It was the *loml’s birthday last month and although I had already bought his present with saving money (concert tickets to see Newton Faulkner in Manchester) I had also committed myself to making sure the whole weekend was great for him because I missed his last birthday (the big 30) as I was on holiday in India.
I had some saving left over and found an amazing hotel deal on lastminute.com however to secure it I had to pay by credit card and once we got there I had to hand over my credit card again in case we ordered anything to the room (which we did). Don’t get me wrong we had a wonderful weekend and the concert was amazing but obviously I’ve been left with a credit card bill gathering extortionate interest by the day.
So yesterday I transferred the balance to egg.com, who I have an account with, as it was offering 0% interest for six months, yippee! And I’ve decided that now my Barclaycard is clear I’m going to start the laborious process of claiming back all the nasty over-priced charges they’ve put upon me over the years, it must be millions!
I will be just one of a growing number making claims against credit card issuers, having been hit by hefty penalty charges for late and missed payments or spending over the credit limit.
It is estimated that 700,000 credit card payments are late or missed every month. In 2006 the Office of Fair Trading ruled that lenders must limit penalty charges to no more than £12 a time, but before this ruling borrowers faced penalties of up to £35.
Customers like me, can claim refunds direct from their credit card company, but whatever course of action cardholders choose, it pays to be persistent. (There are claims firms out there that can so this for you but beware, they will expect 25% of your money!)
The longer I leave it to claim, the smaller the refund. This is because there is a six-year limit on how far I can go back to reclaim charges.
Plan of Attack: Step One.
If you can’t calculate yourself how much you have paid in charges over the past six years through bank statements contact your provider yourself. Ask them to provide you with a list of all charges, there is a maximum charge of £10 for this service, so send a cheque. Card companies have a legal obligation to respond within 40 days.
So why not give it a go with me, we can do it together and support each other. I’ll let you know what my grand total is when I hear back from them and then we can do the next step together and get our money back.

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