Credit Card Stamp Duty

decbuck

I want to close my visa account with tsb and they are looking for €40 for the priviledge for the stam duty for government.

I am convinced that I paid it for this year on the 1st April. But they say it runs a year in arrears. Is this true? I do not have my records going back that far


When was it introduced?

Thanks

0utshined

Yep, that's right. It's a Government charge though so the money goes to them. It does work a year in arrears so the amount you paid on April 1st was for the year up to and including 31st March 2005. If you close your account at any time during the year you have to pay the full charge.

It's been in place for a number of years but it went up to €40 in the December 2002 budget. It's tragic that I remember that.

egan007

yep you are screwed - i got onto ifsra and Charles mc creeveeeeeee
and got the beaurocatic version of F* off

homeOwner

If you cancel a cc part way during the year do you have to pay the full 40?

BC

You pay the charge for any credit cards you have on the first of April. If you cancel the card on April 2nd thats tough you still pay.

AndyWarhol

egan007 wrote:

yep you are screwed - i got onto ifsra and Charles mc creeveeeeeee
and got the beaurocatic version of F* off

Actually, I think that a €40 annual levy on credit cards is a good thing in the economy. It prevents people having about 10 cards with 'no interest for the first six months'. Consumer debt is a big problem in the US/UK where it is quite common for people to have more than one credit card. The €40 levy goes straight to the government (which should be a good thing, but I assume much of the money is probably wasted) and can be used for good causes.

Anyway, it's not good for the economy to have people riddled in consumer debt. This is the way the banks want us to live, but this way of living is not in the best interests of Ireland (both socially and economically). Therefore, IMO the government ought to intervene and flex some control.

0utshined

I disagree.

If you're old enough to have a credit card then you're old enough to take responsibility for your finances. I have two cards, not because I want to max them both out, but rather to give me options. If the Visa\Mastercard network is down I can use the other card. If there's a watch block on one of the cards I can still buy what I need rather than having to leave the shop and can call the bank to find out the problem in private rather than in a busy store. There are many more reasons I haven't mentioned.

I think that having a €40 levy on every credit card account you have doesn't help competitiveness in the market. By all means have a levy per person - that's how the goverment make money - but when it is per card it causes inertia in customers. I generally don't carry a balance at the end of a month but would on occasion. What's the point in changing cards if the rate on the new card won't save me €40?

Tazz T

AndyWarhol wrote:

Actually, I think that a €40 annual levy on credit cards is a good thing in the economy. It prevents people having about 10 cards with 'no interest for the first six months'. Consumer debt is a big problem in the US/UK where it is quite common for people to have more than one credit card. The €40 levy goes straight to the government (which should be a good thing, but I assume much of the money is probably wasted) and can be used for good causes.

Anyway, it's not good for the economy to have people riddled in consumer debt. This is the way the banks want us to live, but this way of living is not in the best interests of Ireland (both socially and economically). Therefore, IMO the government ought to intervene and flex some control.

So if somone has no debt on his credit card, he/she is still penalised?

I don't understand this attitude we seem to get on the boards all the time justifying the government's actions on things like credit card duty, electricity rises, the grocery order etc.

Do you like paying more than you have to?

Credit card duty does not exist in the UK or anywhere else I'm aware of - the government haven't applied credit card duty to stop us get into debt, they've applied it for the same reason they've applied it to ATM cards to cream more money out of us in stealth taxes.

And as the above has said, if you're over 18 you should be responsible to run your finances the way you want.

D'Peoples Voice

Tazz T wrote:

the government haven't applied credit card duty to stop us get into debt, they've applied it for the same reason they've applied it to ATM cards to cream more money out of us in stealth taxes.

I tend to agree. I don't believe the government had people's financial concerns in mind when they imposed this tax.
It is, it must be said a tax on the rich, because they know that the average people on below the minimum wage is lucky to get one credit card, never mind, two or more.
Compare that to someone earning €270,000p.a., banks are only too willing to give people with such a salary, a 2nd credit card, because they believe they are good for it.
Mcgreevy therefore saw it as a way of raising money by disproportionately hitting the rich, his attitude I'm sure was, if they can afford a second credit card, they are probably going to spend €15,000 plus on purhcases on the second card each year, €40 is not a lot to screw them for!

finally if you move from one credit card to another you only pay stamp duty once, and that every April in arrears. After you leave the first credit card company, get them to issue a Letter of Closure to you(saying they have deducted stamp duty), then you pass on the Letter of closure to new credit card company. When it comes to April, the second credit card will take your letter of closure into account, and not charge you again. thats the law

AndyWarhol

Tazz T wrote:

So if somone has no debt on his credit card, he/she is still penalised?

The €40 levy is completely unrelated to whether or not you're in debt/credit. The €40 is a nice cash cow for the government who are the ultimate facilitators of credit card companies in this country and if the €40 levy brings with it some economic/social benefits, then it's a win-win situation. The government has to exercise some form of control over the affairs of (particularly) credit card companies to avoid getting people into dangerous levels of debt.

Tazz T wrote:

I don't understand this attitude we seem to get on the boards all the time justifying the government's actions on things like credit card duty, electricity rises, the grocery order etc.

I take it you watch Eddie Hobbes then? Well I personally think ESB price rises are justified (as does the regulator): When you take into account the price of oil and rising costs associated with power plant upgrading (in particular the clean-up that is required at the Moneypoint plant), the ESB are completely justified. This year's ESB profits were largely from their overseas operations in North America/Europe and why should the ESB be made subsidise Irish consumers just because they are sucessful abroad and had the foresight/innitiative to make as much money for the government as possible?
[/QUOTE]

Tazz T wrote:

Do you like paying more than you have to?

Well if you apply that logic, then why pay tax at all? I believe in a fair taxation system for the common good, and the government have decided that a credit card levy is justified and I agree with them in this instance. (I may not agree with the taxation system in its entirity, but sure who does? Plus we live in a democracy, so as a law-abiding citizens, we've got to take some things on board that you might fundamentally disagree with).

Tazz T wrote:

Credit card duty does not exist in the UK or anywhere else I'm aware of - the government haven't applied credit card duty to stop us get into debt, they've applied it for the same reason they've applied it to ATM cards to cream more money out of us in stealth taxes.

You use the UK as an example of where credit card levys don't exist! There, consumer debt is rampant. I suggest you read this article from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3935671.stm . Consumer debt in the UK is now at £1 TRILLION pounds (a large proportion of this coming from credit cards). This is a dangerous threat to any stable economy and more importantly, it is a threat to the social makeup of society where masses of people are up to their eyeballs in debt.

Tazz T wrote:

And as the above has said, if you're over 18 you should be responsible to run your finances the way you want.

This is largely the case: people are free to run their finances the way they want. Of course no credit card company will give a €10,000 credit limit to some 18 year old, they will however give a larger sum to a 23 year old so as to have him paying off debts for the next 20 years with complete disregard for the social impact of having thousands of such people living in our society.

Besides all this, if you need more than one credit card (for whatever reason), then a €40 levy should be no hassle to you at all and it doesn't exactly break the bank. If you're a low earner and can't afford €40 for a credit card (about 5 hours work on the minimum wage), you can always get one of these disposable credit cards that are being advertised. All in all, I think people should stop moaning and just get on with it.

WizZard

Ulster Bank refund the stamp duty on your card if you spend more than E5000 in a year. Might help someone...