Oddly, the extended refund timelines appear to be a direct violation of Regulation Z, which governs certain refunds, which states that the card issuer shall "within 3 business days from receipt of a credit statement, credit the consumer's account with the amount of the refund".
Now similar penalties are being extended to thousands of workers in receipt of universal credit (UC).
Since its launch, only two of 463 residents in receipt of universal credit have faced the threat of eviction.
The Lib Dems would means test pensioner benefits and possibly link them to receipt of pension credit.
The £25-per-house payments will be made to customers eligible for the "warm home discount", who are typically over 60 and in receipt of pension credit.
This could then be used to finance an immediate payment to those most likely to spend it – those in receipt of tax credit.
Most of those in receipt of pensions credit are eligible; if this is you, you should have been informed by letter in autumn 2012.
One victim of such calls, a 74-year-old woman living on her own and in receipt of pension credit, told the Observer she had been duped out of £90 for a call-blocking device that she didn't need.
Everyone in receipt of universal credit will need a transactional bank account, and the government hopes that monthly payments will help people develop the mindset of budgeting on a monthly basis, as they would need to do once in work.
It recommends ministers should not proceed with plans to introduce sanctions for some low-paid workers in receipt of universal credit until they can demonstrate that those sanctions will be effective in encouraging claimants to obtain more hours or better-paid work.
