New Look store card

[AverageMan]

I apologise this is a rather long post. I wanted to be as clear and descriptive as possible. I do hope you do not get to bored reading this.

 

Ok I have searched the forums to find similar cases to mine and had no luck....

 

My OH has received a letter from Advantis Credit. They wish to recover money on behalf of a client called Ikano.

OH found this odd she had never heard of them.

 

With the help of google we discovered that it was likely to do with a New Look store card.

 

In Nov 2007 she was in New Look and was about to pay for some goods when she was offered a discount if she took a store card (naively she accepted the offer) and she did not really understand what it was about. She says she was under the impression that her debit card details were taken and as the store card would be posted to her that her debit card could would be used to settle the bill of £28.00.

 

Shortly after she received a letter in the post with her New Look card attached.

 

She tends to keep most letters in a reasonably organised fashion so we managed to find the letter from New Look.

 

The card that arrived in the post with the letter had a sticker on it saying, " Before using your card please ensure the main account holder calls us to register it"

This therefore led her to believe that all was fine because the card had not been activated.

 

She has since discovered the credit agreement along with the original receipt for the purchase. This does appear to show the purchase was made with the store card as it shows the last 4 digits of the store card on the receipt.

 

She moved home shortly after and of course informed the usual people of her new address the bank, mobile phone company and with anyone she felt needed to know. Of course she never realised she needed to let New Look know.

 

Just some background information.

 

Between Dec 2007 and May 2008 she lived in one property, and then from May 2008 until April 2009 another, both of which were registered with her bank and mobile phone company.

 

From April 2009 until now she has been using my address as a postal address just for her bank as she was concerned about the security of her mail at her current shared accommodation.

 

She is a foreign national who has been living in the UK for almost four years has always worked and always paid her bills. She has no other outstanding debts.

 

She is absolutely terrified and in a state of panic, she is definitely sure that she does not want to speak to anyone by phone. What she did want to do initially was to get me to phone them on her behalf and find out how much she owes and work out a payment plan.

 

Although it was only £28.00 in the first place she is aware that it will have increased greatly in the 23 months that have passed. They have an APR of 28.9% and I believe a monthly charge of £12 for non payment. Which I guess is pretty standard. Knowing this is there any way to calculate what she is likely to owe before we call.

 

Had I let her make contact initially she would have made enquiries as to what the matter was about and would have genuinely appeared to be none the wiser. Having now done the research we know what it is about and do not want it to appear that she has known all along and just dodged it.

 

I myself have had some debt issues which most of I was genuinely at fault. With the case of my OH I believe she has been misled. She could have quite easily settled the bill had she been aware of it.

 

Just like any average person in the street she did not really understand what she was getting into, and English being her second language did not help.

 

Having read through much of the info on here and from other sources I am slightly better informed than I was in the first place, but since I did not find anyone with a similar case I would really appreciate any advice.

 

I have some questions on what action (if any) she should take.

• Should she make contact to ask what this is about?
  
• I guess if she is to make contact then written contact is best. If that is the case is email acceptable?
  
• I guess in the first instance she would have to say, yes I am the person named. What is the matter about?
  
• Once she acknowledges she is the person named in the letter. Would it be best to request proof of how she owes this money and how much she owes?
  
• Should she request a copy of the credit agreement?
  
• As English is her second language, does that give her any leverage?
  
• Is there anyway of finding if any of the rules were broken when this agreement was taken out?
  
• Anyone know how they tracked her to my address she only uses it as postal address for her bank account.
  
• As she has the right to ask for any data they hold on her, does she have the right to ask how they tracked her down?
  

Thanks all for taking the time to read this. Also thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply.

Edited October 17, 2009 by AverageMan
rephrasing

[AverageMan]

Hi I appreciate it can take some time to get a reply. Just wanted to add further info.

 

Having looked at the credit agreement which she has signed (unwittingly) we noticed that apart from the usual terms and conditions the only personal information that has been added to it is her signature. No name or address has been filled in.

 

I realise that the original will probably have had those details added after.

 

What I am saying is does it benefit us in anyway by having this?

Can we use it to suggest that it's not enforceable?

 

I am in no way suggesting a free pass for her debt as such, she always pays all her bills on time. She has a perfect credit score. She even sends home money to her family.

 

We just feel she was duped into signing the credit agreement. Though without proof I do not see that as been useful to us.

 

It's just this trivial amount of £28 which will have snowballed into hundreds of pounds (perhaps even a thousand) would have been long paid for had she been aware.

 

If it means settling and paying £100-£200 so be it. Any more than that is just too much.

 

We go away in few weeks time on holiday and as we do not get much free time to relax together. I do not want this to be a talking point while we are away, so we would really like to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.

 

I appreciate that there are people assiting others as well as me.

 

Thanks all.

[vint1954]

I think that you need to write back to new look, advising them that the card was not reistered or used, also adding that the item purchased was pain for by the Debit card at the time of purchace and that your partner had no intention of opening a store account, but fely unduly presurised into doing so. This is whitnessed by the fact that the store card has not been used subsequently.

 

Keep it simple to start with and post back with their response.