Help needed regarding refund on credit card

Frugal_Fox

To cut a long story short - in the summer we were scammed by 'Ameri-Suites Vacation Club' to the tune of £720. Following a very drawn out process we were sucessful in getting them to refund the FULL payment back to our card. However they would not agree to paying the interest that we incurred as a result of their scam.

Today we received our latest card statement - and they have refunded us again. Now, I know that we have already had the refund we are due, and that this refund we have had given now is not ours to keep and I am prepared to pay it back...

My dillema is this

i) Do I contact them now to advise of their error? I'm an honest person, and this would be my normal course of action.

OR

ii) Do I sit on the funds (bearing in mind I am not on a 0% card), and enjoy the reduction in interest that this will give me until they realise and reclaim their money?

The balance currently (with the refund) is approx £1200 and the APR is 9.9%

Not able to get a 0% card yet due to history, so please no posts telling me this is what I should do, as it is what I want to do!!

Also - if we manage to clear the card before they reclaim the money, can we legitimately close this account and if so do they have any period of time to reclaim the money from us, even if the account is closed.

Also they are an American company - and one to be avoided at all costs!!

Thanks in advance
FF

mountainofdebt

Personally if they wouldn't refund the interest then I would be tempted to play them at their own game....wait for them to reclaim the refund.

If you do clear the account and then close the account be aware that if they do reclaim the money from your CC company, then the CC company will come back to you for the money eventually.

Frugal_Fox

mountainofdebt wrote:

If you do clear the account and then close the account be aware that if they do reclaim the money from your CC company, then the CC company will come back to you for the money eventually.

If we did close the account, and the CC company (Halifax) come after us, would we then have to pay it back as a lump sum?

[Deleted User]

I would also be inclined to keep the money and wait to see if they claim it back. However, having said that, I would be worried in case they then come back and ask me for the interest while their money has been credited to my account. One may argue the point that in the same way that you have asked for back interest, they also have similar rights.

Frugal_Fox

Ahh - except they did not refund our interest, so we could use the same arguement back to them!!

Reaper

As advised above I'd keep the money until they asked for it back and then return it. I would not attempt to close the card and hope they don't come after you. They will, and it makes you look guilty instead of simply unaware of the error.

Even when they ask for it back I'd try to argue that you will return it less the interest they owe you. Of course you might not have much say in the matter if the credit card company just bill you.

mountainofdebt

Another thought came to mind:

As the availabililty of credit seems to play a part in getting being accepted for new credit card deals and the limits given, when you do clear/transfer the balance away from this card, I would ask for the credit limit to be reduced to say £850.

That way you are still making yourself attractive to new deals by reducing your availability to credit and you have a limit which would give you breathing space so not as to pay it back all in one go.