CreditCards Blog

I have a 'Brantano' Card which I normally use for shoe purchases (my son has size 14 feet and I can order them in through Brantano). I never make the 'minimum payment' and normally pay for any purchases over two months after the purchase.

I have had this card for 4 years or so and never made a late payment.

In October my mum died after an 8 month battle with a brain tumour. I absolutely forgot the payment due in October as everything was in such turmoil. I received a late payment fee advice letter around 10th November.

They have put a fee of 20 onto the account (my account balance prior to this was 32.78). I rang straight away and made the payment of 32.78 which I would have made in October. I queried the late fee and asked for it to be refunded. They could not refund it at that point but advised me to write to a Mr A Barker who they said was the Director at Creation Financial Services (the card provider). I did this by letter on 13 November.

I have now received my latest statement and the balance is 20.59 (59 pence interest accrued during the past month + the late fee). :eek:

I rang customer services and they said that the notes on screen say the letter was received, but a refund has been declined. The lady did not know who Mr A Barker was??! God knows who I was writing to. :confused:

She has advised me to e-mail their customer services complaints department, which I have done during my lunch hour. I am politely requesting the 20.59 be refunded to my account (if not I will pay it unhappily and then cancel the blasted card anyway). :mad:

My question is - I thought that late payment fees were limited to 12? Also, is it not a bit stiff to put a late payment fee of 20 on an account whose balance was just 32?

The world is going bonkers :rolleyes:

Any advice on this one would be gratefully received before I write it off as a bad experience.

Thanks.

my bank charged me 28 for going 2 overdrawn so I know how you feel

I have a 'Brantano' Card which I normally use for shoe purchases (my son has size 14 feet and I can order them in through Brantano). I never make the 'minimum payment' and normally pay for any purchases over two months after the purchase.

I have had this card for 4 years or so and never made a late payment.

In October my mum died after an 8 month battle with a brain tumour. I absolutely forgot the payment due in October as everything was in such turmoil. I received a late payment fee advice letter around 10th November.

They have put a fee of 20 onto the account (my account balance prior to this was 32.78). I rang straight away and made the payment of 32.78 which I would have made in October. I queried the late fee and asked for it to be refunded. They could not refund it at that point but advised me to write to a Mr A Barker who they said was the Director at Creation Financial Services (the card provider). I did this by letter on 13 November.

I have now received my latest statement and the balance is 20.59 (59 pence interest accrued during the past month + the late fee). :eek:

I rang customer services and they said that the notes on screen say the letter was received, but a refund has been declined. The lady did not know who Mr A Barker was??! God knows who I was writing to. :confused:

She has advised me to e-mail their customer services complaints department, which I have done during my lunch hour. I am politely requesting the 20.59 be refunded to my account (if not I will pay it unhappily and then cancel the blasted card anyway). :mad:

My question is - I thought that late payment fees were limited to 12? Also, is it not a bit stiff to put a late payment fee of 20 on an account whose balance was just 32?

The world is going bonkers :rolleyes:

Any advice on this one would be gratefully received before I write it off as a bad experience.

Thanks.
That's certainly my impression, although it's a few years since I was really active on the consumer action group forum.
My understanding is that, since penalty fees are illegal in UK law, any late charge has to be roughly representative of how much your late payment, and related reminder letters, etc, have cost the lender.
Don't recall whether it was a FSA or ombudsman decision but, whichever, said that a charge over 12 was too much and unenforcable/ reclaimable by the consumer.
As I said it's a couple of years since I looked into this, so the situation may have changed, but as far as I'm aware you have very good grounds for reclaiming at least 8 of that 20 charge. Of course the question is whether you're willing to jump through the hoops required for that kind of sum, if the card issuer decide to be difficult about it. *shrug*
Good luck with getting it sorted though! :)