Trouble with Disney Visa!

[UMTerp]

Anyone else try to use the 6 months no interest to book their cruise? I booked on board in April and when I got my most recent bill they started charging me interest even though that shouldn't have started until October. I sent a letter but got no explaination just that the zero APR was for a limited time and that time ended September 1, 2004. I have the booklet that explains the program but no mention of a 9/1/04 expiration date. Anyone else have the same problem?

Thanks,

UMTerp

 

[pppiglet]

Somewhere on this board someone mentioned that you have to pay the whole cruise at one time to get the 0% interest.

 

[maggiew]

I'm not sure about the details of your particular situation, but if you had any other balance on the card when you make payments it goes to pay off the 0% interest first, then it goes to the higher interest rate balance.

For example, say you had $1000 balance on your card. Then you put the $4000 cruise on it. When you make a payment, say $1500 it would pay off some of the cruise balance and you would still have the $1000 original balance plus $2500 cruise balance. Only after you pay the $4000 cruise off would you begin to pay your original $1000 balance off. Therefore, you were paying interest on that original balance all along.

I hope that makes sense. I don't know how to explain it any better. So basically, if you have any sort of balance on the card, or may any other charges, the 0% interest doesn't mean anything unless you can pay both your new charges AND the cost of the cruise off in the first month.

I am not sure if any of this applies to your situation, but thought the information might be helpful to you or others.

Maggie

 

[professorandmom]

It is not true that you have to pay off the whole cruise in order to have 0% however, you may have to call to have the percentage adjusted. I am guessing that the transaction code doesn't always trigger the 0%

There have been many posters since the card came out that have explained that they have had to call to have the interest rate applied. In addition, I have read that some people have to call each month
Barb

 

[momof3luvs2run]

We are getting the 0% for six months. The card is new though and didn't have a previous balance. We specifically got it because of our vacation.

 

[Otisp]

We put just our $1000 deposit on the card (along with all the other stuff we buy). For 5 months we paid off all but that $1000 without any interest being charged. Finally paid it all off a month early, just to make sure there wouldn't be a problem (I was a little unclear on whether it was 6 months of bills or 6 months from the date of the initial charge - sounds like it was the latter).

 

[macbaby]

Originally posted by UMTerp
Anyone else try to use the 6 months no interest to book their cruise? I booked on board in April and when I got my most recent bill they started charging me interest even though that shouldn't have started until October. I sent a letter but got no explaination just that the zero APR was for a limited time and that time ended September 1, 2004. I have the booklet that explains the program but no mention of a 9/1/04 expiration date. Anyone else have the same problem?

Thanks,

UMTerp

UMTerp:

I too put my deposit on my BankOne Disney Visa in May. For the last two months (August and September statements) I was charged interest. I had to call several times, each time insisting on talking to a supervisor, before they removed the interest charge. I just this week received a letter from BankOne regarding the the whole situation. I suggest you call and talk to a supervisor (not a rate specialist). Have all your information regarding your statements from May to now. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

 

[beachbumfamily]

we too had trouble with zero % but got it changed after a few phone calls be persistent

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Hello-

I remember a while back when we were talking about this problem and many had issues with the "6 months" 0% interest.

What I have found out from many phone calls is that you do not truly have six months to pay off with no interest. You actually have ONE BILLING CYCLE BEFORE THE SIXTH MONTH before the computer starts hitting your account with the interest. (Which in my case was actually five days early.) For instance, say your $1000 deposit was charged to your account on 6/18/04. So that would mean that you would have until 12/18/04 to pay it off, right? Wrong! You actually have until one billing cycle before, in this case 12/13/04 before the computer hits you with the interest.

Also, the program has not expired as of 9/1/04 and you do not have to pay then entire thing up front to get the 0%. I have only charged my deposit and will put the remainder on the card 60 days before my cruise.

Finally, the information that if you have any other balance on your card the promotion doesn't work has not been proven to be true in my case. I, (unfortunately) have had a balance outside of the cruise deposit on my card the whole time (trying to earn piddly 1% reward dollars, you know?) and have paid it off every month without paying the $1000 deposit and have not paid any interest at all.

So the best advice is this-

After you charge your deposit, trip balance or whole trip on the card- immediately call and find out the exact date that you can pay off the amount with no finance charge.

Then pay it a week early just to be sure.

This won't help you UMTerp, unfortunately because the materials didn't say up front about the one billing cycle before. You are going to have to just keep fighting them on the phone to remove the finance charge. Which they definitely should because they are not following their own program as written. Good Luck getting it all resolved! Be firm and don't give up!

