Hi,

Firstly I hope this makes sense.

My wife got a Vanquis credit card with a £250 limit back in March this year, however it seems that they also added Protect my id, (from Experian) adding a £6.99 fee each month, but my wife was sure she did not agree to this.

So after finding out it was an Experian product we tried firstly to login to the account on the Experian website, but we found that we could only get so far, they had my wifes name, her email address & even her date of birth, but it also asks for her mothers maiden name as the final security question, which we put in & it did not work. So after trying her mothers maiden & current surnames & then even trying my mothers we could not gain access. So I got my wife to ring Experian who could not find my wifes details at first, but after several different ways of searching, they eventually found her using our post code, but they asked several questions, which my wife answered & again it got to some where they were the wrong answers.

Now to be honest I'm rather angry with Vanquis, as I have found that they have been taking the minimum payments as requested each month, but as soon as the payment is taken they have been adding the £6.99 charge for this, plus interest & this then pushes the amount owed back over the £250 limit, so they then add another £12 charge on top.

Now with all these added charges, they then add the monthly interest on top of that, so the amount owed will NEVER come down, even when paying what they want as the minimum payment. Over the last few days/week we have been receiving several phone calls & texts demanding not only the minimum payment but also an EXTRA £23, to bring the account back to £250, but I have worked out that they have added nearly £32 in added charges this month, & last month it was close to £24 (added charges).

Experian themselves have had a letter sent to my wife to reclaim all fees paid as they say it was taken without my wifes knowledge, but we've been waiting several weeks now for any follow up on that.

So can someone possibly tell me do we have any rights against Vanquis for adding this Protect my id, plus all the interest & added charges that have came about through this.

Any help/advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Can anyone help? please.

Hi

These charges are unlawful and you should be reclaiming. (letters to help in library)

With the ID protection, This is usually discussed in a phone call.

If you are absolutely certain your wife didn't accept this then a formal complaint demanding a full refund of premiums paid plus associated interest at their contractual rate is in order.

Hi,

It's not something I know a lot about but would think when taking out the card there would be a bit about including this Protect my id, I also suspect it will be a 12 month contract.

These £12 charges are reclaimable, though getting the Protect my id cancelled I'm not so sure about.

Hi,

 

It's not something I know a lot about but would think when taking out the card there would be a bit about including this Protect my id, I also suspect it will be a 12 month contract.

These £12 charges are reclaimable, though getting the Protect my id cancelled I'm not so sure about.

Here we go again Vanquis should have their credit license pulled once and for all. The amount of grief they give people is horrendous, I'm so glad they are out if my life at last.

although it took 4 years 300 plus incoming calls no visits 6 DCA's the final result was they closed my account refunded the entire balance, removed all data from my CRA file now I will never deal with ever again.

Unfortunately for the OP you will be in for a long run. Cancel any and all extras that are on the account reclaim all fees. I would also send off a SAR and see if yiu actually asked for these extras. Include in the request a transcript of you calls as well

MM

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

I do know for certain that my wife did not agree to adding 'Protect My Id', but if she had of then we would have no trouble accessing her account direct, but as already stated we have no idea of any password & when trying to retrieve it we get stopped at the security questions as we don't have the correct answers.My wife tried calling Experian about the P.M.I. account & it took nearly 30mins for them to find the account & they themselves could only say that the answers they wanted to the security questions were wrong & all they offered was to have a form from a different company sent out to claim back any payments made for a fraudulently made account.

Vanquis are now threatening us with debt collectors, but I am sticking to my guns & will not be threatened or intimidated by them. I will send for the SAR as advised & I will write to both companies again & hopefully will get a better response, though I'm not expecting much from Vanquis.

Thanks again.

It sounds very strange that you cannot access the accounts which makes me think that the protect my ID was set up with information taken from the application.

A man I know had this cover also but it was done over the phone and he felt quite pressurised into accepting it so I am thinking that Vanquis staff get commission on every policy sold. If so, this can easily lead to fraudulent 'sales'

You sound like you are on the ball with the SAR but with Experian, they will want as much proof of ID as possible to ensure there is no delay

when you have a payment etc problem they lock you out of your account on line.

when you have a payment etc problem they lock you out of your account on line.

