Priority Club Rewards Visa - HELP!

bullenbsh26

I recently applied for and was accepted for the Priority Club Rewards Visa credit card.

As a travelling businessman, this was perfect for me as I am able to collect points which I can then put towards a special trip (New York/Paris etc) after a couple of years collecting.

I received a letter from Priority Club Visa informing me that I could have a £9,000 limit. Plus I could transfer a balance for 0% interest for 12 months. Awesome deal!

I transferred a balance of approx £2k and away we went. As this was the start of the summer I thought I’d treat myself to a new barbecue only to have my card declined at the till.

I phoned Priority Club Rewards who told me that they have re-assed my account and closed it. No explanation was offered and this has never been confirmed in writing. I asked what would happen to my outstanding balance and the chap said that they held my direct debit details and that they would collect payments, it was just any future credit facility had been withdrawn.

I contacted them today to state that I hadn’t received any statements for a while and they referred me to the collections department!
The very nice man informed that as my account had been closed, they don’t issue statements and as they haven’t issued me a statement, they haven’t collected any payments and that my account is now in arrears.

I asked why if they held my authority to collect via direct debit and also he confirmed that the details were still live why they had not done this. He informed me that their system won't let them collect via direct debit when no statement has been issued.

My main issues are:
1. They have never informed me of any other payment requirement and they confirm that they hold approved direct debit instructions.
2. They have added late payment notices to my credit file (checked with Experian) and I am due for mortgage review in 3 months and am now desperately worried that this will affect my ability to secure best deal.
3. They have not added any late payment charges to my account as, by their own admission, they have not raised a statement therefore I cannot be late on a payment.

I can clear the entire balance if required, but I wanted to take advantage of 0% offer and although I have now had my fingers burned with this, I am wondering if I have been treated fairly.

Can this company do this to me? Can I ask for credit file to be updated as I have never actually received a request for payment and if I had they could have taken from my current account?

I have raised a complaint through their official process but was wondering where I stand. Consumer Direct can't help me and the Financial Ombudsman won’t get involved until later down the line.

I need some help getting this scar off my credit file, anyone please...?

ian_h

If they dont clear it willingly - then based on your post I would have a guess that FOS will side with you and get it lifted.

A similar thing happened to me, the bank wouldnt play ball but when FOS got involved the response was "ian_h isn't responsible for shortcomings in our systems/processes and should not have had detrimental information applied to his CRA files".

They removed the information and offered a small sum for my troubles, so stick with it and dont back down, sadly most banks seem to assume they can fob you off and you will go away and dont take a complaint seriously until the FOS are involved.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

If my memory serves me correctly, the Priority Club Rewards Visa is issued by Barclaycard. It's no consolation to you but Barclaycard have been playing this game quite a lot recently, judging by the number of complaints I've seen here. Unfair, unbusinesslike but legal, I think.

antrobus

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

If my memory serves me correctly, the Priority Club Rewards Visa is issued by Barclaycard. It's no consolation to you but Barclaycard have been playing this game quite a lot recently, judging by the number of complaints I've seen here. Unfair, unbusinesslike but legal, I think.

Your memory appears to be 100% accurate.

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal-home/cards/partner-cards/priority_club_rewards/

bluffer

what do you mean by recently? barclays sent letters to a lot of people over the last few months saying their credit limit would be reduced.

did you get this?

why didnt you ask about the lack of statements? how many didnt you get?

presumably the dd you set up at the start was taking payments but then stopped - didnt you notice this?

but having said that - it seems strange that they passed it to collections but you didnt get a letter. did they send one but it didnt arrive? have you made any payments since speaking to collections?

Ben8282

Sorry but something doesn't add up here.

If no statement has been issued then how are the company making reports to Experian? What balance does your credit report show? What credit limit does it show? What status does it show? You say 'late payment notices', not a default. Has there ever been a statement issued or payment made to the account?

Yes, the company can decline to extend further credit. As to why they may have done this ..... only you know the answer to that. As to the outstanding balance, what do collections say? When you speak to them what are they asking for? Full repayment? This month's minimum payment?

As you say 'late payment notices' (plural) I assume this has been going on for a while. I really think you ought to pay them something ... say what you estimate the minimum payment should be, even if they don't take the direct debit. By doing this, you will prevent them trying to claim that you have breached the agreement by not paying.

You say 'They have never informed me of any other payment requirement' but you also say 'He informed me that their system won't let them collect via direct debit when no statement has been issued.' Didn't he suggest an alternative payment method when he explained the reason that the direct debit could not be taken? Once you were told that the direct debit could not be taken, I think you were responsible for arranging an alternative payment method.

bullenbsh26

Just thought i'd write back to say this issue is now resolved and detail of what happened is below:

My account triggered some form of fraud warning (because they couldn't contact me on home phone number!) and my account was closed, even though I have outstanding balance.

As a result, they couldn't request a payment from a 'closed' account and I couldn't make a payment and my account was getting into arrears which was updating my credit file with negative information.

I complained to Barclaycard and Financial Ombudsmen Service (FOS) and I have been contacted and case managed by Barclaycard for last few weeks.

They have admitted a catalogue of errors and given me compensation for my troubles, corrected my credit file, reset the interest and restored my account back to its original offer.

To be fair to Barclaycard, once I'd involved FOS, Barclaycard were falling over themselves to help and get me updated with weekly calls until it was resolved. They also sent me a letter detailing their errors and offering their apologies.

If only the whole service was as good as the complaints team eh?

Nicely done :j