Credit card payment protection

ritani

Hi,
I would be grateful for some advice and wonder if someone can help.
I have had an EGG credit card for about 8 years and have not used it for about 5 years. I have been paying the minimum payment by direct debit the whole time and have never logged into my internet banking to check statements. Foolish, I know but my email address had lapsed and I never got around to updating it. I thought that as long as I was paying the min payment and not using it then one day I would pay it off!!
Well I have finally got around to transfering the balance to my new Virgin credit card and have found that EGG have been charging me £20 per month for Credit card repayment protector which I don't remember ever signing up for. I have looked back on the past 12 months and it is on all the statements but I am assuming I have been paying this for a lot longer.
I am going to call EGG in the morning to tell them I want to close my account but where do I stand regarding this repayment protector? Do you think I am entitled to request a refund as I have never knowingly signed up for it?
Thank you for reading, any advice (and slapped wrists for being so silly) will be gratefully received.

benf90

I'm sorry but how do you know you've "never knowingly signed up for it"?

It may be something that you've agreed to in the past. Or it may not, at this stage I guess it's not possible to say either way because it's been so long.

You don't need to wait until the morning if you don't want to. They're open 24 hours a day over the phone.

Phone number here if you need it: http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_88448--View_1926,00.html

If you ask for a refund they'll say no. It's a lot of money to them so if you do want to dispute it don't expect them to just turn around and give you a refund at the first time of asking.

When you call them they'll be able to look back at your account history and tell you when you signed up for the cover, and by what method, ie over the phone or online.

Also, sorry to say this but over the last 5 years by just paying the minimum you've probably not paid a single penny off what you owe.

Because of how minimum payments are calculated you've probably only been paying off the monthly interest + monthly protection payments.

ritani

Thanks for your advice. I spoke to someone this morning who told me the payment protection was taken out at the time I opened the card back in 2001! It was a 60 day trial which had to be cancelled by me if I didn't require it after this period. Firstly I was told it was a checked box which I had to uncheck at the time of application but when I requested proof I was then told it was a box I had ticked 'yes' and accepted.
Obviously being so long ago I do not recall doing this but I have never knowingly taken any protection on any cards so am baffled.
I requested the exact amount I had paid since opening the card and also proof of the original agreement but was told it can only be discussed with the complaints dept. No one is available to speak to now, I have to wait up to 5 working days for a call back.
Fingers crossed I can get to the bottom of this and needless to say have learned my lesson for the future.
Thanks for reading x

benf90

The complaints department will probably send a letter rather than phone you.

The complaints procedure is the same as any other bank, ie you have to wait a max of 8 weeks before you can go to the Financial Ombudsman etc. See here for more details:

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_37155--View_162,00.html

On their systems they can only see the last 12 statements, basically the same as you can online. Any older than that are archived and can only be retreived by a separate department, so it'll probably take a while for them to get the required info etc.

pluggy1

hi ritani

did you ever here back from egg re the cedit card payment protector you were apying for each month

i am the same position

regards

paul

pluggy1

hi ritani

did you ever get a response to your last letter to egg re the above.

im in the same position and cannot remember agreeing to the above.

regards,

paul