 

[UMTerp]

Thank you for all of the replys!

I did faithfully pay off all of my balance each month except for the cruise deposits so this was very unexpected! No where in the literature does it say that the zero percent expires the previous billing cycle!

I will call them again on Monday. I appreciate knowing that others have been successful when they called to speak with a supervisor!

Thanks for your help!

UMTerp

 

[mickeyfanmom]

You are definitely right- it doesn't say anything, anywhere about the one billing cycle thing. Also, they probably would never come right out and say that. It was only after calling a bunch of times that a customer service rep told me.

Good luck getting everything resolved!

 

[TMTIP]

We have used the 0% finanace charge for three disney cruises and thankfully have had no problems. Paying the full balance each month (minus the cruise deposit) helps keep track of the zero percent finance charge.

 

[maryisme]

I've also been having the same problem with bank one charging me interest on my cruise deposit. Every month I pay off whatever the balance is minus the cost of my deposit ($1000). For one month they did not charge me interest on the $1000 but this month they did. I've made several phone calls to bank one and *think* I have gotten it resolved for now.

The latest rep told me that any payment I make will automatically go toward the lowest balance (0%) instead of my regular charges. She said the way around this is to make my minimum payment and this will go toward my 0% balance. She then said to make a second payment during the same billing cycle which will go toward my regular charges. I am getting the run around. Everytime I call I get a different explanation. However, she assured me that all interest charges has been removed.

Also, initially they told me that my dcl deposit did not count as a disney vacation package so the 0% interest rate did not apply. I kept calling and finally got that straightened out. They even sent me a letter stating the above. What really made me angry was that the letter they sent had my entire account number on it. So much for security. When I called to complain about the letter having my account number on it the supervisor did not believe me. Said it was impossible. Told them I would be happy to send them a copy.

Anyway, I'll see what the next billing cycle brings me.

Mary

 

[jjnv]

I am really not happy with this card. I did not see my bill one month and had to pay $14 late fee for $16 charge last month. So I called and asked about the 6 month no interest on my deposit. I was told yes, I have until January to pay for the $800. This month bill comes, finance charge again. I called and was asked for wait for the letter marketing department telling me if I have to pay, now I got a letter that does not make any sense. It stated a few reasons why finance charges occur. I think the reason for mine is I pay late one time. But I could have just paid it off if they told me that last month.

 

[arlenesp]

here are some tips with the 0%. All dep and cost of cruise payments qualify for 0% for 6 billing cycles. you will be in default if you miss a payment or are late with a payment. It's in the program terms and conditions which i'm sure most of us never read. here's one problem.if you receive a credit from one of the charges, the creditseems to be going to the 0 rather than the acct.so you may be underpaying the true bal and subject to f/c. so don't hesitate to call them and find out what amount you need to send minus the trip each month. They are aware of the problem and will help. also the dates are confusing.the explanation is actually the billing cycles including that end date. if your promo ends on dec 1 it means bc including that date. so payment needs to be made on the closing date of the nov statement as that will start the new cycle which contains the dec 1 end date. and no they don't seem to be shortchanging the 6 months, it only appears that way if you fall into these situations.if you are armed with the right info you can successfully take advantage of this program.

 

[fourfoxesinpa]

One thing that I've done and found helpful, is to access my statements online. You can even pay your bill and it gets credited the same or next day. If you have questions about a posting, you don't have to wait for what could be weeks.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I too have been suprized by that "six months 0% doesn't really mean six months".

I have also been specifically told that I can pay all of my balance EXCEPT for the Disney Cruise to avoid finance charges and got charged anyway.

So far it hasn't taken more than one phone call to get things straitened out, but if I'm going to keep getting hassled because Visa isn't doing what they tell me they are doing, it's going to become time to look into a "no hassle" card.

 

[greytlady]

Also, be aware that BankOne uses a double billing cycle to figure out their finance charges. So if you don't pay off your credit card each month, they use the previous month along with the current to figure out finance charges.


From their website:
"Method of computing the balance for purchases:
Two-cycle average daily balance method (including new purchases). "

 

[UMTerp]

I talked to a supervisor at Bank One today. I think I got it all straightened out! We will see when I get my next statement.

She tried to tell me that the 6 months zero APR started when I first got the card in March! I said No Way it says right here in your brochure...

Her suggestion was to "hold on to" that brochure in case this happens again. Then I can fax them a copy and they can get it straightened out.

Amazing! Thank you everyone for your help!

UMTerp