M&S Credit Card - Notice of Closure Letter

Jonny_L

Hi there - my Mother in Law has had a Marks and Spencers Credit Card for around 15 years, always pays of balance in full - on the very odd month there would be a small residual balance which she pays the following month. On Saturday out of the blue, a letter arrived stating that following a review of her account they would be withdrawing the facility and that it would be closed on 9 December. They are also closing a current account she has as well. She immediately checked her credit file and everything is grand (4 stars with all the agencies except 3 with Equifax). The only thing showing as weird on the credit file was an alias of another name who she was associated with who she was unaware of but everything else was fine. She went into the M&S Bank who advised the Dept was closed and somebody would contact her - today she received a phone call advising that the Card was being closed as it no longer met their legal policy and their decision was final, she could take it the ombudsman but would hear nothing further from them. I know they can probably say have the right to close it but this was completely out of the blue and we are still at a complete loss as it is as well conducted an account as you could imagine and she has no debt elsewhere - does anyone have any idea why this would be and if there is any recourse at all? Apologies for the long winded story, any advice would be much appreciated - thanks.

[Deleted User]

Have you checked all three files? What have you done about this alias? That sounds problematic. What is the full story there?

Ignore any stars, scores or points the CRAs give your mother. You need to look only at the data.

It may also be worth checking with CIFAS for any markers.

It may simply be a review of account profitability and they are having a clean up, but it would be worth check the files thoroughly.

Candyapple

Definitely follow zx81's advice. If your mum wasn't a profitable customer fair enough, but why then close her current account too? That says to me they've been spooked by something from the monthly feed from the CRA's which has led to them closing both accounts.

I hope for your mum's sake it isn't a CIFAS marker. Your mum will need to pay £10 and send a subject access request to CIFAS: https://www.cifas.org.uk/sf_sars

Jonny_L

Thank you folks - we'll definitely get her to look into the CIFAS records. That's very helpful, there's a lot of concerned head scratching going on at the minute.

System

As they have given the required notice period (60 days) they have no obligation to provide a reason for the closure.

I suggest you use the opportunity to switch the account elsewhere for an incentive

Ben8282

While I agree that they have no legal obligation to provide a reason, they have given one. They have stated that it no longer meets their 'legal policy' (whatever that means) but nevertheless sounds like deformation. They may not have to give a reason but if they give a false or defamatory one then surely she has some claim against them. Suggest she proceeds with complaint to omburdsman concentrating on this aspect.

chattychappy

I agree with the above comments - this is most odd. CCs don't generally close accounts if they are operated properly.

Ben8282 wrote: »

While I agree that they have no legal obligation to provide a reason, they have given one. They have stated that it no longer meets their 'legal policy' (whatever that means) but nevertheless sounds like deformation. They may not have to give a reason but if they give a false or defamatory one then surely she has some claim against them.

It's not defamation. Defamation involves a third party - in this case it would be the CC saying something untrue to a third party about the OP's mother. I suppose there could be some kind of claim in libel/defamation if a false report had been made to a CRA, particularly if done so maliciously - but this would be extremely unlikely.

I'm rusty on this stuff, but it always used to be the case that where decisions were taken by automated means, data protection law gave you the right to have the decision reconsidered by non-automated means. Where a decision was taken principally because of negative information from a third party (eg a CRA) they would have to tell you this.

Gunther_Golf

Why bother with the hassle of raising the issue with the ombudsman? As others have said check the credit files and if no issue move to a provider who does want your business.