Store Card Charges Help

lt1809

Hello,
I was looking for some help as I think I may be able to claim back some charges.

I had a storecard with River Island many years ago. I beleive it was with GE Money and then changed to Santander. The limit was for £250.
For some reason I was sure that I had paid it off and closed the account many years ago however around 2012 I received a letter from a DCA requesting payment of around £270.
It seems that I may have wrongly assumed this was PIF and closed which was fine, however I wanted to query the amount as I thought it was strange that it was higher than the original but not high enough to have been dormant with interest charges for several years.

When I received a statment showing payments etc it seems that almost every month I was charged a late payment fee of £12 the day before I made a payment. I don't remember ever being written to in relation to this however it was several years ago.

Am I still able to claim these charges back and request the account is closed and settled completely with these, I dont' really care about getting any money from them I'd just like not to have to pay all of these charges if possible as the account would have been paid off several times over already.



Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

jacques_chirac

Did you not check your statements each month?

Credit card charges can only be claimed back on a discretionary basis of you are currently in hardship. I don't believe you would have any joy with historic charges.

lt1809

With wisdom and hindsight I would have checked the statements however at the time I was barely 18 and it wasn't something I thought about. That and I was a student in Manchester and the statements went to my mothers house in Glasgow.
Thanks

RuthnJasper

The card provider's argument would probably be that your statement/bill WAS the letter advising you of charges... Sorry it's not more encouraging.

[Deleted User]

lt1809 wrote: »

I would have checked the statements however at the time I was barely 18 and it wasn't something I thought about.

That isn't a compelling reason for having historic charges refunded, I'm afraid.

lt1809

Moneyineptitude - I wasn't using that as a reason. Simply advising jacques chirac the reason why I hadn't realised the charges took place.

I'm purely trying to avoid repayment of the outstanding amount rather than claim anything further back, however it has been made clear that all think this isn't worth persuing.

Thanks

OhReally_2

jacques_chirac wrote: »

...Credit card charges can only be claimed back on a discretionary basis of you are currently in hardship. I don't believe you would have any joy with historic charges.

I think you are confusing yourself with bank charges.

Credit/store card charges are reclaimable on the basis they are unfair (assuming they are unfair). You can go back 6 years (5 years in Scotland)

Charges over £12 are automatically considered unfair (and so the ombudsman will usually uphold such complaints, except for the odd card provider that has substantiated a higher fee). Charges of £12 or less would probably require the complainant to go to court and obtain judgement in their favour.
Don't hear many stories of success in the latter case.

OhReally_2

lt1809 wrote: »

Hello,
I was looking for some help as I think I may be able to claim back some charges.

I had a storecard with River Island many years ago. I beleive it was with GE Money and then changed to Santander. The limit was for £250.
For some reason I was sure that I had paid it off and closed the account many years ago however around 2012 I received a letter from a DCA requesting payment of around £270.
It seems that I may have wrongly assumed this was PIF and closed which was fine, however I wanted to query the amount as I thought it was strange that it was higher than the original but not high enough to have been dormant with interest charges for several years.

When I received a statment showing payments etc it seems that almost every month I was charged a late payment fee of £12 the day before I made a payment. I don't remember ever being written to in relation to this however it was several years ago.

Am I still able to claim these charges back and request the account is closed and settled completely with these, I dont' really care about getting any money from them I'd just like not to have to pay all of these charges if possible as the account would have been paid off several times over already.



Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

This should have been detailed on every monthly statement they sent you. If it wasn't, then you could consider raising a complaint. I doubt you will get all the fees back, but you might get something for their error.

kerri_gt

Did you actually pay the final 270 in 2012? The only thing you can do is try reclaiming. If they say no, you've lost nothing except a bit of time and the cost of stamps. I take it you have now got all the statements with charges detailed that were sent to your mothers?

-taff

DCAs add on interest and money for their time and effort. If you stopped paying this years ago, if you stopped more than 6 years and didn't acknowledge the debt in any way, it becomes statute barred.
You still owe the money, but they cant take you to court for it.
Post on the debt free board for more info

lt1809

kerri_gt wrote: »

Did you actually pay the final 270 in 2012? The only thing you can do is try reclaiming. If they say no, you've lost nothing except a bit of time and the cost of stamps. I take it you have now got all the statements with charges detailed that were sent to your mothers?

No, I didn't pay it, Because GE money no longer exist it took a long time to get information from the right people, I'd written to Santander/the DCA and both said it was the other who had the info and neither could give me details.
Eventually I requested a FOA and got all the statments etc back which is when I've realised that the amount they are looking for is made up of charges basicly.
The last payment on the account was in 2008. I had a few storecards/credit cards when I was younger that have all been paid off so I think this has somehow just been overlooked.
I'll write to them requesting the charges are reduced/removed and see what they say. Its worth a try anyway.

Thanks