Tandem Credit Card - Alert - don't get 'lured' as I did.

Equality4All

Hi, I have never done this before but so upset with the situation I am in.... hence seeking to get this info out and more importantly to see whether eg. Money Saving Expert are able to do anything about this by putting something on their website to advise their readers and also take up the issue with the Financial Ombudsman or lobby the Government to put in place legislation that protects the wider public - I would describe this as a "scam"!!

I applied for a Tandem Credit Card in mid- November 2019 based on Money Saving Expert's recommendation as being the best credit card particularly with regard to travel. Halifax's Clarity Credit Card ranked second. However, a few weeks later when a friend went to apply as recommended by us, only to find they changed the T&Cs that stated that there was a fee to get the card and no longer giving cash back to new customers. That was one issue but the bigger issue is, that a month later (December) they gave existing customers notice that they were now going to charge £5.99 a month from March (just 3 months later) for this service.  This made the Tandem Credit Card, no longer the best one and Halifax's Clarity Credit Card is once again the best one.  Obviously,, there is no way the fee makes this affordable for my circumstances and I have no choice but to now have to lapse this card.  The other reason, I applied for this card was as I needed a 4th Direct Debit for a new bank account as Nationwide had given very short notice and were changing the Flex Plus benefits that I had for many years.  

So the issue, I wish to seek 'redress' or get the appropriate consumer body to protect consumers from allowing Credit Card Providers from being able to lure customers into these sort of short term that have wider long term consequences - eg. my credit rating score has been affected and also more importantly I have been unfortunately turned down for the Halifax's Clarity Card and also going to suffer the consequences of fees for not having a 4th Direct Debit re. the new bank account also opened in November 2019.  I believe the reasonable time frame should be for at least a year, particularly given the fact that if you apply for another credit card within a short period of time - it affects your credit rating (another issue in my naivety I had not appreciated).  Any suggestions??

Gerry1

I filled up with £20 of petrol at Tesco.  But it was 3p/litre more expensive that it had been the previous week, so my £20 worth didn't go as far as I expected and I was left stranded.  I think Tesco should pay for the tow truck and they shouldn't be allowed to put their prices up.

To add insult to injury, their tins of baked beans were 10p cheaper than last week, but they wouldn't give me a refund for those I bought at the higher price.

Lidl are even worse.  I bought a 'When It's Gone, It's Gone' widget, but the next day when I went back for another one - they'd all sold out !

ozaz

Equality4All said:

I would describe this as a "scam"!!

Not a scam. Any credit card provider is allowed to make changes to the agreement they have with you provided they give you a certain period of notice, which I think is either 30 or 60 days. Just be aware of this next time you get a credit card.

Equality4All said:
I wish to seek 'redress' or get the appropriate consumer body to protect consumers 

I don't think Tandem have done anything wrong in the context of current regulations, so I don't think there is anything to redress. The idea of having a longer minimum period for new customers before changes are allowed is an interesting one though (given potential sensitivity of ability to get credit to recent credit applications), but one that would need action from regulators.

Equality4All said:

my credit rating score has been affected and also more importantly I have been unfortunately turned down for the Halifax's Clarity Card

It may have had an impact on ability to get Clarity card but you can't say for sure. Getting turned down might have happened even if you applied for it before the Tandem card.

The_Fat_Controller

The Nationwide changes were notified MANY MONTHS in advance !

born_again

[quote]
We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong.
Do note, while we always aim to give you accurate product info at the point of publication, unfortunately price and terms of products and deals can always be changed by the provider afterwards, so double check first.
[/quote]
From "How this site works" below.

Think of it like all the people that book a holiday with Thomas Cook the day before they went bust. Offers are only as good as the information provided at that time. 
No one is going to advise customers that the cashback offer will end XX, or no one will sign up.

Would you be posting if they had doubled the cashback and not told you???

As ever buyer beware.

chistery

Tandem does seem fairly unique in this situation at least. When MBNA closed my Virgin Amex account they moved me to another card. When Lloyds closed my Amex account they moved everyone to a Mastercard. Yes Tandem should have moved everyone to their free Journey card but they don't seem able to do that for technical reasons. It's been badly managed but with most things nowadays, you have to wonder how sustainable it is and accept it may not last. If you sign up for a card with great benefits and most people are paying it off every month then it's just not sustainable. People find ways to abuse the benefits and it becomes even more susceptible to T&C changes.

jimbo26

Equality4All said:

 Any suggestions??

Yep, move on, life is too short to worry about changes in T&C's

Equality4All

Thank you for all your helpful responses.  As mentioned previously, this the first time I have done something like this and so not sure how to respond to some replies that I found helpful.  Re.. the one in particular that kindly explained it is not a "scam", whilst I fully appreciate that it may not fulfill the criteria for a "scam", however, because of the impact of applying for a credit card within a short period of time, I am still of the opinion that there should be a "regulation" or rule that credit card providers/banks/any lending establishment, should not be allowed to change the T&Cs for a minimum period and I would suggest either 6 months - 1 year, to protect consumers. The reason the minimum period should not be less than 6 months to allow the customer to make alternative arrangements that may take up to 3 months eg. in my case I now need to allow 30 days to pass before I can apply again and then a further month to set up the direct debit arrangements prior to it being active etc.
Many thanks again for your replies.