Warning about using credit card to pay somebody elses insurance premium

madca

Last year I used my credit card to pay the annual vehicle insurance premium for somebody. The renewal notification for this year received stating the insurers will automatically renew policy using my card details. I took exception to this as I had not authorised any payment other that last years premium.
I contacted insurers who were not prepared to discuss matter with me as I am not the policyholder. They will carry on renewing insurance using my credit card until policyholder cancels. I have no rights in matter and they do not need any authorisation to take a payment from my card as the policyholder has requested automatic renewal. The policyholder and insurers can do as they please with my money and I can do nothing to stop this.
I was obviously dismayed by this and so contacted Barclaycard, my card provider. Barclaycard confirmed that insurers can continue to take payments from my card until policyholder cancels. They cannot refuse payment on my say so and will do nothing to stop payment. They did not seem to think this was a problem as policyholders need this protection to ensure their policy does not lapse and they become uninsured.
This cannot be legally or morally correct. How can anybody other than me authorise a payment from my card. If the insurers now use my card details to take this premium, the transaction is fraudulent and Barclaycard should look after my interests as their customer and not the interests of the insurers and their policyholders. Another example of the Financial Services sector bullying the little people to make lives easier for themselves and maximise their profits.
Has anybody else experienced this problem or have any comments this?

Belnahua

Just report the card as lost, and you'll get issued with a new card and new number, which stops any transactions that are automatically renewed.

YorkshireBoy

Belnahua wrote: »

Just report the card as lost, and you'll get issued with a new card and new number, which stops any transactions that are automatically renewed.

I don't think that will work. The two card numbers will still be 'linked' within Barclaycard.

Even if you close the account, as soon as next year's premium is presented the account will be re-opened and a statement sent to your last known address.

If you've moved in the interim, then ultimately the account will be placed in default and your credit rating will be trashed.

CPA's are best avoided, if you're not on the ball with your finances.

Belnahua

Worked for me, when I did it! The old number has to become invalid if you've reported the card as lost!

Biggles

No, the account will remain open, and any continuous payments will still be taken from it.

The OP mentions the payments being fraudulent, I'm afraid the only person deceiving the system was the OP, by pretending to be the policyholder at the time of the original payment.

Instead of pursuing the card company, Madca should be chasing his/her friend to either terminate this payment or to pay up as, presumably, they did last time.

Belnahua

No, the account will not remain open. Sorry Biggles but you are wrong on this. How does the CC company know a genuine from fraudulent transaction after you've reported the card as lost?

I lost my card and as a result it stopped my AA and Card Protection Plan from auto renewing.

YorkshireBoy

Biggles wrote: »

I'm afraid the only person deceiving the system was the OP, by pretending to be the policyholder at the time of the original payment.

I've previously paid my son's car insurance premium on my credit card; at the end of his quotation phone call he passed the phone to me.

The difference between the OP and myself is that I made it clear to the company that this was a one-off transaction, and that they were not to renew using my card details next year.

My son later rang them to check my card details were no longer assigned to his policy...and they weren't. I did check his renewal documents 11 months later though, just for my own peace of mind.

ruby6kids

madca wrote: »

Last year I used my credit card to pay the annual vehicle insurance premium for somebody. The renewal notification for this year received stating the insurers will automatically renew policy using my card details. I took exception to this as I had not authorised any payment other that last years premium.
I contacted insurers who were not prepared to discuss matter with me as I am not the policyholder. They will carry on renewing insurance using my credit card until policyholder cancels. I have no rights in matter and they do not need any authorisation to take a payment from my card as the policyholder has requested automatic renewal. The policyholder and insurers can do as they please with my money and I can do nothing to stop this.
I was obviously dismayed by this and so contacted Barclaycard, my card provider. Barclaycard confirmed that insurers can continue to take payments from my card until policyholder cancels. They cannot refuse payment on my say so and will do nothing to stop payment. They did not seem to think this was a problem as policyholders need this protection to ensure their policy does not lapse and they become uninsured.
This cannot be legally or morally correct. How can anybody other than me authorise a payment from my card. If the insurers now use my card details to take this premium, the transaction is fraudulent and Barclaycard should look after my interests as their customer and not the interests of the insurers and their policyholders. Another example of the Financial Services sector bullying the little people to make lives easier for themselves and maximise their profits.
Has anybody else experienced this problem or have any comments this?

can't the whole thing be cancelled by the person who used your card for their insurance and so you get refunded?

Bossyboots

My OH received a letter two weeks ago telling him that they had tried to take payment for his insurance from the credit card number given last year but had been refused. In the intervening period my card has changed number and he didn't read the bit that said he should call them if he wished payment to come from a different card, which was what I had had to do in December.

There seem to be two possible ways around this therefore. One is for the policyholder to notify the insurer that they wish the payment to come from a different card or to have a replacement card issued.

The only thing wih my card is that it changed from visa to mastercard and I don't know if that was why it wouldn't work.

JesseJames_2

Just to let you know that I had a replacement card for a lost card. Got different 16 digit number.
The magazine subscription that I had forgot to switch to the new card was still taken from the new card.
So getting a replacement card will not stop the payment.

As many others here have said, get the policyholder to stop it.

PROLIANT

JesseJames wrote: »

Just to let you know that I had a replacement card for a lost card. Got different 16 digit number.
The magazine subscription that I had forgot to switch to the new card was still taken from the new card.
So getting a replacement card will not stop the payment.

As many others here have said, get the policyholder to stop it.

How does that work? If the card number is void as happened with Experian, they could not renew my credit expert subscription and I had to register a new card.