Tesco credit card, payment dates and direct debit

Aug 28, 2008 6 Replies
M

I'd be interested in any comments on this:



I have a Tesco credit card and the monthly statements are arriving closer and closer to the payment date. This month's statement arrived today and the payment date is next Tuesday. That's a very tight timescale if one sends a cheque in the post and impossible to meet if one happens to be away for a few days.



As it happens, I pay the full balance each month by direct debit so arranging payment on time isn't a problem but there's still the issue of making sure there's enough in the current account to meet the payment. The direct debit rules say that suppliers "should" provide



10 working days' notice of the payment amount but this doesn't seem to be an absolute requirement. But providing 2 working days' notice strikes me as inadequate. Any comments?

I may give their call centre a ring about this but I'm always aware that call centre agents don't make the policy and it seems very difficult these days to make contact with anyone in a large origanisation who has the power to do anything (other than writing the the Chairman or MD).



Does anyone have any suggestions or should I just cancel the card? As a point of comparison, I have a Nationwide credit card on the same arrangement (full payment by direct debit) and they give almost a whole month's notice of the amount due.



Mike.



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R

I've written stiff letters to MDs before, and they work rather well.

It's worth a try, especially as so many MDs are surrounded by people who protect them from the reality of what's happening to their business. They are sometimes quite shocked to discover what has been going on, and their follow-up action can produce very effective results.

Mark the letter personal, and send it recorded delivery.

Maybe too the following web site will give you some ideas:

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M

Only sometimes IME.

and who also protect them from your letters....

If they ever even read your letter.

Makes little difference IME.

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A

At 22:13:12 on 28/08/2008, Mike delighted uk.finance by announcing:

It may (or may not) be interesting to see what happens when Tesco bring it in house now they've bought out RBS. FWIW, my statements regularly arrive at least 2 weeks before the payment date. The latest arrived on Saturday (statement date is 27th), with the DD due on the 15th.

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M

I had an interesting conversation with one of their call centre agents, who was well-informed. Apparently, some Tesco credit cards have reasonable statement-to-payment intervals and some don't. Those that don't are the type they apparently have difficulty making a profit on, such as their "Clubcard" credit card that effectively provides a cashback on purchases. However, there have been so many complaints that they're adding a week to the interval from next month.

It also transpired that direct debits are collected six working days before the last date for cash settlement "to make sure the payment arrives in time". I thought that a little odd.

Mike.

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R

Er, what? Tesco have bought out RBS? Tesco are pretty big, but not *that* big, surely.

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A

At 08:35:09 on 04/09/2008, Ronald Raygun delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Quite.

Well they're about halfway there.

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