andrewrw:

I had my CC refused at a petrol station this evening so I rang Lloyds to find out why. Apparently I had missed a payment (by 1 day) so even though I have plenty of credit limit, they blocked my card.

Seems unreasonable behaviour by Lloyds but its easy to avoid. As the other poster suggests set up a DD for the minimum payment. Probably only £5. That problem solved. Now you know how to make instant payments by phone, that problem solved. Beware the screwy system that Lloyds alone? use whereby if you make a manual payment in excess of the minimum payment they don't collect the minimum payment possibly leaving you short and incurring interest. That alone ought to be a reason to dump Lloyds. Also the Lloyds Advance card almost alone? doesn't have an interest free period on purchases

My suggestion, and I'll probably get flamed, is MBNA. Don't laugh but because they only do CCs and loans they can concentrate on that. Free calls and non-offshored staff more competent than most. Another reason to take a CC with a organisation you don't bank with is they can't just dip into your accounts like your bank could.

Possibly they might have handled your situation the same way but surely you now know how to beat the system.

Your payment over the internet will have went via the bacs system which takes 3 to 4 days, LTSB wont see that payment hit your card until then, so by paying by debit card they can confirm you have made a payment instantly and release the funds. If the £300 was to clear the balance in full then its likely you will be charged interest for being late.

Most banks will be moving on the Faster Payment System which should make your experience a thing of the past (or so they say)

Why not call them back and ask them to reconsider the late fee, if its a one-off they may refund it.

And yes most credit card companies tend to work in the same way, so im not sure if its worth the hassle of moving.

Eco

I I've been with Nat West since I was 16 which is quite a few years now and they are all UK Call centres. Also I just have a DD set up which always takes out the minimum payment. If I want to pay more off I use internet banking and it does take 3 days to clear.

My son however was with Nat West and because he was overdrawn a lot he was hammered for interest and late payment charges so he had to change banks.

So as far as UK Call centres Nat West is the one, unfortunately for charges etc. I think they are all the same.

I had my CC refused at a petrol station this evening so I rang Lloyds to find out why. Apparently I had missed a payment (by 1 day) so even though I have plenty of credit limit, they blocked my card. Now the minimum payment was only £7 but I made the full payment of over £300 yesterday. I did that over the internet and I can see on my statement that the money has gone out. According to the Lloyds call centre drone (who I couldn't understand - where is the call centre these days) it takes 4 DAYS for my own funds to clear into my own credit card account. Yet when she said I can make a payment over the phone (which I had to do to get my card unblocked, it cleared instantly. Now how the hell is that right??? Also I will now be charged interest on the full balance and £12 penalty fee as well.

Now I know I can't win with Lloyds but they have finally *** me off enough that I am going to dump them as my CC provider (have to keep my mortgage there as I only pay 1% currently). Are there any CC companies that don't treat there customers like *** or are they all the same. And if possible I want one with it's call centre in the UK.