GRRRR! 'Pre-Pay' card for travel - warning RANT!

Lucycat

Hello all - bit of advice needed, bear with me please as this is a bit of a rant!

The bloke had to travel to the US on business earlier this month - as he's in a DMP with CCCS he doesn't have any credit or debit cards and I do all the money-juggling.

As it was a two-week trip and would entail a fair bit of travelling, I decided that the best thing to do would be to take traveller's cheques to avoid the safety risk of him having to carry around two weeks-worth of cash - on passing in to Thomas Cook's, I saw the new Amex card and decided to go for that for the sake of safety/convenience. I was aware of the applicable fees at the time & made what I thought was a reasonably informed decision.

Bloke has now returned to the UK and on checking balance with Amex line today has found his balance to be over -$200. He's done very well and kept a spreadsheet detailing all withdrawals, conversion rates, fees and payments made with the card, so it isn't a question of him randomly overspending, but that upon checking out of the hotel he presented his card for payment (and would have paid any additional balance with cash if required) there was some sort of a glitch with the system and the clerk said that he would 'sort it out later' - bloke has a copy of the invoice from hotel.

Apparently there was insufficient balance available on the card, and the excess is now showing as a negative balance. According to the small print, in taking out the card I have agreed to have any 'shortages' charged to my bank account.

Getting the money back eventually is not the problem (thank god) - with it being a business trip at least it is expensable.

I am, however, absolutely *furious* that a supposed 'pre-pay' traveller's cheque card has allowed a negative balance for two reasons:

1) The bloke is in a DMP, and as part of the agreement must not take on any additional credit.

2) To the best of my knowledge I did not sign a credit agreement, and no credit checks took place - I would have purchased a mix of dollars and common-or-garden traveller's cheques otherwise! Under the 1974 CCA, if I didn't sign up for credit, is this debt even enforcable??

If anyone has any advice on where we stand in this, I'd really appreciate hearing from you - thanks for reading this far, I know it's been a long haul, but I'm just so angry!

Irresponsible lending coupled with irresponsible spending are what got the bloke into this situation in the first place and it's taken us such a long time to get here and he's trying so desperately hard to turn things around, it just breaks my heart when I see he's worked so hard to keep a track of his money and it's still all gone horribly wrong.

Lucy.
:mad:

lynzpower

2) To the best of my knowledge I did not sign a credit agreement, and no credit checks took place - I would have purchased a mix of dollars and common-or-garden traveller's cheques otherwise! Under the 1974 CCA, if I didn't sign up for credit, is this debt even enforcable??

No I dont think it is

But surely isnt the point that he HADNT overspent, and that the glitch had created a debt when it should have been a credit. In which case time to take it up with the hotel, and pronto!

rog2

I agree with Lynz - I have often returned home to find out that hotels have taken 'double payments' - usually those that ask for a swipe when you arrive. It takes ages to resolve and usually the amount is taken out of your credit limit until it is resolved.