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I thought I was being clever.
A couple of months before heading out to the States I applied for a shiny new credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. The interest-free period on my first bill - covering the £*cough* I spent in the US - came to an end today. The interest rate on this card is a wee bit higher than that on my normal credit card, so I thought I'd transfer the balance over and save myself a few quid in interest. According to my usual bank it takes about 3 days so I put the request in a week ago Friday to be on the safe side.
So I was horrified to log in to both accounts today and discover that the payment hadn't been initiated (yes, I should have checked before, but I was away last weekend and I've never had a problem with payments before). Why? Because they had to check whether I wanted the promotional balance transfer rate (for a fee). A rate that they hadn't mentioned elsewhere on the website. To say I was pissed off both at them and at myself was an understatement.
In the end, my bank said there was nothing they could do to make the payment quickly. The credit card issuer only accepted phone payments from bank accounts they operate, but they very kindly agreed to refund the interest if I get charged, because I had attempted to pay. I'd not heard great things about Halifax, so I was pleasantly surprised by that.
I don't want to know how much I spent calling their horrid 0845 numbers sorting all that out!
A couple of months before heading out to the States I applied for a shiny new credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. The interest-free period on my first bill - covering the £*cough* I spent in the US - came to an end today. The interest rate on this card is a wee bit higher than that on my normal credit card, so I thought I'd transfer the balance over and save myself a few quid in interest. According to my usual bank it takes about 3 days so I put the request in a week ago Friday to be on the safe side.
So I was horrified to log in to both accounts today and discover that the payment hadn't been initiated (yes, I should have checked before, but I was away last weekend and I've never had a problem with payments before). Why? Because they had to check whether I wanted the promotional balance transfer rate (for a fee). A rate that they hadn't mentioned elsewhere on the website. To say I was pissed off both at them and at myself was an understatement.
In the end, my bank said there was nothing they could do to make the payment quickly. The credit card issuer only accepted phone payments from bank accounts they operate, but they very kindly agreed to refund the interest if I get charged, because I had attempted to pay. I'd not heard great things about Halifax, so I was pleasantly surprised by that.
I don't want to know how much I spent calling their horrid 0845 numbers sorting all that out!
