Cpp payment on closed credit card account

Rox2y

I had a call from Homebase, telling me that I owe money on a credit card I no longer have.
The charge was from CPP, when the card was taken out the insurance was part of the package.
The card was paid of in full and the account was closed down March 2009 and the card destroyed, or so I thought.
BEWARE, CPP have the right to re-open a closed credit card account and charge you for a service you no longer want on a card that no longer exists.
I was told that they can and do charge old accounts unless they are informed by the card holder, when asked what happens if you were to die the response was the same.
When I asked Homebase how they let this happen I was met with surprise, they were the ones that shut the account down and even they do not have access to re-open it.

jonesMUFCforever

The insurance and the card are two different things.
Closing the card does not cancel the insurance - you have to do this yourself.

I would ask/find out details of the CPP and ask them to refund as the card has been closed.
They don't have to but you never know.
In the meantime I would advise paying the outstanding sum to avoid a black mark on your credit files.

2234

Hi, I used to work for this company - I have posted on here before warning people to never, ever use this company!

I'll run through what you will get told on the phone. Basically, your terms and conditions state that, to 'ensure there is no break in cover' :rolleyes: The company has permission to take payment from any card you have registered with them, mainly the card you get the policy with (usually by ticking a box, getting sent the policy details which 90% of the time get thrown out due to looking a lot like spam mail) but sometimes it is taken from another card you have registered, if they are unable to take payment from the original card. If that card account is closed, since the policy covers all the cards you own, then the company can still take payment under the guise they are covering all your cards, not just the one that's closed.

They will also tell you they send a letter telling you your policy will renew with details of how to cancel if you wish. (which, beleive me, is incredibly difficult, as the staff are heavily targetted on how many cancellations they turn around, usually by fobbing you off by saying 'we will send you the policy details, then call us back and we can cancel, don't rush into any decisions, you may need this cover' etc etc) Of course, a lot of the time CPP acts on behalf of the bank you take the cover out with, and will send post using their heading etc. This leads customers to believe if they change their address with the bank, CPP updates its records too. This isn't true, you need to change your address with them too, and for 'privacy reasons' the bank can't tell the company your new address.

The company is under no obligation to refund you, unless you call within 14 days of the payment being taken. Even then, some cheeky reps will try and turn you around, telling you 'since you have paid, stick with the policy for a year then we will update our records, send you a renewal letter so you can't forget'. Be persistant, within these 14 days you can get a refund, after a lot of pursuading and patience. After this period, you may, if reasonable to the person on the phone, get a refund as a goodwill guesture. Especially if you say something like you would consider the policy in the future, just not at the moment, as the managers have rely on repeat custom.

I'm sorry this post is rambling, I just hope it gives you all the info you need in dealing with them. They haven't done anything illegal, so yelling at the person on the phone (not that I'm saying you would ) does you no good. Some reps can't be bothered annoying someone who genuinly seems reasonable, as (as much as I hate saying this) you should have read the T+Cs, so really you are in the wrong, though I do agree the way they go about their custom is very sneaky. This is the reason I quit, you have to try and sell an extra product to every caller, at least half of whom are calling up with the exact same complaint as you, which I just don't agree with.

I hope you have luck in calling these people, if you have any questions before you call, go ahead and ask and I will try to help hope this post has helped!

Moggles_2

This situation is not limited to CPP, unfortunately, nor indeed Homebase.

Most of us buy this type of insurance in the process of applying for a credit card, but it's important to realise that the credit card and insurance policy are two separate products run by different companies. The cc applicant is not under any obligation to buy insurance.

A regular payment from a debit or credit card is termed a continuous payment authority [CPA]. Once set up, you can’t cancel it. Neither can the cc provider. Only the company you've arranged to pay can do this. Therefore, if you cancel the card and forget to notify the payee, in this case an insurance company, the premiums will continue to be charged to the closed account.

As the customer, you have to contact the payee directly and ask them to cancel the agreement.

