Vanquis Charges & Notifications

JLD1977

Hi All

When I was young and irresponsible I managed to ruin my credit history. At that time Vanquis were marketing themselves as a card that could help you repair your credit history.

Anyway I have since managed to sort my finances out and in November 2009 decided to stop using the Vanquis credit card that I have. At the same time I also moved to my new address.

When I moved I obviously informed them that I had done so and confirmed that they would stop sending our those ridiculous cheques that they used to.

Since that date I had not received a single statement from Vanquis (nor was it sent to my previous address as this is my parents current address)

Now this did not bother me too much, maybe a little naive, as I was simply sending them circa £70 per month (this was their designated DD minimum payment) to start paying off the balance, albeit slowly (which in November 2009 was circa £1450).

Anyway 4-5 weeks ago I contacted Vanquis to get a balance update as I was sure I must be getting closer to settling the account and wanted to pay off the remainder. To my horror I was told that I was actually over my agreed credit limit by circa £40. How can this be??? I have not used the card for over 18 months, have paid nearly £1300 back but still owe £1540????

When I dug a little deeper, in the final month I used the card they allowed a payment to go through which took me a few pounds over my limit (why they did this I do not know!).

For the last 18 months they have been charging me a £12 charge plus masses of interest which, month in, month out has been putting me over my limit, meaning the minimum charge that they were taking on DD was never covering their charges and interest, let alone clearing any of the balance.

At no point in the last 18 month have they ever tried to contact me at either my current address or previous address to explain this, they have simply allowed it to continue.

I have now written a couple of times to them to get a breakdown of charges and interest accrued because of these fees, a copy of their Complaint Procedure and a written explanation as to why either a) they did not inform me of this vicious circle I was in or b) simply raise my minimum payment to get me back into credit again.

I have received confirmation from them that they are in receipt of the letter but not received any breakdown, I also now know that they do not have an official Complaints Procedure, in their words (I have a badly typed letter from them) "Our internal process that we work to is to acknowledge a complaint within 5 days and respond to that within 56 days" - So from this they expect me to pay in another £140 to clear no balance whilst they take up to 8 weeks to reply to my letters!!

I was just wondering if anyone else had been subject to this sort of issue with either Vanquis of another credit card provider?

Has anyone got any suggestions as to how I can get all of these un-notified fees removed plus the credit and get back to a figure that my account should be at given the payments (I have never missed one) that I have made over the last 18 or so months.

Your help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

JLD1977

izools

Did they not send out any paper statements in the last 18 months? Atall?

nuttyp

I have a vanquis card, and they send a paper statement out everymonth. Did the statements go to the old address?? Did you do a redirection with royal mail for any post?? Not sure why they would still only take a minimum amount to leave you overdrawn everymonth.

JLD1977

Nothing at all - I have double checked with parents too. Trust me they throw nothing out! This still bundle up junk mail for me every time I visit them! The 1st statement I received at my new address (new as in I 've been there since Dec 08) was just 2 weeks ago after I sent the 1st letter.

JLD1977

No no paper statement at all! As I have just replied to another reader - my previous address was my parental home and I still get bundles of junk mail passed to me every time I visit them and no statement is there. The 1st statement I have received was after I wrote to them 4 weeks ago - bit of a coincidence I think!

MorrisonsEmployee

At any point did you opt for paperless billing? This is quite easily done when setting up an E-Vanquis online account. Do they have a contact telephone number for you? Vanquis are well reported to hound people for any monies due.

JLD1977

No I don't have online/e-billing! I checked this with them when I spoke to their Gold Card Customer Services who gave me instruction on how to do this plus since I have written to then I have received my 1st bill. To be fair I have never really owed them any money as the minimum payment takes me below my credit limit but then they add the interest which takes me above the limit for which they them charge a further £12.

MorrisonsEmployee

I'm not really sure what you can do next tbh - They will claim to have sent you statements so it will be your word against theirs. Also having left the account for so long without checking the balance etc, will probably go against you as you 'assumed' the balance was being paid off.

Hopefully somebody else will come along with some advice that will be able to help you more - Good luck and i hope you at least manage to get some of the charges back.

JLD1977

Thanks for your help! I hope I can resolve this too as I really just want to settle the account ASAP! I suppose what annoys me most is that they could have taken circa £30 months and and months ago and this would not be a problem as such now.....

KingElvis

I'd just work on getting shot of the miserable thing.

JLD1977

I am but i will begrudge paying the balance as it stands when it is made up of un-notified charges and interest. I would think these at least total £350 plus some of the debt should have been cleared over the last 18 month! I would say if they refund the charges etc I could reduce my debt by circa £600.