Credit Card Advice

jimbo2010

I would like some advice if possible regarding a mess I have gotten into.
I have a gambling problem and contacted my credit card company at the end of august to tell them to block all access to my credit card so I cannot access funds as i had just blown another £400 gambling that day. Told them that i had a gambling problem and did not know how i was going to pay the balance back.
They blocked my card and all access to funds or so I thought.

Fast forward 3 weeks and I could still access money transfers from my credit card, end up transferring £800 to my other bank account and ended up blowing it on gambling. Contacted the credit card company again and told them again to disable all access to funds and they advised to close the account down which I agreed to.

I know i spanked the money up the wall but should the bank also take some responsibility for the £800 that i was able to withdraw in September considering they knew i had a gambling problem and that i had requested no access to the funds?

jimbo2010

When I contacted them at the end of August I did advise that I was a student and would struggle to pay the balance I had at that time off. The reason for this post is I was speaking to someone earlier about my situation and they said it is irresponsible lending by the bank considering they knew about my circumstances

Socajam

Would it not have made sense to just cut up the cards?
The someone you spoke to, should have told you that there is something called personal responsibility.
You know full well that you have a gambling problem, but yet you still applied for credit cards.
My advice would be to get serious help for your gambling addiction before it spirals out of control even more.
Do not apply for any credit cards until your gambling problem is fixed, however long it takes.
Also please find a way to repay this money, because guess what, it's the folks who repay their debt that will be financing yours. Banks are not in the business to lose.

jimbo2010

I did not apply for credit cards when I had a gambling problem, and no where in the post does it say that.

In fact I've had the credit card for 6 years and always paid my balance on time etc. I've developed a gambling problem over the last 6 months, and regarding personal responsibility I phoned the bank. Told them i had a gambling problem and to restrict all means of me accessing lines of credit from that account and I would struggle with the repayments as I am a student.

They did not do that and I could still make money transfers online from my credit card until I blew another £800 and contacted them again.

onwards&upwards

Socajam wrote: »

Would it not have made sense to just cut up the cards?
The someone you spoke to, should have told you that there is something called personal responsibility.
You know full well that you have a gambling problem, but yet you still applied for credit cards.
My advice would be to get serious help for your gambling addiction before it spirals out of control even more.
Do not apply for any credit cards until your gambling problem is fixed, however long it takes.
Also please find a way to repay this money, because guess what, it's the folks who repay their debt that will be financing yours. Banks are not in the business to lose.

It’s not so easy to be rational when you’re in the grip of compulsive gambling.

OP, well done for facing up to it. Have you self excluded from the gambling websites?

WhenIam64

or so I thought.

Self-exclusion sometimes doesn't work for reasons that are beyond the control of the gambler. You might want to go to the Gamcare site (https://www.gamcare.org.uk/) to see if there is anyone local to you that can provide support for your journey from the addiction.

They should also be able to advise on how to get better control over your finances too.

jimbo2010

Yes I have signed up to gamstop and self excluded from all physical casinos too.

My issue is that the bank knew I had a gambling problem and still allowed me to do a money transfer after I contacted them. Surely this falls under irresponsible lending as they knew I cannot afford to pay the funds back

EssexHebridean

I get where you are coming from on this, however it's an emotive subject and one which you are always likely to get very differing views on depending on people's life-experiences of the subject at hand.

Well done for the self-exclusion - and I take it you have also got rid of any cards that you could potentially use for gambling if you found a loophole in that self-exclusion? Have you also contacted someone for help going forwards - and support in seeing you through the battle to step away from gambling altogether?

In the first instance on the debt, have you worked through your budget and spending to establish what you can begin to do to repair the situation?

Willing2Learn

jimbo2010 wrote: »

...I have a gambling problem and contacted my credit card company at the end of august to tell them to block all access to my credit card so I cannot access funds as i had just blown another £400 gambling that day. Told them that i had a gambling problem and did not know how i was going to pay the balance back.
They blocked my card and all access to funds or so I thought.

Fast forward 3 weeks and I could still access money transfers from my credit card, end up transferring £800 to my other bank account and ended up blowing it on gambling. Contacted the credit card company again and told them again to disable all access to funds and they advised to close the account down which I agreed to.

I know i spanked the money up the wall but should the bank also take some responsibility for the £800 that i was able to withdraw in September considering they knew i had a gambling problem and that i had requested no access to the funds?

If it were me, I would make an official written complaint to your card provider. I would be asking if once they had been informed about the gambling issue, whether the fact they still lent you more money, is an example of irresponsible lending. If the complaint was not upheld, then I would escalate to the FOS.

I'm not saying that the FOS would uphold the complaint either. But never-the-less, I'm just floating the idea that it may be worth you while...

jimbo2010

Just an update guys, spoke to the bank and they advised they could not find any details of the call in September and offered me £25 goodwill. I rejected that and it was made into an official complaint.

They have now offered me £100 compensation as the account should have been closed when I first informed them.

This is their final offer and my options are to accept or escalate it to the financial ombudsman.

Is it worth taking it to the FOS ?