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Did you know that if you pay off or transferred the outstanding balance on your credit card, then cancel the card that that isn't necessarily the end of the story? Did you know that you could still receive a bill months or even years later?
No? Neither did I until I received an unexpected statement with a very positive balance this morning. I was more than a little surprised because I had cleared the balance and rang to cancel the card several months before. Under the assumption that they had made some kind of mistake I rang their customer service to find out why I had received another statement. I discovered that an online retailer I make regular payments to was still using the old card number instead of my new card.
Apparently if you have used the card to make regular payments, for example signing up for a magazine subscription or a web hosting account that those companies can still extract payment from that card even though you specifically asked the credit card company to cancel the card? Unlike a direct debit, you can't simply tell them to no longer make payments from that account.
The bottom line is folk’s be-ware when making regular payments with a credit card, because you don’t have the same level of protection as you would with direct debit and an even scarier scenario exists. What if the retailer or dodgy company refuses to cease requests for payment on that card?
Where do you stand then? It seems the onus is on you to cancel regular payments, and should things go sour again the onus is on you to prove that payments on that card have not been authorised.
In my case the balance was less than £30, which wasn't too severe a penalty for not keeping my finger on the pulse. Lesson learned though. It’s your responsibility to cancel payments when a service is no longer required, and it’s your responsibility to keep account details up to date.
Credit card companies after all don't really care how they get money from you, but they are decidedly less forgiving than banks.
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I had 79.00 go out of my bank as their fee before getting a loan( I didn't take on a loan from one of the companies they gave my details to)
I got in touch with them they are called Right Financial who are part of Davenport Black if anyone else wants to avoid them, and they said yes we will refund it but you must get the form for refund from us via email (fine by me) and then print it out and post it back and we will refund you by cheque.
I said if you took the money by bank transfer then pay it back the same way.
They said that is not their procedure and I must do it by post (so they can make interest by holding my ££ until its refunded) so I must do that.
I spoke to my bank and said if I block the card and get new one so I can stop anyone who have the original 16 digit number and 3 digits of security code on the back from taking any more payments.
My bank said that they cannot stop financial companies from taking money out. They said if I had money spent on my card at supermarket or whatever they could do that but not financial companies.
My reply was if that if I have money taken out I don't care who it went to (as long as I know how to contact them) the money's still gone so who are the bank's customer, me or the dodgy finance company?
It seems the customer is always right until it really matters.
Step 1.....clear balance on card
Step 2.... Stop using card
Step 3... inform your credit card bank you did not recieve the product you paid for..
Step 4.....Write a letter cancelling the product to the last known adress of the company...put on whatever date you wish. Send a copy of the cancellation to your credit card bank.
Step 5....Inform your Bank you phoned these people on such a date and talked to Tom and cancelled the product.
Step 6....Cancell your card..
Step 7....Report it stolen
Step 8... tell them you dont want it re-newed, until they sort out the problem and return your money to you.
Worked for me.
not only did they cancell it, they refunded all money taken by these crooks.
Hope this helps,
The only way...believe me.
Thank you.
The way I managed this was to tell MBNA if I did not receive my money I would stop using their card...I paid off my balance with a Credit Union Loan..I told them they were the ones loosing out because of this Crook.
It worked! I got no satisfaction at the beginning, but the minute MBNA realised they were going to loose a good customer...No problem..
They went after him...It is the CREDIT CARD BANKS that have the power to frighten these crooks.
But as long as you have a balance on your card and keep using it, it is not in their interest to reduce your balance. Why would they? They come up with all kinds of excuses like not being allowed to stop him taking money, no good changing a card, excuses, excuses, excuses...But the instant they realise your not going to use your card until it is sorted out...BINGO!
Surely that should cancel any 'regular payments'
The company get's about £45 each month to pay for advertising services I have never received. To make matters worse, they have vacated their business premises and I have no way of getting hold of them.
Now I am trying to get RBOS to sort out and stop any further payments to that company. But they insist, that unless I cancel my DD with Capital Directories myself, there is nothing they can do...
I cannot cancel my DD with Capital because as far as I have been able to check them out, they do no longer have an office, but seem to collect money at the other end.
And RBOS won't even let me cancel my card!!! and hold me wholly responsible for any further charges made against my card by Capital Directories. They even threatened to blacklist my credit rating!
So where does that so called 'Purchase Protection' come into effect when customers are being ripped off????
Nick