. Might even get them right this time.
Have certainly leart a lesson about posting on this forum though!
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