There weren't any problems on the account when we discovered that they'd added protect my id. They have used my wifes name, email & d.o.b., but we had no idea what the password was for it & when we tried to use the 'Forgot password' option we were then asked security questions which we could not answer, so clearly someone at Vanquis made this without our knowledge.

This is normal practice for Vanquis, I have been battling them for 4 years nearly my case is just about to end in my favour, its been through so many DCA's that it's unreal, send off the template letter for your harassment this could stop it, But I doubt it though, to stop this I had to change my fone number to a payfone and get them to ring me then all calls stopped at home, I threw everything CAG had o offer except a complaint to FOS, which I did this week I have got a good deal of the company on a full and final offer, subject to confirmation in writing, then this mess for me is over.

It took 7 different dca's tons of calls from them 2 official complaints a court case and finally a lone DCA. but in the end the hard work and sticking to your guns paid off, As far as ID protect and ROP just cancel it if they refuse cancel the DD, and if you have paid by card get a new one sharpish, you will be inundated with calls from the get-go so get that letter off asap, also keep a detailed log of all calls and bluff them and state the last person agreed to write off the debt, this will confuse them and they will toodle off to check it out, then call straight back and change your fone numbers.

Then in future stay off of the phone and stop going through the security questions or give them the wrong details, then say simply in writing then hang up, the peace and quite is blissful once they stop ringing you.

MM

Hi MM,

I have had a call late Friday gone from Experian re the Protect My Id account & they have confirmed that they have fully closed the account, well they fully closed it while speaking to them. The young lad I spoke to was very helpful indeed & he confirmed that they could see that we had never accessed the account, especially as I had told him we had never had any sort of mail from them as he confirmed the account had to first be accessed using a PIN number, which we never received. He also spoke to the relevant department about how the account was set up in the first place & this was apparently all done by Vanquis direct using a similar system that anyone would use when wanting to signup online. So they gave me all the information they could about how the account was setup & advised to send an SAR request to Vanquis as they would/should have records of the data input ie. name of the person who set it up & hopefully a log of security details which we & them did not know, so the SAR to Vanquis has gone today via recorded delivery.

Something else which happened with this farce last week was that we received a letter firstly on Wednesday from Vanquis warning us that they were getting ready to involve 'Impact Debt Collectors' in the near future, to get all money outstanding. But it seems they did not wait too long as we had a letter from Impact the following day (Thursday) threatening action & by friday we started receiving phone calls from them. So I sent Impact a letter on Thursday to inform them of the issues we have & to let them know we are seeking legal advice, which I know they received as I tracked it & the calls seemed to have stopped, so far.

I am just waiting on a written reply now from both Vanquis & Impact, so I'll keep you all informed & can't thank all who have replied enough, your help is very much appreciated.

Thanks

Dash

Vanquis & Impact, Impact are Vanquis in house chasers, they are mean and nasty on the phones, like advised earlier get the numbers changed, call if you must from a pay phone they will ask is this your new number simply say yes can you update my file please, then for gods sake keep of that phone from now on, it will stop those nasty calls, but be careful when you actually give out your numbers in future, I never got my SAR from them but was not in the know in my early days of debt collection advise, but 5 years on it's much quieter on that front now.

Good going with the Protect ID but be careful in future with regards to all future credit, also keep and eye on your credit file and keep an up to date copy of it

MM

I never got my SAR from them

Did you not get your tenner back? If not, I would be causing trouble for them to refund that money with interest for the 5 year loan

Lol have a look at my Vanquis thread then you will understand why I am not

MM

Lol have a look at my Vanquis thread then you will understand why I am not

 

 

 

 

MM

Blimey, they have taken you through the mill haven't they.

I am going to add something to your other thread as well.

Did you not get your tenner back? If not, I would be causing trouble for them to refund that money with interest for the 5 year loan

I sent a cheque, which they did not cash & ripped up.

This is not acceptable, they have a duty to comply with a request and are not above the Law are they? If you really want to send it again, if they do in fact return it again make a formal complaint to the relevant dept. The get a letter off to OFT/FOS saying you have requested a SAR and that Vanquis refuse to comply with it

MM