[rose]

Understood this to mean pay off regular puchases each month and leave the interest free amount until last month of offer.I paid off full amount listed on interest line and left "free" balance.Shock horror, next statement charges interest on full original balance as full amount not cleared. How can this be an offer? Even Chartered Account can't make sense of it. Told it only works for users who never shop elsewhere but cannot find any 'terms and conditions' that state this.only the definition of suitable purchases which is made clear by checking the interest free line on statement anyway.

[chaddman30]

Are you on about this offer here OP: http://www.tescobank.com/christmas/ ? If you've used your credit card in places other than Tesco then I'm afraid the limited time promotion won't apply-you should've received a letter and/or email from Tesco Bank a few weeks' back.

[rose]

The email only states that purchases outside tesco do not get the free interest. On the statement the spend was divided into interest free for tesco and interest rate for other purchases. I paid off the full non tesco amount and left the tesco amount after discussing it on the phone with Tesco, having asked why I had been signed up to an offer I did respond to. I always clear the card every time and understood from the phone conversation that if I cleared the non tesco balance I would not be paying interest. Before doing so I also talked to my son who is a chartered accountant and he understood the same thing and also left it unpaid. He only avoided the charges as he paid for a group outing and when repaid by his friends sent that money to his card account and so had overpaid the previous statement amount.

[ianl]

This has just happened to me. I called them last month and asked them how much do I pay to avaoid paying any interest and was told only pay off the non-tesco purchases and above the minimum payment. Low and behold I did that and interest was raised - just phoned and they have said they will refund this months interest but I have to pay off the balance in full to avoid interest next month. I have raised a complaint with them as the offer is totally misleading. Why would they split it out in the summary of balances if it is irrelevant if you spend elsewhere.

[chaddman30]

Most, if not all, credit cards will charge you on the full outstanding balance if it's not cleared in full by up to 56 days' time. To me (and I'm more than likely incorrect so apologise now if I am) it sounds as if you've been charged trailing interest on your non-offer purchases. On your previous statement does it mention on the first page about 'estimated interest'? If so, is that what you've roughly been charged this time?

[Tristan]

Hi Rose, I'm sorry you've unexpectectedly been charged interest.

As you are aware, you can only avoid interest on purchases outside Tesco by paying your balance in full and by the due date each month. This remains true even while there is an offer on purchases made inside Tesco. The interest you have been charged is on the outside Tesco part of your balance which you did not pay in full because of the Tesco purchases offer. I do understand your confusion and would appreciate it if you could message our account including your full name and your postcode written like this: A B 1 2 3 C D so we can double check your account and feedback your confusion around how this offer is presented.

To utilise the interest free purchases in Tesco until March offer, you need to only use the card in Tesco. Alternatively, if your card has a balance from a balance transfer you can uitilise this offer to avoid interest. I hope this makes sense - Tristan

[ianl]

I am in this situation and have raised a complaint. You say as you are aware - no I was not aware. The letter sent out makes no reference to this - the interest is calculated seperately and all the monies paid should go to the amount generating the most interest leaving only the 0% monies outstanding. I discussed this on the phone to Tesco and was told I was correct in the above assumption, only to acrue interest. This is clearly mis information at best and possibly mis selling of offers. I await the reply to my complaint which is due tomorrow to see where I go forward on this matter

[jamesb]

The offer was advertised as "interest free" spending in Tesco stores using the Tesco Bank credit card.
Quote: "You can now get 0% interest on Tesco purchases until your March 2017 statement. This applies to your Tesco credit card spend in Tesco stores and at Tesco.com between 1 November and 31 December 2016. Remember you don't have to do anything to activate this offer as it is already available on your account."
When I received my December statement I called Tesco customer services to clarify and was told again that balances associated with spending at Tesco would remain interest free until the March 2017 statement. As a result I paid off my December balance in full, apart from the balance due to spending in Tesco stores.
When I received my January statement I was surprised to see that I had been charged interest when none should have been charged. I called Tesco customer services and was told that the offer was "designed to benefit those who do not pay off their balance in full each month". It was not actually a zero percent interest free offer, despite being advertised as such and despite the fact that my credit card statement stated 0.00% interest was due on the balance. When I pushed the customer service agent for information they confirmed that the remaining "interest free until March 2017 statement balance" would need to be paid in full this month to avoid being charged interest.
This has also been noted in the media that other people have been caught out by this miss-leading advertising.
Refer to
:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/new...interest-offer
I find it extremely disappointing that Tesco has advertised in this way. I have also submitted a complaint to the advertising standards authority. Suggest other readers on this forum do the same.

[Annie1]

I had exactly the same experience and was charged quite a large amount of interest. I kept the original letter and have read it several times very carefully. Nowhere does it say that if you use it outside Tesco that the offer is in effect withdrawn. What a crazy situation. The customer service person I spoke to admitted it had been confusing and there was no trouble getting my money refunded - but this must be costing Tesco quite a lot of money and time to sort out. Not impressed with Tesco on this one...

[Annie1]

Maybe someone at Tesco Finance should re-read the letter that was sent out and work out why it was so misleading. It alomost gave me a heart attack when I saw how much interest I had been charged (I paid for two expensive holidays) even though I paid off all the non-Tesco items on my statement. Fortunately I check my statement carefully each month and contacted Customer Services straight away. I wonder how many other people were affected but didn't check? As a long standing Tesco customer and shareholder I am quite annoyed still and rather embarrassed.