subscription paid on closed credit card account - help please

emmilee

Today I applied for a credit card & was turned down, knowing that I have an 'excellent' credit rating I was concerned and immediately went to experian to discover I now have a 'poor' credit rating having failed to pay a credit card for the last 5 months. A card that has not been used for 9 years and has been closed for at least 3.

In 2000 I took an MBNA credit card. As a student I took 0% cards and transferred the balance to the next 0% when the special rate ended, therefore I can be fairly certain that there was no activity on the account since May 2001 although I may not have closed the account immediately.
3 years ago we moved house and at that point I made sure that I closed all accounts that were no longer in use.

Now, after all this time a 'card protection company' has taken a subscription for £70 from my MBNA card and apparently MBNA have to honour this despite the account being closed :mad: They have told me to ring the card protection company to dispute it with them, but surely MBNA have some responsibility allowing a subscription to be paid for the 1st time in 9 years on a closed account ???

All the statements have been sent to my previous address which is how it's gone 5 months of unpaid bills before I noticed.

I don't know what to do now. Obviously I'll ring the card protection place (Barclys apparently) tomorrow when they're open. But I don't know whether I should have the statements delivered to my new address or if that's taking responsibility for the account which I don't think I should have to do. I don't know whether to pay the balance (which although only £70) I can ill afford at the moment and I'm now really stressed about the same thing happening with other closed accounts.

Can anyone give me any advice please?

Oh, the other thing was, would it be any use applying for the new credit card in hubby's name, or will he be tainted by my credit score too?

And also, can I have this removed from my credit rating or am I just going to have to sit it out?

Emma x

YorkshireBoy

Similar recent tale of woe here...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2471485

Had you cancelled the card protection with the provider? If not then they've every right, providing it's in their T&Cs, to auto renew using the card details previously used.

Just out of interest, which card was charged the last premium 3 years ago?

emmilee

If I actually took out the card protection in the 1st place, and I'm not at all sure I did, then no, I didn't cancel it. I have no idea where they got the money from last time or when that was. Like I say, the card had been dormant for a number of years, I haven't had a bill for this card for at least 8 and possibly 9 years. MBNA can apparently only look back at the last 12 months of activity so couldn't tell me when the company had last had money from me.

YorkshireBoy

emmilee wrote: »

MBNA can apparently only look back at the last 12 months of activity so couldn't tell me when the company had last had money from me.

They'll be able to find 6 years worth (from now, so back as far as 2004?) if you SAR them. Cost will be £10 I believe.

Your first port of call should be the card protection firm though.

emmilee

I've called the CP firm this morning. Apparently I had paid for the CP via my current account in 2000, 2003 & 2006, because my card expired and was replaced, my card number was different in 2009 so they started going through a list of the cards that they were protecting for me (which they say I authorised), and managed to get the £70 from the MBNA card.

The lady at the CP place was extremely helpful and looked back telling me when I'd paid and from what account. She said it was odd that they hadn't been informed that I was no longer at my previous address, checked back and discovered that in fact they had been informed in 2007 and therefore is refunding my £70.

I think I've been extremely lucky that they're refunding the £70 and cancelling the policy as clearly this is my fault for leaving the account open. I am astonished that they can go through the list of all the cards you have registered with them & take money from a closed account. Surely they should just cease to protect your cards if they can't get your money. My house insurance wouldn't be able to take money from a different source because they don't have access to that information, it feels like a bit of an abuse of trust.

Obviously I'll be a great deal more careful in future, not only from the point of view of what policies I have running, but more to read the smallprint, as apparently it was standard that they could take money from any account, so I obviously didn't read the small print properly. Lesson learned - at the expense of dropping from an 'excellent' to a 'poor' credit rating.

emmilee

Update.
I rang (who I have now discovered to be CPP) to check that they were getting on with sending me a copy of my T&C. Today the telephonist said that they don't keep them, but that I would have to speak to Barclays who originally sold me the product and that they would have a recording.
I asked how they could take money from a closed account if they didn't even have a signed copy of my agreement and of course my question was evaded.

I now have an address to write to but when I rang Barclays or their address I ended up on hold for ages then was cut off half way through explaining my problem. I will go into a branch in person

emmilee

I had a call from MBNA this morning. They've had a request from Experian to change my credit history and are going to take off the 'unpaid' marks on my history. CPP have refunded their subscription fee and MBNA have refunded their charges so the account is closed again now.