Caxton dormancy charges and T&Cs

poppystar

I have a Caxton card for travel which, like many others I’m sure, has not been used in the past few years since travel has been either impossible or difficult. I chose Caxton when I took the card out some years ago because it didn’t have any inactivity charges. 

Realising my card expired during lockdown I logged on to request a new card and was shocked to see I have been paying a dormancy charge each month for the last two years or more. Apparently they changed the policy on this at some point. 

I looked back through old emails and found one with new terms and conditions and, yes, reading through the pages of small print I found that among the fees there was now a £2 per month dormancy charge. But really are we expected to read every word in case there have been changes? 

Each year my insurance companies clearly lay out any changes to insurance policies so that I don’t have to read and compare each word but can see at a glance what has changed. Is there no regulation in the credit card sector whereby changes have to be clearly shown in addition to receiving new T&Cs.? 

The only way I could have picked this change up would have been to print old and new T&Cs and go through them line by line. Is it realistic to expect people to do that for every product?

If I’d been aware of this I would have cancelled my card, which I couldn’t use anyway due to travel restrictions and expiry, and saved myself some money rather than have the balance on the card gradually whittled away.

If you are a Caxton customer and have also not used the card - check now and act if needed!

[Deleted User]

poppystar said:

I looked back through old emails and found one with new terms and conditions and, yes, reading through the pages of small print I found that among the fees there was now a £2 per month dormancy charge. But really are we expected to read every word in case there have been changes? 

Each year my insurance companies clearly lay out any changes to insurance policies so that I don’t have to read and compare each word but can see at a glance what has changed. Is there no regulation in the credit card sector whereby changes have to be clearly shown in addition to receiving new T&Cs.? 

The only way I could have picked this change up would have been to print old and new T&Cs and go through them line by line. Is it realistic to expect people to do that for every product?

If I’d been aware of this I would have cancelled my card, which I couldn’t use anyway due to travel restrictions and expiry, and saved myself some money rather than have the balance on the card gradually whittled away.

If you are a Caxton customer and have also not used the card - check now and act if needed!

Yes you are expected to do this

You said you read the terms and conditions and found this but what about other letters / electronic statements/notices from them where they would have explained this to you? What did the cover letter that came with the new Ts & Cs say when you read it?

poppystar

Deleted_User said:

poppystar said:

I looked back through old emails and found one with new terms and conditions and, yes, reading through the pages of small print I found that among the fees there was now a £2 per month dormancy charge. But really are we expected to read every word in case there have been changes? 

Each year my insurance companies clearly lay out any changes to insurance policies so that I don’t have to read and compare each word but can see at a glance what has changed. Is there no regulation in the credit card sector whereby changes have to be clearly shown in addition to receiving new T&Cs.? 

The only way I could have picked this change up would have been to print old and new T&Cs and go through them line by line. Is it realistic to expect people to do that for every product?

If I’d been aware of this I would have cancelled my card, which I couldn’t use anyway due to travel restrictions and expiry, and saved myself some money rather than have the balance on the card gradually whittled away.

If you are a Caxton customer and have also not used the card - check now and act if needed!

Yes you are expected to do this

You said you read the terms and conditions and found this but what about other letters / electronic statements/notices from them where they would have explained this to you? What did the cover letter that came with the new Ts & Cs say when you read it?

Nothing else at all. Nothing in cover email that had T&Cs as attachment other than ‘these are the new T&Cs.’ Hence my comparison with insurance companies that headline the main changes as well as attaching the full new T&Cs. Ditto when my bank has changed any fees or charges they are always clearly set out in letters separate to the T&Cs. 

Maybe I should be expected to read all the pages of small print, I agree, sadly. I guess I didn’t expect charges to be introduced without other warning. Lesson learnt the hard way. My point is that I expect I’m not the only one that doesn’t read them painstakingly and doesn’t expect new charges to be introduced that way with no other warning.

[Deleted User]

You could try a DSAR to the company for a copy of all correspondence, if they changed the terms and didn't make it clear then you might well have a cause for complaint to the lender and potentially the FOS

poppystar

Deleted_User said:

You could try a DSAR to the company for a copy of all correspondence, if they changed the terms and didn't make it clear then you might well have a cause for complaint to the lender and potentially the FOS

Thanks. What is a DSAR?

PRAISETHESUN

poppystar said:

Deleted_User said:

You could try a DSAR to the company for a copy of all correspondence, if they changed the terms and didn't make it clear then you might well have a cause for complaint to the lender and potentially the FOS

Thanks. What is a DSAR?

Data Subject Access Request - basically a legal demand to see your personal information under GDPR rules.

Details on how to access your data are in their privacy policy: https://www.caxton.io/cards/legal/privacy-policy/privacy-policy

mgfvvc

I've been caught out as well.

I can find 2 emails about Ts&Cs from the last 2 years, which actually lay out itemised lists of changes. I can not find any mention of dormancy charges. One email is from Jan 2020 and one from April 2021. Nothing close to September 2020 when they started charging.