Opus Card, is this legal?

clare0702

I really wanted to see if anyone has had the same experience with this Opus Card.

I had an Opus card arrive late November, to be honest I thought it was a spamming thing as I hadnt applied for one so cut it up. I have now just received my Citi bank statement and low and behold they have changed it to an Opus card and raised the interest rate by about 15%.

I did not ask them to do this nor did they inform me that they were going to do this. Is this legal? Can they do this?

I dont have another card with a spare balance so I'm unable to transfer it nor do I have a spare £5k that is on the card to pay it off. I'm stuck, any advice would be most appreciated.

Clare :mad:

PNPSUKNET

yes they have sold your business, its perfectly legal. If you dont want the rate rise reject the rate to the old one and no longer use the card.

chattychappy

It's legal but when they raise the interest rate you are supposed to be given the option to reject it on the basis you stop spending and pay down the card in a reasonable time. Can't remember the time limit (?30 days) - so check the stuff you've received from them carefully - you might have to move quickly, or might already be too late.

System

We have received loads of correspondence from Citi and Opus about the transfer. Our first letter was dated 11th October and came from Citi Directly. I've just looked at my file and I have just short of 1/2 inch of letters and info from both companies combined so I'm at a loss as to how you can say that you weren't advised of the pending transfer. If you only have £5K on the card why not apply for another credit card with a low balance transfer rate - because you are transferring a debt rather than taking a new card for more credit you should be ok.

schoolrunmum

Fuming-as soon as Citi told us about the move to Opus,I wrote to them both,saying don't bother opening an Opus account, just close it all down. I was assured that would happen ,so was a little surprised to get more correspondence from Opus,I called them again and reiterated that we did not want an Opus account. Again I was told they wouldn't open an a/c for us.
Imagine my surprise to get a statement from them today !!! Yes, it shows nil balance, but it also shows a credit card nmber-that we have never received............so where is that credit card then? Who has it??
I presume we also have a search on our credit files from a sub prime lender now?? Doesn't look good..............
I have called them but conveniently their systems are down, and they are calling me back...............yeah, right....

izools

schoolrunmum wrote: »

I presume we also have a search on our credit files from a sub prime lender now?? Doesn't look good..............

You can atleast take solace in knowing that this is not the case.

Although you and I can see the names of creditors when we look at our credit files, creditors themselves can't.

So next time you apply for something credit scored, they will only see "credit card account", not "Opus".

whysitallsocomplicated

hi
just to advise no search was done on either Equifax or Experian when my citi card changed over to opus.

citi used to report to both the CRA's but the citi file has been deleted from equifax now. the one on experian showed on experian till recently but had not been updated since November but a couple of days ago the cit filed dissapeared and the opus one showed with about 6 months of history.

i did get a number of letters from citi telling me my card was being taken over by opus and i believe one from opus telling me they had taken over.

regards

schoolrunmum

Thanks Izools-not the point though is it? I told them NOT to open an account,and they ignored that and went ahead anyway...

izools

schoolrunmum wrote: »

Thanks Izools-not the point though is it? I told them NOT to open an account,and they ignored that and went ahead anyway...

Indeed, you're absolutely right and well within your rights to write to them complaining and requesting they remove the entry from your credit files.

Just thought it might be atleast partially reassuring for you to know that no other lender will see your card is now "sub prime"