AIBU about these bank charges?

[OnlyGirlinmyHouse]

I applied for a Virgin Credit card in January 2014 for the purpose of transferring a balance to it and paying it off with a set amount each month. It was a 0% interest for 15 months offer. The application was approved on 8th January. I transferred the balance, and then set up a regular payment of £130 to go out of my account on the 1st of each month starting on 1st Feb. £130 more than covers the minimum payment each month.

I then forgot about the card, although i would see the £130 going out of my current account each month. I got emails each month saying that my statment was ready to view but i didnt ever look as i hadn't spent anything on the card.

I got my annual review statement today and was shocked to see that i have been charged £132 in late payment fees, as well as interest every month. I have emailed to complain, but they have basically said it's my own fault for not checking the statments each month. I have been charged the late payment fee of £12 each month because the first payment was due by 25th January 2014. I thought making the first payment within a month was sufficient. All the additional charges & interest total over £400

I have had other credit cards, and if i've ever been late with a payment before i've had Notice of Default Summons (or something similar to that). I haven't had any letters from them about the late payments. I have had several letters though offering me further interest freee periods on further balance transfers.

I am kicking myself for not checking the statements. AIBU in wanting to pursue the matter? Or is it all totally my fault and i should just to suck it up?

Yy to notantique - do check the billing date -although aren't billing periods longer than 2 weeks? so although the first. I think is true if the op pays more than double the minimum surely it would have caught up by clearing a. Double payment that month ? Too tired to do maths and don't work with credit cards anymore so billing periods may be totally different now :)

sadly not.
If I have a minimum payment of 5%, and a debt amount of £1000 then I must pay £50 minimum.
if I pay £500 minimum it doesn't let me pay nothing the month after saying well I already made more than double the minimum payment.

From the OPs description it sounds like the first payment was made inside the month when the balance transfer actually happened, there was no statement and no bill for that month.

I've got a few cards, LLoyds give me statements on the 12th, to be paid before the 5th of the following month usually, so about 3 week billing period (and a week where I can pay but it only comes off the borrowed amount, doesn't count towards what they ask me to pay back as a minimum payment)
virgin/MBNA give me statements on 15th, to be paid by the 1st of the following month (though as said before that actually means second to last day of the following month else they will artificially hold up the payment and charge you a late fee.) which means that for half the month I can pay as much as I like off the card, but it won't count towards the minimum amount in either the previous or coming months payment (well it'll still be counted as paid inside that previous month, just late and I'll get charged.)

To be honest I can't wait until the day I have exactly nothing! and can get out of this mugs game.

The 'check your statements' thing is all very well - and, yes, of course, the OP should have done this. But the T&Cs and actual practice of Virgin / MBNA sound confusing, and I would therefore think you stand a reasonable prospects of getting your charges repaid. Certainly worth a go.

OP - I totally get it. You set up the direct debit and that should be it. You set it up for convenience and to avoid the hassle and admin of checking stuff.

Mind you, I had a similar thing. Council tax set up on direct debit - so never bother checking anything. Then receive summons - because council tax not received because the direct debit got botched (Council changed my banding - but instead of adjusting direct debit, cancelled it...)

I am sorry but if we don't take care of these things then who is responsible?

It's your responsibility to check statements.
Also you can't just make a payment every month and assume that sorts it. You have to make the payment within the 'window' which it sounds like you haven't because you weren't checking statements.
I.e. If a statement is produced on January 13th and payment is due 1st feb - that's your window. If you make a payment on the 10th Jan expecting that to cover it because you've paid within that month, that is incorrect and your error for not checking the statement.
You need to make payment within the statement period not just every month.

Give them a call though. See what they can do. I've used Virgin before and they seem reasonable.

I've just spoken to Virgin, and they've explained about the statement date & payment date, and as a pp said my payment wasn't falling in the relevant period. But they could see that obviously I've paid every month and accept it was a misunderstanding on my part and have agreed to refund the charges & interest and reinstate the 0% interest. i am so relieved and so very grateful to the man on the phone. I have certainly learnt my lesson though & won't make the same mistake again. I've got to change the date of my regular payment. And i will check my credit rating. Thanks for all the advice.

That's good news.

Glad it's had a good outcome.

I loves a happy ending, me

Good news OP.

This happened to me once with my Natwest credit card. Payment was due by the 26th and I was paid early that month so just paid my credit card without thinking. I then received a £12 late payment charge and when I called them up it was because my payment had fallen in the previous month's statement. Luckily Natwest refunded the charge as it was a one-off mistake.

Ah that's really good news!

Thanks for coming back OP and to all those who explained. I certainly learned something.

Great news,OP - and what a relief Virgin were less censorious than some of the posters on this thread!

Good news - do check your credit file - if it was a misunderstanding they prob won't (and they do do it when it is down to bank error - have issued requests myself - it is a very controlled action and was overseen by risk management where I worked) but at least You won't have any surprises it should only have shown 1 payment behind on each month and you can add a comment to your credit file which could explain the issue.

If you always want to pay on the first they could change your cycle date.

Notantique - if you did direct debit then the payment would always be taken on the 1st would it not? V interesting about billing dates.

Sorry if I was censorious at all - just tried to offer advice :)

ps did you speak to them about setting up your payment ? -if they did tell you that setting a standing order up on the 1st for £130 then you might have a case for the credit file being amended as they misinformed you - if so get a copy of the call and go to their complaints team.

i thought it would have been very unfair of them to have insisted on the charges being paid when they must have been able to see that you were paying regularly on the same day every month. I'm really pleased that they refunded the charges.

pleased to read the update op

i don't think they told me to set it up for the 1st of each month, i probably did it because thats the day that most of my regular payments go out, abd I just thought that a regular payment each month starting a couple of weeks after grtting the card would be ok. they've now told me to set up a payment for the 15th of each month and that couldn't ever be late. i need to investigate my credit rating which i will do tomorrow.