Taking payment from closed account

dzug1

debg1 wrote: »

That's what I thought!! There was no outstanding balance when it was closed - they never even the courtesy to contact me to question taking the payment. The worrying thing is if I had changed address or phone number I would never have known that payment had gone onto my account.

But they DID contact you. They sent you a renewal notice which you admit you received and ignored. It would have said unless you cancel payment will be taken.

They would have had no knowledge that your Egg account was 'closed'

lisyloo

But they DID contact you.

I read it that the OP expected EGG to make contact.
Whether you like it or not this is NOT HOW IT WORKS.

The OP needs to take on board what happens in reality and is legal and not what they would like to happen.
Carry on making assumptions about how the world should be and they are doomed to make more expensive mistakes.

Joe_Bloggs

Not solely commentating on this case. It would be nice to be able to find out who has a continuous payment authority on specific accounts so that these organizations can be contacted to either cancel the authority or inform them of new circumstances. I do not like the concept of continuous payment authority as it stands.

The card issuer must know who can take what they like from an account in advance since they have obviously granted a payment against the wishes of an ex customer. In an ideal world, had the card issuer forwarded this information to the customer then the customer could have made an effort to cancel the continuous payment authority. If the authority could not be withdrawn then the account should not be classified as closed and the customer made aware.

Perhaps things could be made clearer in contracts that this authority will may mess with accounts that you think you have closed. I find it ironic that these fees were for card fraud protection on a closed card account. I hope that the premiums cover unwanted insurance cover on allegedly closed accounts.

J_B.

rhcp

Just had a look at the CPP website, seems it is much more than covering your egg card. It covers all cards, lost keys, money etc. They just took if from your egg account.

What was the date of the renewal? It states that you can cancel it within 14 days of renewal with a full refund.

"Remember that you have a right to cancel your contracts. If you decide to cancel within 14 days of your start date or renewal date, your contracts will be cancelled immediately and any payment you have made refunded. Please note that if you choose to cancel your contracts outside of the cooling off periods shown above, you will not be entitled to a refund. For more information please refer to the Terms and Conditions you received with your Welcome Pack. "

lisyloo

It would be nice to be able to find out who has a continuous payment authority on specific accounts so that these organizations can be contacted to either cancel the authority or inform them of new circumstances.

Hi Joe,

Why not keep yourself a list?
These are contracts you have entered into, so it's not like you don't know about them.
For things like insurance you really need to know the renewal dates anyway so you can cancel/renew in time.

I do not like the concept of continuous payment authority as it stands.

I agree.
CCA cannot be unilaterally cancelled. Only the retailer can cancel and funnily enough they tend to lose some communications or forget to do it.
With a DD you have the DD guarantee and you can cancel.
Now this doesn't mean you can get out of paying your debts, but it does put you in the driving seat during disputes.
This is a legal requirement so all DD's have it.
Again I would avoid CCA. If there is no other way to pay then don't use that company, find another company to do business with.
I don't have any CCAs so it's possible.

The card issuer must know who can take what they like from an account in advance since they have obviously granted a payment against the wishes of an ex customer.

It's not against their wishes, they gave the authority when they signed up for a CCA. The operative word is CONTINUOUS.
Are Egg supposed to know by ESP that she doesn't want it????? NO she has to tell someone.
Why should your credit card company tell you what contracts you signed up to. Surely you should know??
It's not up to your credit card company to tell you about what you've agreed to.

In an ideal world, had the card issuer forwarded this information to the customer then the customer could have made an effort to cancel the continuous payment authority.

But the customer signed up to it AND got a letter reminding them that they ignored !!!!
I think you are expecting a lot to be honest.
You are saying it's ok for customers to forget what they signed up to and ignore letters from retailers and throw them away, and somehow then it's the card companies responsibility to tell them what they agreed to pay for.
I'm afraid I don't agree with you on that.
Some personal responsibility needs to be taken when you sign a contract and also when you get letters (you need to read them).

If the authority could not be withdrawn then the account should not be classified as closed and the customer made aware.

The authority can be withdrawn.
The customer could have withdrawn it, but did not do so as they ignored the letter. I cannot see how that is Eggs fault.

Perhaps things could be made clearer in contracts that this authority will may mess with accounts that you think you have closed.

They certainly tell you this when you close your account over the phone and they also put it in writing too.

I find it ironic that these fees were for card fraud protection on a closed card account. I hope that the premiums cover unwanted insurance cover on allegedly closed accounts.

Egg and CPP are different companies.
CPP did not know that the card was closed (but to their credit they did remind the customer and at this point the customer could have advised them).
Egg do not know what your payments are for, they simply process a transaction.
So no it's isn't either companies responsibility to stop your transaction.
It's the customers responsibility and they do admit to getting a reminder that they did nothign with.

BTW - I do not work for a credit card company or in the finance industry. Just cannot believe you think it's ok to forget about your contract, throw away your post, and then other companies are meant to have ESP and somehow know what you want to do.

chattychappy

CCAs work differently from DDs. The credit card companies do not have a list of companies with whom you've entered into a CCA. Basically it's up to the merchant to put through the charges according to what you've agreed.

CCAs don't always survive indefinitely. They often expire on the expiry date of the card against which you gave the authority. Some merchants have an authority to then refer to the issuer to get refreshed details in order to continue billing.

Personally I would like all CCAs declined with the expiry date of a card (or perhaps 6 months later) as a long-stop protection.

fozmcfc

We've had this many times before.

Many people don't even receive the information that a transcation has appeared until they suddenly get a letter 6 months down the line to say their account is in default.

Personally I think that on the first occasion ONLY of a transcation being made on a closed account the credit card company should have to contact the person in writing.

Specfically in the case with the OP, I too have CPP protection with payment coming off my Burtons storecard. From what I remember it says unless you tell them you want to cancel they will auto renew, using your last payment card.

The trouble is that my CPP and possibly others, comes out every 3 years, so it is very easy to forget about it, if you haven't used it for years. I'm well on top of thing when it comes to financial stuff, but I know when I got my renewal forms I thought to myself, yeah I forgot I had that.

debg1_2

Thanks fozmcfc! You know where I coming from here!! In an ideal world we'd all sit scouring through the small print and T&C's these companies send - but most of us have lives!!

lisyloo

In an ideal world we'd all sit scouring through the small print and T&C's these companies send - but most of us have lives!!

Some of us manage to have lives, understand the different types of payment method and also not throw our post in the bin !!!
All without spending hours reading reams of Ts&Cs.

Carry on as you are by all means, that's your choice, but if you refuse to change then you will face further expensive mistakes.
It's entirely in your hands to change or not.

We do know where you are coming from and do sympathise, but you have to deal with the reality of the world as it is not how you'd like it to be in some fantasy world.

If you can't remember things then the answer is simple - write them down. You must remeber birthdays or dental appointments and MOTs etc.
OR
as I've already said don't take out CPP (continous payment authorities). It's entirely possible to live without them, but you do have to pay a little attention to the contracts you agree to.

crabbity_witch

i manager to have a life, hold down a full time job, have a relationship, social and personal like and remember my financial commitments and agreements.

it's really not rocket science, it just involves - horror of horrors - thinking for yourself and not expecting the companies you deal with do all the work for you.