Moggles_2

FYI, and anyone else reading this, the following companies seem rather keen on CPAs, but slow to cancel agreements: :rolleyes:

AA subscription, AOL, McAfee, National Homestudy, Natureberry, Norton Anti virus, RAC, Sky, Virgin Media, Vistaprint

2234

Also, there are only two major card protection agencies, CPP and the other is called Sentinel. CPP is offered with most store cards, banks except for Lloyds, and any other card you can think of. Sentinel comes with Lloyds tsb, and thats about it. However, both these policies do cover all your cards, so if for some reason you dowant card protection, you only need to pay once. Both these companies charge similar rates, something around 70 for 3 years or 30/35 for a year. If you find you are paying this more than once, i.e. have more than one card protection policy, you should ring them asap, as you are entitled to a refund for up to (around, my memory isn't brilliant) 6 years. It is a lengthy process, as the phone operators can only offer refunds of up to 50, with managers not able to offer much more than that, so you have to write in. But so many people take these policies out, move address, then register a new policy under a new address, and the system doesnt find them. I feel so sorry for these people who have had this money taken from them every year (a lesson to check your statements!) and feel they have been duped. So get that money you are entitled to! These people have built such a profitable business based mainly on deception and mis-selling, which is why I couldnt work for them any more. I've worked some !!!! jobs in my time, and the nature of this business, and how you are trained to treat customers, was terrible even for an insurance company!

stilly_2

hi i have just had my virgin statement through, with cpp taking out there annual £69.99 subscribtion, of which i didnt know about, i have had no reminders or nothing from them, i have rang both virgin and cpp up and all they suggest is contacting the refunds department to see if i can get my money back, but it is over 14 days as they took payment on 24 august and i received my monthly statement today, the whole point of payment protection is to stop stuff like this happening, but they seem the worst, they seem to be above the law, any suggestions of what to do people?

2234

The 69.99 is for identity protection, a product cpp sell alongside their card protection plan. Neither of these policies are payment protection, they are an insurance policy incase your cards or identity are lost or stolen, same as car insurance. That is it. The identity protection comes with so many conditions it really isn't worth having.

You probably won't be able to get a refund unless you can prove the policy was mis-sold. It would have been sold over the phone when you would have rung about your card protection policy. Think back to if this rings any bells

My advice would be to ring them tomorrow and cancel. Get them to update your address (if you had no reminders then you didn't inform them of your new address, something you need to do even if you have told your bank) and cancel the policy. Say nothing other than 'I want to set my card protection policy and identity theft policy to cancel on expiry.' Otherwise they will keep you on the phone until they bully you into keeping it. Just keep repeating that sentence, ignore any lines such as 'I need a reason so we can improve our products and service.' Just say, 'No, I just want you to set my policies to cancel on expiry and update my address.' Make sure your address is updated because some sneaky agents will not cancel your policy and set it as a cancellation turnaround (because they are targetted on them). Therefore if they don't do this you will receive a letter telling you your policy is about to renew, and you can ring up and cancel then. Any more questions, fire away, this company is disgusting and anything I can do to help those who have been ripped off by them is fine by me.

jodiep32

Hi Im hoping someone will help!! I have just received my house of frazer card statement and see I have been charged £69.99! When phoning house of frazer they informed me that it was CPP.. I phoned them to ask what was going on and they informed me that I had been paying since I had the card in 2003! I explained that I had not received any paper work and it then transpired that it had been sent to an old address. They then informed me that it was my fault as I had not updated my address and would not be able to claim my money back.. does anyone know if this is correct? I dont even remember ever agreeing to the policy!!
Also just found out that my DH has it on 2 cards aswell.. and he doesnt remember agreeing to it either!

stilly_2

Hi guys just to let you know cpp have reimbursed my payment of £69.99,:T after numerous complaining letters, just to let you know persistance is the key for refunds and also write KARMA in big letters under your name it seems to work with a lot of letters i write hope the rest of you get sorted.