Tesco is funded by RBS so perhaps that why they won't accept transfers within the same group.

Mate

If i had a balance of £12000 on a 0% balance card i would be paying more than £5 a month towards it!!!!! unless i am missing something here and picked up the wrong end of the stick? i have a little sympathy for you but it sounds as if you got what was coming to you, I mean £5 per month!! are you mental?

Madness.................

It's news to me that Tesco and RBS are in the same group. Has there been some recent takeover?

RBS has funded the Tesco products for 5-6 years.

The "Tesco" branded credit card is issued by RBS. They are not part of the same group though, unless there's been a takeover since I last watched the news.

I didnt say they were the same company I said RBS funds the Tesco products and its RBS staff you deal with for your credit card. My original point was that they might not accept a transfer as they fund Tesco and own mint and natwest. Tesco finance is a joint venture with RBS.

I opened a MBNA platinum card with a 0% BT back in April. I used the card a few times too for some spending with the aim of paying of my spending each month, the card also had the 0% on purchases for 3 months.

After the 3 months was up I used my card for further spending with the aim of clearing of the amount I spent on the card each month whilst my BT was also on the account.

Today I found out that any cash payments I make into my CC account go to clearing the BT balance and not my purchase balance so unless I clear my full BT balance I will be charged interest on my purchases!

I closed my account today after speaking to customer services and will arrange to pay the full balance off.

They said I should have read the terms and conditions as any payment I make into the account go to clearing the lowest amount of interest and not the highest - surely this is not fair!

I have had a few CCs in the past and they have worked the other way round, any payments you make goto clearing of the highest rate of interest first before eating into the BT figure.

I am not happy as only recently transferred a balance to MBNA and had to pay the fee too!!

So if anyone is getting this card do not use it to make purchases only use it for a BT.

Did anyone else notice this?

Hi,

Go view http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/articles/money/credit-cards/the-'interest-free'-credit-cards-that-may-charge-you-interest

It was good of moneysupermarket to warn people about this. It does seem like very shifty marketing.

thanks for the link, it is very shifty marketing!

these companies want to make as much money as possible from you.

this happened to me even after I called up customer services last month asking them how much do I need to pay off so that I do not pay interest next month, the guy gave me a figure and I paid that.

Its only when I got my next statement with the interest charge I questioned them and then another agent explained this cash allocation procedure and I will always be charged!

I dont know what the last agent was taking about and how he came to that figure and why he did not explain this cash allocation procedure to me.

Hi Slick,

This is a small-print trap a lot, and I mean A LOT of credit card users fall into. I work in the credit card department for one of the top 5 banks in the UK, and I have to explain this to customers daily.

The whole idea behind these 0% balance transfers' is to bring that debt over, and clear it off, nothing else. A lot of people get mesmorised by the 0% purchase rates on these cards, and get into the habit of using them for purchases, and then after the 0% purchase rate has ended, you're so used to using the card, you then fall into the trap & the bank start to make money off of you. Once this happens, you really don't have a leg to stand on unfortunately.

What I would suggest is, have one credit card purely for the large balance transfer which you're aiming to pay off taking advantage of the 0% interest. And if you really want to, then get another credit card for purchases, perhaps one which you earn something back on, like airmiles, or some points scheme for your spending on the card, and then clear the balance off of that card as soon as you've used it to make the purchase, or set up a direct debit to pay the full amount each month. That way, you earn the points on what you would normally spend from your current account, but you're not using any more money than you would normally, and not paying any interest each month because you're clearing the balance.

Hope that makes sense.

thanks for your help friendlyadvice and it is good that you explain the small print to customers, more people should be doing this

You're quite welcome Slick, and I couldn't agree more. I've certainly had my eyes opened since I began working in the financial sector. One thing that frustrates and annoys me on a daily basis is having to clear up mess' that could've been dealt with weeks ago if someone had taken responsibility of the problem. Unfortunately for the customer, and yes, I class myself as one even though I work in the sector, a large proportion of the staff they go to for advice, don't know the correct answer and/or don't understand the advice they're giving in the first place.

Customer service should be at the forefront of these companies priorities, not sales quotas, but then they're a business, and as such, every business has to make money somehow I guess. I wish they'd realise without customers, there wouldn't be any money. But with great customer service, bring sales naturally because the customer thinks of them first when they need something.

Also, with regards to MBNA, stay well clear of them. They're the brunt of every business joke going within the credit card world, they're impossible to deal with both as a customer and as a company. Virgins' cards are also dealt with by MBNA I believe.

Just to also note about the balance transfers within the same bank, pretty much every bank won't allow it because it's the same debt, they're interested in making more money, not just shifting the debt to a different account in-house. I know for a fact RBS won't do balance transfers between Natwest accounts because they own them.

I'm having a similar problem with MBNA, I transferred a balance to them for 0 % interest, I paid them on their own website 2 days before the due date and have now received a statement saying that the payment was a day late. They have now withdrawn the 0 % interest rate, charged me a late fee plus £137.00 interest. I am in process of writing to them but I don't hold out much hope.

Any advice on how to word my letter? Thanks in advance.

When I went over my limit, they removed my 0% offer, but I just called them up and spoke to them politely.

I stated that how can you allow my purchase to clear in the first place and take me over my limit, they told me not to do it again and re-instated the offer but of course further problems arose so now I have cancelled the account.

You could try calling them, but they might say you have to allow 3-4 days for the payment to reach them but its worth a try.

Maybe friendlyadvice can help with some additional info?

good luck

Thanks for the reply.

It does state on their website to allow 2 days but if it's after 5pm it will take an extra day. It may have been about 5.05pm when I finished the transaction, it still seems extremely harsh. It only takes 2 days to go through if I use inernet banking so I would have thought that paying on their own website it would have been quicker.

Any advice gratefully received.