Vanquis charges unacceptable?

Hailsmum

I have a credit card with Vanquis which up until a couple of weeks ago had a balance of £1400. I am expecting a baby shortly and I've been saving some money up for exactly that reason.

As the minimum balance payments got close to £80 a month, I decided to use the saved money to pay off the balance. I did this on the 2nd of September by debit card over the telephone. The CSA said that it would take a few days to process (with it being a large amount - which tbh didn't make sense to me but I proceeded anyway). With my DD due out on the 10th, I questioned what would happen if both the debit card payment and the DD went through as I didn't want to be in credit. The CSA advised me that I could reclaim the money back through my bank.

On the 9th of September I telephoned Vanquis and my balance was at £0. On the 10th, I checked my bank account and both the debit card payment and the minimum payment of £80 went out. I followed the CSA's instructions and got my bank (Barclays) to recall the payment.

Today I received a letter saying I have been charged for a return direct debit and I owe them money. On speaking to a CSA they said that I need to pay the charge to clear my credit card balance. I said this is ridiculous and requested to be put through to their complaints department. Unsurprisingly there was a backlog and they said they would get someone to call me back.

Now the charge isn't particularly high (£17) but it's the principle. I'm still waiting for a phone call back but do I have any legal arguments here? Any help would be much appreciated.

DevCoder

Just another thought, did your payment cover the residual interest from statement date to payment date as well? Or are you aware there is probably another small amount to pay?

Hailsmum

My balance was completely cleared - a new statement has now been issued with the direct debit return charge on it... nothing else?

DevCoder

Might be an idea to ask them, as for the DD return charge then it does sound like their mistake, they had 7 days to clear your balance and remove the DD (even a cheque should have cleared in this time!).

blitzboy

Well worth fighting against this in my opinion and hopefully they will credit the charge as 'a goodwill gesture'.

The fact that you asked what would happen and no charges were mentioned should be enough in my opinion.

Good luck, you'll probably need it!

LeeB1988

I have had this happen to me a few times with Vanquis too, I know alot of people hate them but they have given me back the money they took in charges 6 times (the 6th one was just last week).

If you make a complaint and ask for a "final response letter" as they would rather give you £12 back than pay the £500 for the FSO.