Hi guys!
Just had a conversation with my Dad about his Co-op credit card. To start with they just sent him a card out of the blue last in September '07 (NO APP!). But he decided not to use it. He has been using it recently (since Aug '08), he has just been going through some paper work and noticed that he has been charged for Payment Protection. When he called them tonight, the Co-op told him that the Payment Protection is loaded to the card and that the customer must request to have it removed & that this info is shown on his contract. When he told them that he hadn't even signed a contract, they told him that the card was first issued in 2005?? WTF??
Any advice on what to do would be much appreciated,
D#
Hi guys!
Just had a conversation with my Dad about his Co-op credit card. To start with they just sent him a card out of the blue last in September '07 (NO APP!). But he decided not to use it. He has been using it recently (since Aug '08), he has just been going through some paper work and noticed that he has been charged for Payment Protection. When he called them tonight, the Co-op told him that the Payment Protection is loaded to the card and that the customer must request to have it removed & that this info is shown on his contract. When he told them that he hadn't even signed a contract, they told him that the card was first issued in 2005?? WTF??
Any advice on what to do would be much appreciated,
D#
Write to them and ask for a copy of the contract.
if he wants the card then he can continue using it
if he doesn't want PPI then he can cancel PPI
if he doesn't want the card then he doesn't have to use it and can cancel it.
Thanks for stating the obvious CLAPTON.
I think the issue is that firstly no credit agreement was signed by your Dad and secondly that your dad has been 'sold' ppi without knowing it. I think both issues are cause for complaint. He should request a copy of the CCA and request that the ppi is cancelled and any ppi already paid be refunded.
To me it seems a case of your dad forgetting that he applied for a card in 2005.
They wouldn't just send a card out of the blue without an application being done. Cards usually expire 2 or 3 years after being issued. A new card arriving in September 2007 appears to be a replacement for the original expiring card, which is what Co-Op mean when they say it was originally issued in 2005.
If your dad has forgotten that he applied for the card, he may very well have forgotten that he applied for the card protection.
I won't into the rights and wrongs of PPI or whether it has been missold, or correctly sold and simply forgotten about etc but if you want to read up more about it then take a look at this article/guide:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance
Your dad should also get a copy of his credit report. Presuming that he did apply for the card back in 2005 then there may be more accounts like this that he's forgotten about.
I think the issue is that firstly no credit agreement was signed by your Dad and secondly that your dad has been 'sold' ppi without knowing it. I think both issues are cause for complaint. He should request a copy of the CCA and request that the ppi is cancelled and any ppi already paid be refunded.
Called the Co-op today and was on hold for 15 mins while they tried to find the application. All apps are downloaded on to the system. Needless to say, it doesn't exist! Oh dear!
Going to write a letter of complaint.
D#
To me it seems a case of your dad forgetting that he applied for a card in 2005.
They wouldn't just send a card out of the blue without an application being done.
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Completely agree
To me it seems a case of your dad forgetting that he applied for a card in 2005.
If your dad has forgotten that he applied for the card, he may very well have forgotten that he applied for the card protection.
Your dad should also get a copy of his credit report. Presuming that he did apply for the card back in 2005 then there may be more accounts like this that he's forgotten about.
Thanks for that Benf90, but i did say it was my father that had the credit card, not my great grandfather!lol
The Co-op cannot supply my FATHER with a copy of his contract, as there is not record of it on their system.
If he is not under contract, presumably, he is not contracted to pay the money back, certainly not in any given timeframe.
Also, I am pretty sure he would have recieved statements in the preceeding two year's, had he applied for and recieved the card, and if he has internet banking, his account would have been on that. So I doub he would not know about it.
So if there is no contract, they must have just randomly sent out a card to someone, probably in the hope he will spend spend spend on it fr Xmas, and then have to pay it back with interest.
Personally, if they were cheeky like that with me, and they could provide no proof of contract, then I would spend on it and when they send me a statement, I would ask them where in the contract does it say I have to pay it back.
Leave them scratching their heads when they can't find the contract lol...
Thanks for stating the obvious CLAPTON.
I glad you found my post clear and lucid and would commend it your your father.
I was just wondering, if some who didn't apply for a CC and didn't sign an agreement and so new it wasn't intended for him and then used the card, would constitute fraudulent use.
He has either signed/given verbal consent for the card to be opened, again no card will "just be sent out" without an application. Secondly probably on the app/when he activated card he agreed to have PPI.
All in all he doesn't have a leg to stand on. Just cancel the PPI and put up with previous charges, at least he was covered.
I glad you found my post clear and lucid and would commend it your your father.
I was just wondering, if some who didn't apply for a CC and didn't sign an agreement and so new it wasn't intended for him and then used the card, would constitute fraudulent use.
No it wouldn't constitute as fraudulent use.
He has either signed/given verbal consent for the card to be opened, again no card will "just be sent out" without an application. Secondly probably on the app/when he activated card he agreed to have PPI.
All in all he doesn't have a leg to stand on. Just cancel the PPI and put up with previous charges, at least he was covered.
Ok, he HASN'T signed a contract. According to vanquis (my credit card company) a contract must be signed, unless it has been applied for online. Then a tickbox would need to be checked, then click a confirm button. if it is agreed over the phone, then a contract will be sent out for the customer to sign.
This isn't a matter of my father trying to rip off the Co-op, this all came about when he asked about the PPI charges & customer service said "all this is explain in your contract that YOU signed Mr *******!"
D#
Thanks for that Benf90, but i did say it was my father that had the credit card, not my great grandfather!lol
The Co-op cannot supply my FATHER with a copy of his contract, as there is not record of it on their system.
Why would it make any difference if it was your great grandfather? A lot of people forget about things for whatever reason.
