Vanquis card ;are you a victim or know someone who is ?

[citizenB]

So, they have partially responded to the original SAR, yes ?

[just_jue]

Hi, yes all they sent were some computer print outs which were gobbledygook. I could not make head or tail of them.

[MARTIN3030]

Yes well they are obliged to send data which is clear and intelligible.

I know the shots you are talking about.They are impossible to work out.

[just_jue]

Hi, I have spoke to my son in law and they have got a letter saying that statements are an extra £5 each. They are also telephoning quite a bit because they cannot make the minimum payments but they are paying something.

 

JJ

[MARTIN3030]

Well yes of course they are entitled to charge £5 each for copy statements,but under a SAR they are legally obliged to send copy statements if they are requested under the stat fee of £10. (This covers copies of ALL data that falls within the provisions of the DPA)

 

You need to write a letter and send it recorded stating that you do not wish to correspond in any way other than in writing.

Keep a log of the calls,times etc.

Have you put anything in writing about the repayment difficulties ?

[just_jue]

Hi, yes we sent a letter last week (recorded) requesting they take a lower payment and freeze all charges. I have just done a Telephone letter and a PPI letter which will get sent on Monday.

 

JJ

[MARTIN3030]

Good stuff.

[rigbyp56]

hi everybody. my son is trying to deal with vanquis over my hubands account, my husband suffers from depression amongst other illnesses. vanquis phoned my husband and told him that he owed 13p, as he was overdrawn by this amount.

my son has been trying to get them to accept a lower rate of payment, he sent a cca request, and received there terms and conditions. he sent a letter signed by his father, giving my son permission to deal with his account, they have sent him a Authorised User Request Form. In it they ask for my husbands signature, my sons name, his home address, his occupation, his date of birth, and a photo-copy of either his driving licence, or the photo page of his passport, with the number showing. he has sent them an account in dispute letter, and a telephone harassment letter. they phoned again today, my son has warned them that they are in breach of both letters, and that if they persist he will report them.

they just asked him to fill in the form and then they could deal with him. my sons company solicitor has informed him that once he fills in this form he is liable for the debt. he has offered them £10.00 per month and they have said they cant talk to him or accept any payment until he fills in the form. his reply to them is, you rang,we offered, you broke the law, you can wait. rigbyp56.

[MARTIN3030]

If theres an offer been made to pay the debt and its provable (Ie the call was recorded or its been put in writing) then regardless of you filling in their form the debt will be viewed as acknowledged and therefore liable.

 

How old is the account

When was the last payment made ?

Is the account still open ?

What are the arrears ?

Have you got statements ?

Whats been exchanged in writing from both sides ?

 

 

There are guidelines in place for dealing with customers facing difficulties in meeting payments.

First of all can you answer questions above ?

[just_jue]

Hi Martin, Vanquis have agreed to the lower payments but nothing has come back regarding the SAR or the cancellation of the PPI even though they were in the same envelope.

The non-compliance of the SAR do I send the letter to the Data Controller before I complain to the ICO.

 

Thanks

 

JJ

[just_jue]

Hi Martin sorry to be a pain, Vanquis have gone back on there word of allowing a smaller amount, they are calling nearly every day (even though a telephone letter was sent) wanting the full amount and more to clear the arrears. My son in law is getting in a right state and doesn't know what to do. I have started my own thread but haven't had any response to my last post.

 

Thanks

 

JJ

[MARTIN3030]

Have you been keeping a log of the calls time etc ?

Good idea to do this-and ask for the name of the person who is calling.

Did they accept the offer for lower payments over phone or in writing ?

Its ESSENTIAL to keep things in writing.

Yes send a letter to their data controller-it needs to go to head office.

I would make it strongly worded.

In fact you should consider putting them on notice that you will file for disclosure and costs if they wont respond.

This often shakes them into complying.

How far are they over the 40 days now ?

How did you send the payment ?

Have they had an income and expend sheet to support your informing them of difficulties ?

[just_jue]

Hi Martin,

 

I got some paperwork from my son in law.

They have received his letter regarding the lower payments of £40 but will only accept £45. He has just received a letter from 'Impact Collection Services' another department from Vanquis demanding the arrears.

 

I also have the letter regarding the SAR that we got back in it is says:

'I can confirm that my college wrote to you on xxx 2010 enclosing the prescribed data. However please be advised that a request under the above does not include copies or transcripts of all telephone calls, copies of enforcement or default notices, copies of Credit Agreement orcopy statements.

Should you require copy statements these are available upon request for the sum of £5.00 per statement copy. Should these still be required then please contact me at your convenience.

 

With regards to the telephone letter we sent them they have listed all the times they did not get through : 2 on the 18th, 2 on the 21st, 2 on the 22nd, 8 on the 24th. Funnily enough they don't list all the times they did get through. They say the purpose of the calls is not to harasses but to discuss the account.

 

My son in law wrote to them to cancel the PPI and wanted to claim back the payments. They wrote:

 

With regards to your comments we do not offer PPI on your account. We do however offer a repayment option plan.

Having reviewed your initial application call in 2005 I can confirm that the agent offered to include this facility on your account and you agreed.

 

Sorry it is a long post and thanks again for all your advice.

 

JJ

[MARTIN3030]

Ok let me chew over this and think what to do.

[just_jue]

Hi Martin, Is there so info like on the ICO web site that says what information should be included in a SAR.

