Recurring Credit Card Charge has affected my Credit Rating!

jaffy1229

Hello,

I am looking for some advice on a problem I have, Its a bit complicated but I will try to make it short.

I had an insurance policy with Budget Insurance for a year and when my insurance was time to renew, I searched for the cheapest policy on a comparison website. The cheapest was the Post Office, so I paid them the annual fee and I was insured.

About 4 months later, I suddenly noticed my Barclaycard had been charged £248 from Budget Insurance. It seems they reinsured me automatically. So now, I have two insurance policies.

Now, that's not the worst part of it. Because I did not realise I had used my Barclaycard for any purchases, I never made any payments. Even worse, I had forgotten to update my address as I had recently moved. So I had absolutely no clue that I was probably getting letters and statements from Barclaycard, but not knowing anything about it.

But it gets even worse. My credit score was "Very Good" but because I missed 5 payments, it is now "Very Poor" which is more annoying than the money.

So what can I do? My sole aim is to see if I can fix my credit score as I feel although it was my fault for not updating my address, I am really annoyed at Budget Insurance for debiting my credit card without my written or verbal consent. Which has now caused all this mess.

Any suggestions to what I should do would be appreciated. Thanks very much

Shakin_Steve

Insurance companies won't usually auto renew without writing to you first to confirm, even if you have ticked that particular box. But if you didn't tell them that you'd moved, they'd have sent the letter to your old address. The letter usually says something like "If we don't hear from you to the contrary, your policy will renew on xx-xx-xxxx".
The moral of the story is..........well, you already know, don't you?

Voyager2002

Complain to Budget insurance using their complaints process, and make it clear that you are willing to take your concern to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Pay off your debt to Barclaycard.

Remember that your credit score is meaningless: what matters is how lenders regard you, and once they see that this debt has been repaid and there have not been any further problems then after a few months most lenders are likely to regard you as a reasonably good risk.

YorkshireBoy

Did you read your Budget renewal notice?...not just the price, but the bit that said something along the lines of...

"You don't need to do anything. We'll automatically renew your policy (as per the T&Cs you agreed to last year when you took it out). If you do not want to renew please contact us at least x days before the renewal date".

On a separate note, if you don't use the Barclaycard you should consider closing it. If you'd rather not, then hopefully now you've seen that you should be checking at least monthly for fraudulent/unauthorised transactions.

Shakin_Steve

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Complain to Budget insurance using their complaints process, and make it clear that you are willing to take your concern to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Pay off your debt to Barclaycard.

Remember that your credit score is meaningless: what matters is how lenders regard you, and once they see that this debt has been repaid and there have not been any further problems then after a few months most lenders are likely to regard you as a reasonably good risk.

I don't think Budget are at fault, and I don't think barclaycard will remove the missed payment markers.

jaffy1229

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Insurance companies won't usually auto renew without writing to you first to confirm, even if you have ticked that particular box. But if you didn't tell them that you'd moved, they'd have sent the letter to your old address. The letter usually says something like "If we don't hear from you to the contrary, your policy will renew on xx-xx-xxxx".
The moral of the story is..........well, you already know, don't you?

I never got a letter as I had already moved, so I was not aware they would be taking the money from my card.

Shakin_Steve

jaffy1229 wrote: »

I never got a letter as I had already moved, so I was not aware they would be taking the money from my card.

Exactly, you moved without telling them, and that's what caused the whole mess. As for moving without telling barclaycard.......well.

YorkshireBoy

jaffy1229 wrote: »

I never got a letter as I had already moved, so I was not aware they would be taking the money from my card.

So you forgot to tell your insurance company as well as your credit card provider?

jaffy1229

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Did you read your Budget renewal notice?...not just the price, but the bit that said something along the lines of...

"You don't need to do anything. We'll automatically renew your policy (as per the T&Cs you agreed to last year when you took it out). If you do not want to renew please contact us at least x days before the renewal date".

On a separate note, if you don't use the Barclaycard you should consider closing it. If you'd rather not, then hopefully now you've seen that you should be checking at least monthly for fraudulent/unauthorised transactions.

I am vaguely aware of that policy. To be honest, I was so busy I just wanted a good deal on my insurance, and probably just forgot about it, until it was too late

I have already ripped my card up. The only times i have used it is for car insurance

jaffy1229

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

So you forgot to tell your insurance company as well as your credit card provider?

Yes and yes

jaffy1229

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Complain to Budget insurance using their complaints process, and make it clear that you are willing to take your concern to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Pay off your debt to Barclaycard.

Remember that your credit score is meaningless: what matters is how lenders regard you, and once they see that this debt has been repaid and there have not been any further problems then after a few months most lenders are likely to regard you as a reasonably good risk.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I paid the card off immediately