Halifax mastercard messing me about

"Al H" wrote

That was a mistake on your part. If you don't make the required minimum monthly payment, then the promo rate is removed and you need to pay the normal rate from then on.

You should try to claim back the excessive interest charged on the one balance transfer before you missed the minimum payment, though.

Probably not what you want to hear, but I think you have shot yourself in the foot. You shouldn't have assumed they would send you a revised statement (they would be more likely to simply make an adjustment for the error on your next statement), and you certainly shouldn't have delayed making your minimum payment.

As someone else has said, they may now be within their rights to withdraw the promotional rate altogether, and charge you the standard rate on your full balance. So trying to get the initial error rectified is the least of your problems.

Good luck

Thanks for the input, (thanks also to Tim) but according to my latest statement they do not appear to have reverted the interest rates. My "next mont's estimated interest" still shows the promotional rate being applied to one of the transfers and the non-promotional rate applied to the other (just as before).

I have written to Customer Relations in an attempt to get the issue resolved. But I would still appreciate any advice on how best to proceed if this fails to get satisfactory results.

Al H

= = = = = = = = = = = = = to email me, first remove the three-letter animal from my email address.

Take your business elsewhere. If you can find somewhere else with a better deal, of course. :-)

When I had a problem with Tesco credit card, I tried phoning customer services but got nowhere (they can't think past whatever their computer screen tells them) so I asked for the address for complaints. A strongly worded letter got a swift response and they put right their mistake. Oh, and I got a bunch of flowers by way of an apology.

Hopefully, as you have written to them, it will now be resolved, although I'm not sure if you have clearly marked your letter as a complaint? This seems to get a quicker response.

Thanks for the tip. I haven't posted the letter yet, so I can still write "COMPLAINT" on the envelope.

Cheers,

AL H

= = = = = = = = = = = = = to email me, first remove the three-letter animal from my email address.

Well, my advice to the OP is to stick to his guns. His assumption was not unreasonable.

I would accept that some financial penalty for not paying is also not unreasonable.

Take it to the FOS if necessary.

Well, my advice to the OP is to stick to his guns. His assumption was not unreasonable.

I would accept that some financial penalty for not paying is also not unreasonable.

Take it to the FOS if necessary.

Well, my advice to the OP is to stick to his guns. His assumption was not unreasonable.

I would accept that some financial penalty for not paying is also not unreasonable.

Take it to the FOS if necessary.

Thank you for your suggestion. It is now 11 days since I wrote to Halifax' Customer Relations (using recorded delivery) asking them to correct the matter. I have not received a reply yet. I gather they have this breeched the Financial Services Authority ruling that a bank must acknowledge a complaint within five days.

How long should I wait before referring the complaint to the FOS? Can anyone offer any tips on how to complain, apart from writing to them explaining the situation and enclosing a copy of the unanswered letter I sent to Halifax?

Many thanks.

Al H

PS. To calrify, here is a copy of my original post to this group, posted around 12 days ago:

In early October, I took up an offer by Halifax Mastercard to do a balance transfer at 0.403% per month. So I did two fairly large transfers (8835 and 5542 from other credit cards, both supposedly to be at the above-mentioned offer rate. They charged me a 2% service charge for the two transfers.

When My next statement arrived, I found that the estimated interest for the following month didn't tally with the promotional rate I was supposed to be getting. The estimated interest payment was about 34 more than it should have been.

I phoned their customer services, and they eventually admitted that what they had done was to mistakenly apply the promotional rate to only one of my balance transfers and had wrongly applied their standard rate of 1.167% pm to the other.

I assumed they would send me a revised statement, and therefore didnt pay the minimum monthly payment (I planned to pay it when the revised statement arrived, telling me the correct amount tp pay).

No revised statement arrived - but I got this month's statement, telling me I had been charged a 25 late payment fee for not making last month's minimum payment.

Also, they still haven't corrected the interest rate! They are still charging me the non-promotional rate which means around 40 per month more than I should be paying.

I will call them again on Monday and hope to sort it out. Meanwhile, can anyone suggest any other tips to deal with these people? Should I be registering my complaint in writing somewhere? Is there an organization who will help me sort out this mess if Halifax still fails to honour it's "special offer". I feel I've already done my part in phoning them up once (took up about 30 minutes of my time) and getting them to agree to put the mistake right (which they haven't done).

Many thanks,

Al H