Citi Card account transferred to Opus?

[JRP1414]

Hi,

 

I wonder if I could get some advice please?

 

A good while ago I had a Citi Card which I paid off in full and closed as I no longer wanted it. I believe it has been closed around 10-12 months. I have heard nothing from them since closing it.

 

Today, I received a text message on my mobile phone from Opus saying my Citi Card account had been transferred to them and that I owed them some money, to be paid by 10th Jan. The message asked me to call them to make a payment by debit card and gave a phone number. I had absolutely no idea who Opus were and thought it was some sort of [problem] and so decided to look on the Citi Card website. Low and behold, I find a message on there, advising that Citi Card has been sold to Opus, whoever they might be.

 

I phoned Opus and after some time, the assistant managed to locate my account. She confirmed that it had been closed some time ago and that the account had been transferred to Opus as part of a bulk sale of all Citi Card accounts. I queried why it was necessary to transfer a closed account and she said it was because I may wish to challenge a transaction under s.75 Consumer Credit Act and could now do that through Opus, if I needed to.

 

The assistant also confirmed that the balance on closure was 0, but that recently, the AA had applied a charge to the account for breakdown membership renewal. The outstanding balance was therefore now £52 and that I would need to pay it else I would incur late payment fees and interest.

 

I queried why I had not been told that my account had been passed to Opus and how a company had been able to charge a closed credit card account. The assistant confirmed that notes on my account explicitly state I have never been sent any communication to confirm the move to Opus because the account was closed when they received details of it, and that because my AA payment was an automatic renewal that I must've agreed to last year, they were legally allowed to charge the fee, which would automatically reopen my closed credit card account.

 

I am going to contact the AA to ask them to refund the amount and sort that out with them, but could someone please clarify the following with regards to Citi / Opus:

 

1. Are Citi Card legally allowed to sell my closed credit card account to another company?

 

2. If they are, do they have to inform me in any way?

 

3. Do Citi Card have to seek my permission to transfer my personal details to another company? After all, I have no debt with them so its not as if they are selling or assigning any debt to another company, which I believe would be acceptable. So what gives them the right to transfer my data on a closed account?

 

4. Do Opus have a legal duty to notify me that they now own my account?

 

5. If my account has been passed illegally or without my consent to Opus, am I liable for the money they are demanding?

 

Any help would be gratefully appreciated. I understand from the Opus assistant that many errors have occurred during this transfer of accounts and so it stands a good chance I am not the only victim.

 

Kind regards,

 

JRP1414

[The abused]

Hi JR

I have similar problems with OPUS. I have written them a letter but as yet no reply. When I do recieve a reply I will let you know of the outcome. I requested in the letter is it company policy to purchase accounts that are in dispute? In addition are the held accountable for any unfair and or illegal charges that have been applied to the account? I also added that a copy of the letter I sent them and their reply would if required be produced in a court of law if proceedings had to go that far.

It is difficult to interpret what is and is not legal.

[JRP1414]

Hi TA,

 

Thanks for the message. I would be really interested to hear what sort of a reply you get from OPUS.

 

I managed to get my £52 refunded by the AA (although that was a nightmare in itself) and I've heard absolutely nothing from OPUS since. I therefore assume my balance has returned to zero & they won't be pestering me again. I only hope I'm not being naive by assuming that! Perhaps I ought to contact them to double check!

 

Let me know how you get on,

 

JRP1414

[bern100]

Hi All

The OPUS nightmare continues...to cut a very long convoluted story short I've had problems with OPUS since they took over from Citi in November10.. I paid the Nov Citi monthly statement to into an account No OPUS gave me! (the same a/c and sort code as on their recent statements) I've had no acknowledgement of that payment, they say they dont have it...although I sent them a transaction receipt from my bank as proof of payment!!..many many phone calls and letters to them later..no communication from them ? Meanwhile recently I paid o/s balance off including a default sum!

Is now with the Financial Ombudsman..

[M A A]

Hi JR

I have similar problems with OPUS. I have written them a letter but as yet no reply. When I do recieve a reply I will let you know of the outcome. I requested in the letter is it company policy to purchase accounts that are in dispute? In addition are the held accountable for any unfair and or illegal charges that have been applied to the account? I also added that a copy of the letter I sent them and their reply would if required be produced in a court of law if proceedings had to go that far.

It is difficult to interpret what is and is not legal.

 

My Citi card is also in dispute. I had an ongoing complaint wiht Citi, over interest. I gather from a Citi Vice President, that Citi are supposed to resolve the complaint before passing on the account to another company. I also read the same, on a OFT/DTI/FoS/other official website. I refuse to pay that extortionate interest rate. I have explained repeatedly, to Opus, over the phone and in writing, that I had never heard of them till I received a card (like so many people I've noticed). Citi have stopped answering my letters. I am refusing to acknowledge the existence of Opus. They have no record of any agreement between us. As no agreement exists, they cannot take me to court, and Opus have admitted this. Instead I am now getting threatening and nuisance phone calls twice a day asking for my personal information, which I am refusing to give, on account, I don't have a relationship with Opus, hence, there's no need for me to co-operate. Does anyone know better than this?

Nuisance and threatening phonecalls are against Ofcom regs. It looks like I need to inform my telephone co and the police.

[M A A]

1. Don't know. but if your account is closed, do you have an account to sell. Seems like Citi have been using your closed account to add packing to the thousands of accounts they sold off, to repay their massive debts.

3. I'd have thought they should. Doesn't look good if they don't. But Citi is huge. They can do what they like, legal or not, IMO.

4. They ought to IMO.

5. This is a grey area. Ask Opus for a signed copy of a legally binding agreement. They are required to produce this by law.