BBL Credit Card Account - Savings account reduced to zero!

[cassde]

I am a retired farang with a BBL Credit Card Account with 100,000 baht deposited as a Guarantee. My December 10th statement showed I owed 38000+ baht to be repaid in full by 25th December. On 24th December I credited my account with the 38k+ to clear my account, leaving just over 4000+ baht in my savings account. However, on the 26th December when I went to use my savings account debit card at Big C for 700 baht, it was refused.

On returning home, I found that on the 25th December my savings account balance had been reduced to zero by the BBL automatically!

I spoke to a very helpful English speaking Customer Service representative who told me that I should not have actually paid the Credit card myself but left the 38k+ in my saving account to wait for the bank to collect it on the due date. This procedure was completely new to me and is not explained on the CC statement I received.

That the money taken from my savings account on 25th December would be credited against my next statement and for me to use my CC to withdraw cash until my next deposit into my Savings account was made.

Has any other person had this unfortunate experience?

[Pib]

Now I don't have a BBL credit card but it sounds like you have automatic payment setup and that kicked in...kicks in whether you have a card balance or not. If that's the case you either need to have that deactivated as you plan to pay manually....or leave it along if you always pay your monthly balance in full and just ensure you have enough in the account the auto payment debit from to cover your credit card bill.

If desired by the customer, card companies/banks have various ways to setup an automatic card payment/debit...pay in full, pay minimum amount due, pay a certain amount, etc. Recommend you contact BBL to fully understand what monthly payment process you/they have setup for your card. You probably signed up for auto payment when opening the credit card account and didn't even know it.

[NeverSure]

That sounds strange to me. I have all of my credit cards set to auto pay in full every month. It's the credit card company which initiates the debit for my CC balance.

If I don't use the card that month and my balance is zero, nothing is taken.

The only thing I can figure out is that the payment the OP made didn't get credited before an auto pay kicked in. If there was only 4K and the CC tried to take the whole amount, maybe it's programmed to take as much as it can.

I really don't know. Odd.

[cassde]

Thanks PIB for your response. I shall call in to my branch on Monday and try and change the method of payment from 'auto'.

[cassde]

Success, method of payment changed to 10% option. Thank you for the suggestion.

[fletchsmile]

Hi Cassde

Sounds like you'd signed an automatic direct debit form to pay in full every month. Because you paid manually separately you ended up paying twice, as there will be a slight delay/ time gap between your manual payment and the DD calculations.

Personally I would say what you had in place is the best choice, then all you do is make sure you have enough in your account at the end of the month, and it's all done automatically. As long as you have enough money you will never pay interest, and don't have to bother with a manual payment

Paying manually yourself isn't as good in my view as you risk forgetting and incurring the heavy interest CC companies charge.

The option you've chosen of paying the 10% minimum automatically is in my view the worst one possible. You now have the risk of forgetting to pay 90% as well as working out how much you will pay automatically and how much you pay manually = most hassle. You will now need 2 payments each month. This is the option people mess up with most. It also tempts people to just pay the minimum when times are hard, and that's the slippery slope you need to avoid with credit cards

My advice: Always pay off in full. Automatic DD is the safest way to ensure this, once you understand the process. Manual is a second best, and the mixed approach you have is the worst for things getting messed up and ending up paying interest either by error or being tempted not to pay it all.

Cheers

Fletch

Cheers

Fletch

[Pib]

Yea, paying the minimum each month just costs a lot of interest over time. Personally, I would have just cancelled any type of "automatic" payment other than maybe payment in full and just have it setup were a manual payment is made...you choose the amount to pay each month from 10% to full payment.

Or I guess just do the automatic 10% payment like you have just setup to ensure you don't forget to do a monthly payment and then do another manual payment that month for whatever amount you want which could be payment of the remaining balance.

Up to each individual how they want to handle and pay their bills. Personally I don't have any auto payments/direct debits setup for any bills; I prefer to logon when the bill comes due and pay whatever amount I want...fortunately I'm able to pay in full each month and paying online is so easy now days. There is only one reoccurring bill I can't pay online and that is my Bangkok monthly water bill...so, that gets paid by a quick visit to 7-11.