Help With Credit Card!!!

COPPERS459_2

Hi Everyone,
I am desperate in need of some advice. About 8 months ago I instructed Halifax to cancel my credit card, to which they stated they did and as my account was in credit they sent me a cheque to close my account. Well I had a bit of bad news yesterday. A family member has used credit cards sent to me by halifax to spend on internet gambling sites to the shocking expense of £1300, after guilt they have come to me and told me this. I am a little stuck as to what I should do. As it is a family member I do not want to get them into trouble with the police, however £1300 is alot to pay back. The concerning thing to me is Halifax should have closed my account, secondly they have sent cards to which no security checks had to be carried out, this could have prevented this from happening.
I somewhat hold Halifax negligible for allowing this to happen, dont get me wrong I am annoyed with my family member but I knew they had an addiction.
I just dont know what to do.
Thanks for your help

Steve

grumbler

COPPERS459 wrote:

... I instructed Halifax to cancel my credit card, to which they stated they did ... The concerning thing to me is Halifax should have closed my account...

I think you can hold Halifax responsible for this. However, you should be more careful with words. Cancelling a credit card and cancelling a credit agreement (account) are two different things. The first can happen without closing the account if, for example, the card is lost or stolen.
Anyway, according to Halifax credit agreement you are not responsible for your relative's actions, although your relative definitely is ...

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]THEFT, LOSS OR MISUSE OF CREDIT CARD[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]If your credit card is lost, stolen or misused by someone without your permission, you may have to pay up to £0 of any loss to Halifax plc. If it is misused with your permission you will probably be liable for ALL losses. You will not be liable to Halifax plc for losses which take place after you have told Halifax plc about the theft, etc as long as you confirm this in writing within seven days.[/FONT]

P.S. The fact that they sent you the cheque doesn't prove that the account was closed. When an account is in credit a customer can always request the credit balance to be paid to them without closing the account.

Call_Centre_Monkey

Because it's a family member, I would say it's pretty unlikely Halifax will give you the money back. Do you have any documents confirming the account has been closed? If not, you're gonna be pretty screwed unless you go the police route.

Astaroth

Whilst it may be a family member it wont stop Halifax from dealing with it as fraudulant card use... of cause for them to do this they will almost certainly require that you pass the matter over to the police but as this is a family member you may not want to do this.

As others have said, there is a difference to cancelling an account and cancelling the credit agreement. The majority of people do the first one which does not automatically prevent payments from being able to go through... this is a decision taken by the card issuer as many people have reoccuring payments setup on credit cards and forget to change the payment instructions - the card issuer could decline on the basis it is a cancelled card but then the card holder could be come legally liable for fines or potentially criminal prosecution under "no intent to pay" or they can accept the payment request and reactivate the account. If the credit agreement itself had been cancelled then there is no option for them to accept the payment as they would have no automatic right to get their money back from you.

As to sending a card which requires no activation... I am very surprised if this is the case. I only have a single card with the Halifax so dont know if some of their different products have different rules but certainly with the card I have you do have to activate it - though the basic questions asked is something that a close relative could do without too many issues.

When you say cards do you mean there was more than 1 account or the fact he has had the card replaced a few times? Did you not receive statements or did you bin them unopened?

Call_Centre_Monkey

The only time HBOS credit cards need activated is when you receive your first card. I understand soem HBOS debit cards may require activation every time a new card is issued, depending where you live.