Direct debit guarantee for credit cards

punkmonk_uk

Thanks for everyone's help on this! I really appreciate it.

OK

Barclaycard were supposed to get back to me on 1 August and have not yet done so. They had promised to send out statements to me and have not done so. I am getting no where with this so I have written a letter. It is three pages long fully itemising all the phone calls and issues. I finished the letter with a summary of the main issues and what I want to happen next. I put:

Summary of the main issues
· No statements being sent to me when there are payments that need to be made on my account
· Being misinformed that the AA charge was a direct debit payment, which we have since found out from a financial advisor, is actually a continuous payment authority (CPA). This mislead us to think that it could be cancelled under the direct debit guarantee
· Appallingly poor customer services over the phone with no conclusions. Failure to change my contact details when requested to do so. Failure to understand our complaint due to understanding of English in your call centres
· A serious poor credit rating being applied by Barclaycard over a small amount that could have been cleared on time should a statement have been sent out.

What I would like to happen next

· My credit rating completely repaired with Experian as none of this is a problem with my ability or willingness to pay my debts
· The costs for all phone calls made trying to sort this out refunded
· An apology for the severe stress and anxiety that this has caused which has stretched over the two years this has been going on. You should be able to see from my records that I conducted my account efficiently and paid on time before I closed the account.
· All late payment charges and interest refunded since the closure of the account.
· All my account details and any information you hold on me to be returned to me under the data protection act.
· A response to this letter stating that you have received this complaint within ten days of the above date
· An action plan on how you are going to respond to my complaint within 28 days of the above date.

I haven't sent this yet so if you have anything else I can add or should remove I would be most appreciative

inmypocketnottheirs

punkmonk_uk wrote: »

· Appallingly poor customer services over the phone with no conclusions. Failure to change my contact details when requested to do so. Failure to understand our complaint due to understanding of English in your call centres

Due to lack of understanding of English I would have thought.

MarkyMarkD

You can't write and complain that you didn't receive any statements, when that's your own fault for not providing them with your change of address until yonks after you moved house.

As soon as your first payment was taken by the AA from the "wrong" credit card, you should have noticed and chased it up. Then things wouldn't have got months down the line without being resolved.

Lavendyr

I would only suggest changing "What I would like to happen next" to "Action Required" or something a bit more assertive.

Good luck!

punkmonk_uk

Marky

I had a forwarding service on my old address so if they had sent out statements I would have received them! In addition they have had my new address for 2 months now and I have given it to them again since and I still have not received a statement from them! I think I can certainly complain about not receiving statements don't you think? Moreover between August 2006 and February 2007 before I moved I did not receive a statement and there was £52 worth of late payment charges on my account I knew nothing about either!

Plus I didn't know that the AA had taken payment from the credit card because Barclaycard had not sent me any statements! The AA are also to blame here because I changed all my details with them (including new credit card details) back in January on-line. They apologised for this not going through and tried to refund the payment. I have since discovered today that the AA have now refunded my new Credit card rather than my old one. Is the entire service industry incompetent? Now I have to ring the AA up again! I think I should cancel my AA account and re-open a new one. It seems to be the only way that I can put things straight!

Thanks for taking the time to help me

punkmonk_uk

wyebird wrote: »

I had a Monmument Card (owned by Barclaycard) and they changed it to a Barclayard Platinum with a different number. I have a CPA to Sofa cinema and Barclaycard wouldn't pay it on the old card once it was closed, I had to amend the details to the new one. Was it closed off properly?

This is very interesting because if it is the law to honor CPA's on a closed account then they were either breaking the law or there are circumstances where the CPA doesn't have to be honoured. Can anybody give me more information on this?

Dylanwing

Is the entire service industry incompetent?

I can answer that one - Yes it is!

jamalfatty

punkmonk_uk wrote: »

This is very interesting because if it is the law to honor CPA's on a closed account then they were either breaking the law or there are circumstances where the CPA doesn't have to be honoured. Can anybody give me more information on this?

There is no law regarding CPA's, there are however regulations set by Visa/MC etc that state something along the lines of that CPA's must be honoured.
However in this case, as the monument credit card portfolio was bought by Barclaycard, and as a result the BIN number changed (the first 6 digits of a credit card that signify the bank it belongs to) - any attempt by any company to put a transaction through, CPA or otherwise would have failed as the account no longer existed at all (which is different to it being closed) -hence the reissue of a new card and Barclaycards instructions to update the payment information with the company.

dealer_wins

punkmonk_uk wrote: »

This is very interesting because if it is the law to honor CPA's on a closed account then they were either breaking the law or there are circumstances where the CPA doesn't have to be honoured. Can anybody give me more information on this?

I bet they wouldnt honour payments on a card in serious default or closed and written off as a bad debt.

I still cannot understand how they can charge a card with a payment, whatever it is for, after you have formally closed the account.

There is no way I can see that standing up in a court of law.

So I could in theory have a charge made on my LloydsTSB card I closed about 8 years ago, and even after 8 years of having no relationship with them I still have to keep them informed of my address details just in case.

MarkyMarkD

The reason that they make payments under CPAs against closed accounts is that YOU (not they) have given the merchant authority to charge your account. And as a result, the merchant is entitled to assume that you will actually pay up.

It's no different to you giving the merchant a post-dated cheque - you have promised to pay until you end your contract with the supplier.

Just because the DD guarantee is a cushy deal for the consumer doesn't mean it applies to any other circumstance.

You don't have to keep your card companies informed of your changes of address "just in case". You only have to do that if you are in the habit of having CPAs against your accounts which you then forget about!