Have a read on these forums for long enough and you'll come across people that:
1. Apply for so many cards around the same time they forget which were accepted or declined.
2. Think that a card account is automatically closed just because they don't use it.
3. Just plain simply forget that they have applied for the card.
I am by no means trying to be offensive, I think it was a perfectly reasonable assumption for me to make given the information available at the time.
I also think I gave some good advice in checking the credit report.
I am wondering a couple of things though. Why would your dad just keep a card he wasn't expecting? If I received a card I wasn't expecting I'd be straight on the phone to the company asking them what was going on.
Also, to speak on the phone they would presumably have to go through security questions. Things like passwords, date of birth etc. How would all this be set up (and be correct as your dad has spoken to them) if just a random card was sent out?
Just because they couldn't get the Credit Card Agreement on screen straight away doesn't mean it doesn't exist, or that it never existed. I'd imagine that your father would need to request a copy of this in writing, and pay the statutory charge of 1.
Whatever the outcome of that I'd say the moral thing to do would be to:
1. Close or request a temporary block is placed on the account so that no more transactions can be made.
2. Cancel the repayment protection.
3. Pay back the amount spent.
I am by no means trying to be offensive, I think it was a perfectly reasonable assumption for me to make given the information available at the time.
I am wondering a couple of things though. Why would your dad just keep a card he wasn't expecting? If I received a card I wasn't expecting I'd be straight on the phone to the company asking them what was going on.
Also, to speak on the phone they would presumably have to go through security questions. Things like passwords, date of birth etc. How would all this be set up (and be correct as your dad has spoken to them) if just a random card was sent out?
Just because they couldn't get the Credit Card Agreement on screen straight away doesn't mean it doesn't exist, or that it never existed. I'd imagine that your father would need to request a copy of this in writing, and pay the statutory charge of 1.
Ben, I do appologise. I thought that you were being funny.
Ok time to get my facts straight. This is what happened. My dad goes in to the local branch to deposit some cash. After the transaction, the woman behind the counter asked my dad if he would be interested in a Co-op credit card. She told him that there were a few different credit cards that were available, he told he that if he had one it would be the one that gave 25p to a childrens charity for every 1 he spent. She told him she would get some info sent out ASAP. 2 months later a card comes through the door.
Like i said earlier, he was on hold for 15 mins today after requesting that they send a copy of the credit agreement. He was told that there wasn't one & the customer service woman had never come across this before.
D#
Ben, I do appologise. I thought that you were being funny.
Ok time to get my facts straight. This is what happened. My dad goes in to the local branch to deposit some cash. After the transaction, the woman behind the counter asked my dad if he would be interested in a Co-op credit card. She told him that there were a few different credit cards that were available, he told he that if he had one it would be the one that gave 25p to a childrens charity for every 1 he spent. She told him she would get some info sent out ASAP. 2 months later a card comes through the door.
Like i said earlier, he was on hold for 15 mins today after requesting that they send a copy of the credit agreement. He was told that there wasn't one & the customer service woman had never come across this before.
D#
That's truly astonishing. Despite having no reason to doubt you in any way, I had to fight myself not to add "tale" in that first sentence somewhere because it's just so unusual. It's also scary. I hope you can see why people were dubious.
Have you asked why your father wasn't straight on the phone when a strange credit card turned up? I know I would be!
Hopefully you've impressed on him that doing so in the future is important with things like identity theft going on, I've seen some loan/credit companies that issue store credit loans as a credit allowance that's already partly used (the loan/credit you applied for), with a card allowing you to draw on the funds in the future.
Not at all helpful with regards the original post but I very much doubt that any credit card would give anything like 25% of all money spent on it to charity
I was about to say, this sounds like a classic 'I notice you don't have our credit card' type sale, I'm not sure how the coop's system actually works, but in some banks you can open credit cards without the customer actually signing anything.....it's not legal but they get the sales figure for it!
The agreement is then meant to be filed away, but often get's 'lost'
THey should have an audit trail of who / where it was opened, after all that you should get all the PPI back (as mis-sold) and a bit of compo!
Not at all helpful with regards the original post but I very much doubt that any credit card would give anything like 25% of all money spent on it to charity
That was meant to read 2.5p not 25p. Sorry.
D#
I was about to say, this sounds like a classic 'I notice you don't have our credit card' type sale, I'm not sure how the coop's system actually works, but in some banks you can open credit cards without the customer actually signing anything.....it's not legal but they get the sales figure for it!
The agreement is then meant to be filed away, but often get's 'lost'
THey should have an audit trail of who / where it was opened, after all that you should get all the PPI back (as mis-sold) and a bit of compo!
This is it, when my dad asked the woman he spoke to today, whether she could see right back to the start of the agreement, she said yes but there were no details. No contract, no name of the person that dealt with him.???
Not at all helpful with regards the original post but I very much doubt that any credit card would give anything like 25% of all money spent on it to charity
It's probably 25p per 100 spent.
As charity cards have been mentioned, to anybody that has one have a read of this article to see why they're just a waste of time and how you (and the charity) can be better off without one:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/charity-cards
Back on topic...
I'd say the best thing to do is write a letter of complaint, with the OP has already said they will do.
Having everything in writing should avoid any confusion as to what has happened and hopefully get it resolved. If it was me I'd be asking for:
1. The repayment protection to be cancelled and any charges for it refunded.
2. Either the card account closed or a CCA sent to be signed if the account is to remain open etc.
I'd pay back the amount that's been spent asap though (I'm not saying your father wouldn't or had plans not to etc).
I suppose that this should have already been escalated by the person your father spoke to on the phone. Whoever it is, and whatever job they do, they would surely check about something they've never come across before?
We have spoken to the The FSA & The Ombudsman. As there is no contract, we are totally within our rights to request that the interest be paid back & that the balance be cleared.
D#
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