vanquis complaint

kempocab

I wrote to vanquis and asked them to reduce my APR (worth a try).
They wrote back and offered to reduce my monthly payments for 3 months. I decided not to accept this so did not respond. My min payment DD has not changed and neither has the APR - they did kindly reduce my credit limit though.
And to top it off, they have recorded on my Equifax credit file a payment arrangement. I wrote to vanquis again pointing out their error , stating that I am not in a payment arrangemet. They replied stating that they have 56 days to investigate my complaint. They have now had more than 60 days and I am still waiting for their response. I have written again demanding compensation and informing that I will write to the Ombudsman and take them to court if necessary.
My CCJ was 6 years old in December and is the only other blemish on my credit file (other than this new AP) and I want to move my balance to a 0% card and get car finance, but I do not want to apply until this issue is resolved incase I am refused or do not get one of the better deals. Anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this awful company.

camuk81

Vanquis are real monkeys! I've just had to sort a problem from when I opened my card where they failed to set up at direct debit though I requested it hence going over my limit, late payments and set me up with their version of PPI.

So far its taken 5 phone calls each around 20 minutes each time. However they refunded so far £31.79 and I'm still awaiting a bit more!

Teefer

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong section!

I have over the last couple of months had a problem with Vanquis - Luckily it hasn't legged me up, but I wanted to share my experience with you all to warn you of a 'trick' I think they may be playing.

I have had a vanquis card now for nearly 18 months to help me repair my credit rating. I have never had any real issues other than them constantly trying to sell me PPI, but have never carried a balance past my statement for them to charge interest on either - so I suppose I am unlikely to ever have anything to complain about. They have regularly put my limit up and the card has worked well for my credit file.

HOWEVER - over the last couple of months, when I have tried to pay my balance of using my debit card through their website, they have randomly failed to take the payment even though I have been given an authorisation number by their site and advised it will credit my card within 3 working days. A call to the bank confirms no request for payment received. When I called Vanquis, they advised me that the payment had been 'challenged' for security reasons and would credit my account once they had satisfied their security checks. This once took them 2 weeks.

The first time they did this it didn't concern me too much, just frustrate me. They advised that the security check was because I had paid a large amount and so I decided I would simply pay more regularly in smaller amounts in future to avoid the problem. Since then however they have challenged the smaller payments as well and I have started to see a pattern to it. I believe this is nothing to do with security or the amount of the payment, but more likely the timing of the payment. It seems to line up with a payment being made towards the end of the 60 day interest free period! I'm guessing, by challenging the payment and therefore delaying it, the payment lands outside of this period and your balance is therefore subject to interest?

I'm lucky, I don't carry a balance forward and have each time cleared my balance in full within a day or so of my statement; therefore it hasn't caused me to be charged interest. Had I not have done that though I'm sure I would have been charged!!

My concerns are two fold, obviously anyone taking advantage of their rights to up to 60 days interest free as per their contract may be caught out by these 'challenged' payments, and secondly, if they are not authorising payment electronically online as I enter them, are they storing the 3 digits on the back of my debit card for use later when they have finished challenging (or delaying) my payment? If they are, this is against Visa's rules isn't it, and as a Visa Card Issuer this really concerns me! They are trusted with a lot of important personal data; surely out of anyone that accepts debit / credit card payments you would expect a credit card company to respect the rules?

I genuinely hope I am wrong with this as to date, their card has been good for me and now, as one of the oldest credit accounts on my credit file, I would be disappointed to have to cancel the card to ensure my details aren't being compromised on a regular basis!

Has anyone else had the same experience? Again sorry if this is in the wrong place.

happy_bunny_2

kempocab wrote: »

I wrote to vanquis and asked them to reduce my APR (worth a try).
They wrote back and offered to reduce my monthly payments for 3 months. I decided not to accept this so did not respond. My min payment DD has not changed and neither has the APR - they did kindly reduce my credit limit though.
And to top it off, they have recorded on my Equifax credit file a payment arrangement. I wrote to vanquis again pointing out their error , stating that I am not in a payment arrangemet. They replied stating that they have 56 days to investigate my complaint. They have now had more than 60 days and I am still waiting for their response. I have written again demanding compensation and informing that I will write to the Ombudsman and take them to court if necessary.
My CCJ was 6 years old in December and is the only other blemish on my credit file (other than this new AP) and I want to move my balance to a 0% card and get car finance, but I do not want to apply until this issue is resolved incase I am refused or do not get one of the better deals. Anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this awful company.

They have 8 weeks to investigate your complaint, that is correct.

If they have not replied, then you can complain direct to the FOS, who from what I know, will contact them and tell them to look at your original complaint.

Take a look here, doesn't take long and you might even get a few quid to cover your time and inconvenience:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

kempocab

Thank you.

I have emailed the Crook. See if he replies. Gave him 4 days. I have waited long enough.

chanz4

What I dont get is if people hate them so much, why use vanquis?

camuk81

Because they are one of the few cards that accept anyone!

kempocab

I used vanquis cos I had a CCJ which is now over six years old so is not on my credit files anymore.

I had an email from a Vanquis staff member today who had been forwarded my mail to the CEO.

He "claimed" that they had written to me on the 29th and it must have got lost in the post. They are sending "another" copy out today.

They have given me a contact name of staff member who can talk me through the reply.

I really get the feeling that I am not getting the outcome I should be getting ( I could be wrong and pleasantly surprised) and I am getting really stressed with this situation.

If I am not happy and have to go to the ombudsman, do I have much chance of getting this problem resolved. What I mean is, how powerful are the ombudsman.

I am confident that I would win if I took it to court, but it is a lot of time, worry and cost to go through.

happy_bunny_2

kempocab wrote: »

I used vanquis cos I had a CCJ which is now over six years old so is not on my credit files anymore.

I had an email from a Vanquis staff member today who had been forwarded my mail to the CEO.

He "claimed" that they had written to me on the 29th and it must have got lost in the post. They are sending "another" copy out today.

They have given me a contact name of staff member who can talk me through the reply.

I really get the feeling that I am not getting the outcome I should be getting ( I could be wrong and pleasantly surprised) and I am getting really stressed with this situation.

If I am not happy and have to go to the ombudsman, do I have much chance of getting this problem resolved. What I mean is, how powerful are the ombudsman.

I am confident that I would win if I took it to court, but it is a lot of time, worry and cost to go through.

My experiences of the ombudsman have been good. It will take about an hour or so to fill in the form. On the plus side, if the fos look at it it will cost vanquis the fos £500 fee so you can at least take pleasure from that. Oh, and the time and a referred complaint looking bad on them.

kempocab

I got a reply from Vanquis today. They admitted their mistake, promised to update my credit files (could take 6 weeks), apologised and said they would speak to the staff involved.

No mention of the compensation that I demanded.

Well, sorry makes it all right. At least I now know that if I ever miss a payment, or make a late payment, all I need to do is say sorry and everything will be alright. No late or default fees.

I think I still need to talk to The FOS.

chanz4

Can you prove that the ap marker alone has caused a decline ? if not £50 max gogw