Identity Theft Insurance - Wrong Advice Given

Sketchley

Hi,

Recently a main stream UK credit card company tried to sell me ID theft insurance when I phoned up to activate my card. Now I know I don't need this, however what concerned me was that i was told that I would be liable should someone apply for credit in my name and it would down to me to prove that it was not me that applied. My understanding is that this is not the case and in fact I'm protected by banking and credit regulations in the UK which places responsiblity on the bank for ensuring the ID of the person applying. Is this correct?

It's also my understanding that if someone commits banking or credit fraud in my name all I have to do is notify the company concerned that it's fraud and they have to give back any money taken while they investigate, including I believe even when a card and pin number is used. Is this correct and if so what are the acts, regulations etc that cover this.

I'm concerned that this company lied to me in order to scare me in to paying for insurance, telling me "identify theft is civil matter not a criminal matter and is therefore your responsibilty to sort out" and "if someone applies for credit in your name, it's your responsibility to prove it wasn't you", and that vunerable people would be scared into buying a product they don't need. I'm particuarly concern that a high street bank's credit card company did this!

I could understand this if they were simply stretching the truth but there must be some regulations in place to prevent them lying to sell you a product. Who should I complain to?

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Chris

jonesMUFCforever

You are correct - if someone applies for credit it is up to the lender to ID the person.

Freddie49

Sketchley wrote: »

Hi,

Recently a main stream UK credit card company tried to sell me ID theft insurance when I phoned up to activate my card...
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Chris

I have just had the same sales pitch when I activated my card. This is done by a firm called CPP who then use this opportunity to sell ID fraud insurance for £79.99 per year. I was not convinced by some of their claims and I was relieved to read the above posts. However, the sales patter is very persuasive and I suspect a lot of 'worriers' will fall for it, given the amount of TV and press scaremongering that occurs.

I found a website called 'annualcreditreport co uk' where £2.50 allows you access to your credit report and there is advice and an online questionnaire where you can assess your own risk.

Freddie (not my real name )

scottishstu

Hi Chris,
I had the same thing yesterday with Barclaycard. I was annoyed that in describing the product, the adviser did not mention the actual name of it "Identity Protection Alert" as I would then have remembered that I was offered this as part of the application and chose not to buy it at that point.

It's a way for them to go through the fear story and try and get you to buy it all over again.

If you look it up and see the key features, it's a jumbled up bag of all sorts of nonsense that would not really give me any peace of mind at all. And it seems very expensive.

mick2me

I just had the same confirming the receipt of my card.
I thought I was talking to Thomas Cook Credit card and gave them my vital information. Only after receiving the same sales pitch an information. I asked If I could review their information on the Thomas Cook Credit card site, only the was I told that I was talking to a third party. AND had already given them my details!