The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will hold its first meeting of the year on Thursday. Although not a dead cert, it is likely the Committee will agree to hold interest rates at 5.25 per cent for another month – the level they have been at since August last year.

Any cut in rates – much awaited by borrowers – is unlikely until spring at the earliest, and that could well be kicked back into the long grass if inflation does not fall from its current rate of four per cent.

The more benign outlook on the direction of interest rates – following 14 rate rises since late 2021 – does not seem to be a consideration for those who run M&S Bank, the financial services arm of resurgent retailer Marks & Spencer.

The bank has just written to cardholders informing them that from March 25, the interest rate on any accumulated debt will rise from 21.9 to 24.9 per cent. 

In its explanatory letter, it says the rate hike is ‘due to the increases in the Bank of England base rate impacting the cost of offering credit to our customers’.

Don't bank on it: M&S bank has just written to cardholders informing them that from March 25, the interest rate on any accumulated debt will rise from 21.9 to 24.9 per cent

Don't bank on it: M&S bank has just written to cardholders informing them that from March 25, the interest rate on any accumulated debt will rise from 21.9 to 24.9 per cent

Don’t bank on it: M&S bank has just written to cardholders informing them that from March 25, the interest rate on any accumulated debt will rise from 21.9 to 24.9 per cent

A bizarre explanation given it pushed up borrowing rates in July last year from 17.9 to 21.9 per cent – just prior to the last 0.25 percentage point rise in Bank base rate to 5.25 per cent on August 3.

The rate rise has not gone down well in the household of Peter and Jennifer Wall. 

They are avid users of M&S’s credit card and clear any outstanding balance every month, but they take exception to the latest interest rate rise.

Peter, a retired solicitor and former chairman of a Birmingham-based manufacturing business, is incensed – and has not been backward in coming forward when telling M&S what he thinks about the latest rate hike.

‘Astonished’, ‘an insult’ and ‘yet another example of David versus Goliath and the never-ending saga of ordinary people being treated so unfairly’ are all words and expressions he has used in email exchanges with the company.

Sadly, M&S’s responses have been less than adequate. After one email he sent, Peter was asked to share his feedback about his recent experience with the company – he was so insulted he didn’t reply.

Even when his emails ended up before M&S Bank’s executive complaints team, the answers were unsatisfactory.

It said the rate increase was necessary to ensure its products remained ‘sustainable’. Baloney. It’s all about profiteering (note to M&S Bank, base rate has remained unchanged for more than five months and in all probability will fall in the coming months).

It also explained that the increase had nothing to do with the way their specific account was being run. A crass response. Peter’s complaint was not about their individual card, but the proposed rate rise being applied across M&S Bank’s entire credit card book.

Finally, it offered him the right to take his complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Again, a ridiculous suggestion. All Peter wanted was for the bank to explain why it was increasing rates at a time when everyone is talking about cuts.

Peter says: ‘Big financial institutions send out numerous letters to customers. Most people look at them without fully understanding that the financial climate is not quite as depicted in the correspondence. When companies send out misleading letters, they should be challenged.’

Marks & Spencer is a fantastic brand. But it is being damaged by its bank that is part of HSBC. It has echoes of what happened to John Lewis last year when many of its credit card customers were outraged that their borrowing limits were curbed by the appointment of a new company (NewDay) to run its card operation.

M&S, beware.

I’ll always put the (Ugg) boot in for readers!

Wrong foot: A pair of Uggs – here worn by a model – didn't arrive

Wrong foot: A pair of Uggs – here worn by a model – didn't arrive

Wrong foot: A pair of Uggs – here worn by a model – didn’t arrive

Nothing makes me glow more than when I get a positive outcome for a reader who has been wronged. This happened a few days ago after Louise Matz, an accountant from Pinner in North West London, confirmed she had received a refund for goods she had ordered for Christmas, but which failed to arrive.

The refund only came after I intervened on her behalf after she had been given the proverbial runaround – and fobbed off – by US footwear giant Deckers Brands.

Louise’s shopping nightmare began on December 19 last year when she ordered two pairs of chestnut mini Ugg boots via the company’s website as Christmas presents for Nicole, her 12-year- old daughter. Ugg is owned by Deckers Brands.

‘I had failed to find the boots in London,’ says Louise, ‘while other websites said they were unavailable, presumably because of people Christmas shopping.’

The next day, she was thrilled to receive a parcel via courier DPD. But delight turned to despair when she opened the package to discover that there was only one pair of boots – which were the wrong size and colour.

Frustrated, she immediately contacted Ugg which said it would investigate the matter, a process it said would take some days to complete.

Desperate not to disappoint her daughter, at the last ditch she managed to obtain the boots via Amazon.

On January 6, Ugg contacted her to say that the parcel she had received matched the description of its order – and so her case would be closed. Ten days later, Louise contacted me, asking to put the boot into Deckers. I obliged.

When I got on to Deckers, it did what it should have done from the day Louise contacted the company – investigate her complaint properly.

It transpires that the boots ordered for Nicole had ended up back at one of DPD’s dispatch hubs where they were ‘lost’ and never returned to Deckers.

As for the pair delivered to Louise, they were intended for someone else (Emma Hegarty) at a different address (who also complained to Deckers about their non-arrival).

Louise has now returned the wrong pair of Ugg boots to Deckers. In turn, the company has refunded her the £293.97 that she spent on the boots that never arrived.

‘Thank you so much for your work in sorting out our little problem,’ 56-year-old Louise told me last week. ‘I really appreciate what you have done.’

Louise, it is my great pleasure.

Meeting that stops me going off the rails…

HATS off to South Western Railway (SWR) for holding its latest ‘Meet the Manager’ meeting at London’s Waterloo Station on Thursday.

Although most visitors to its pop-up stall on the station’s concourse were more interested in the free sweets, water bottles and pens on offer, I found the experience rather cathartic.

It gave me the chance to vent my spleen over the constant delays in the SWR service I use to commute to work from my home in Wokingham, Berkshire. I was also able to rage over the dirtiness of the carriages with toilets often not working.

Stefan Chybowski, SWR’s control centre manager, was nothing but patient (and sympathetic) as he allowed me to have my say. He even helped me by finding details of the replacement bus service that will run when the line I use shuts next month for a signalling upgrade.

Of course, the meeting won’t make a ha’porth of difference to the quality of service that SWR provides. But it was therapeutic. Thank you, Stefan.

THIS IS MONEY PODCAST

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk

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