 

Thanks again for the advice

 

JJ

[just_jue]

Hi Martin.

 

My son in law received another phone call from the debt collection department. They got a little threatening saying that as he hadn't put in writing that he would pay the £45 the minimum they would except they would only now accept £60 which had to be paid straight away, which he did.

How would we go about complaining about this latest phone call and how would we go about getting hold of a copy of the conversation?

 

Thanks

 

JJ

[MARTIN3030]

Hi sorry for absence !

Ok the evidence can be requested by SAR.

It is no secret that these organisations inform that calls are being recorded for so called training purposes.

In many cases calls are being recorded for use later in evidence.

 

In requesting a copy of a telephone call transcript or a number of them,you submit a SAR with request for copies of call logs,screenshots,and transcripts of calls.

You need to be quite specific and say for example the calls were

1, on xxx date at approximately xxx time.

 

2.If you are unable to provide this/these,then please give the reason,and also an undertaking that you hold no record/transcript,or audio file copy or data storage of any of these communications.

[MARTIN3030]

Hi Martin.

 

My son in law received another phone call from the debt collection department. They got a little threatening saying that as he hadn't put in writing that he would pay the £45 the minimum they would except they would only now accept £60 which had to be paid straight away, which he did.

How would we go about complaining about this latest phone call and how would we go about getting hold of a copy of the conversation?

 

Thanks

 

JJ

 

Irrespective of him putting it in writing or not,if they were informed that he could not afford the payments they were demanding,then its clearly a breach of OFT guidelines as well as their own subscribed codes of practice.

[MARTIN3030]

I will sort a letter out for you.

If I get sidetracked send me a pm to remind me.

[MARTIN3030]

Pm sent.

[dragonkeeper]

 

 

for slight deviation on your topic Martin

 

 

Hi Mikeyp

 

 

 

I'm a victim of Vanquis. I wanted to pay off my Vanquis debt by getting another card from my bank and doing a balance transfer. Vanquis do not accept balance transfers or any payment from other CCs. Is there anyway round this? Has anyone else experienced the same problem? I have lengthened this reply by way more than 2 characters

 

Mikey P

 

 

 

 

The way round this problem with Vanished(mis-spelt on account that your money does vanish with this card) is to make a cash withdrawal from new card to be paid into your own bank account. Once money is in your account make a debit card payment to Vanished.

Other High Risk Credit Cards do the same.

It's just trying to make you believe that you are stuck with there card but they will not refuse debit card(cold hard cash talks or cold hard debit card). Also they will accept debit card payment from anyones account to pay your balance.

I don't think you can find a nice stranger in the street but if you did they would accept payment, now that would be even better.

The fee you pay for cash withdrawal approx 3% is roughly the same as balance tranfer.

 

Hope this helps to get you onto lower % rate.

 

 

 

 

dk

Edited October 8, 2010 by dragonkeeper
changing , for '

[KrashBandikoot]

I'm a Vanquis customer and until the last 3 weeks I was quite happy with them. Sure the interest is a bit high but with a reasonable credit limit I was happy enough.

 

I have 3 credit cards in total with the highest limit being Vanquis.

 

On all I could use their web pages to log in and make payments via my debit card which all went through more or less instantly. Within a few minutes the amount paid was debited from my bank account and 3 days later the payment went onto the account.

 

About 4 weeks ago I made a £150 payment which went through as per normal. The following week I made 2 payments of £100 on two consecutive days, neither of which went through. On ringing Vanquis I was told I had been subjected to a "random security check" which I thought fair enough.

 

The following week I made another £100 payment which again didn't go through so that was another phone call to Vanquis and again I was told I was being subjected to yet another "random security check" and the payment would be on my account by the Friday. By the Saturday no payment had been debited from my account so I had to make a "manual payment" there and then on the phone.

 

Last week I paid another £100 off my account via the website and my debit card only to find that once again it hadn't gone through. I once again phoned Vanquis and was given the "random security check" excuse yet again and was again told it would go through. Today I found that once again my account hadn't been debited and once again I phoned to ask why this was. Yet again I was told "Random security check" which really is taking the ****.

 

What's getting to me is I'm making my payments with no problems at all to my other cards but with Vanquis each time I attempt to make any form of payment I'm subjected to a random security check which of course means they're still charging me interest on the outstanding balance while this money remains in my account and isn't debited from my card.

 

I'm starting to get the feeling this is simply a ploy by Vanquis so they can charge extra interest on the outstanding balance. I have spoken with the Financial Ombudsman who are about as much use as a chocolate teapot and appear completely disinterested in the issues.

 

Although I can see their approach to offering credit to those who can't really afford it wrong, it seems they're also trying to stuff up those of us who can afford it and can make the payments by delaying those payments for as long as possible.

 

The end result is I have now canceled the last payment I have made to them and bought myself a new laptop on the credit card leaving me with about £1.27 on the card to spend

 

As far as I'm concerned they can now phone me for payments instead of me spending 10p a min for 20 mins on hold only to be given the run around and feeble excuses about random security checks. I have also written to them via recorded delivery stating my current position, (this being I clearly cannot make payments and refuse point blank to phone them yet again), and will only make payments by debit card to them via the web page log in or if they phone me and put the payment through manually.

 

I've also cut the card in two and I'll pay them off at £10 a week but I'll leave any outstanding balance interest outstanding as they can go get stuffed. If they don't want people who can make regular payments on their accounts then that's their problem not mine. My credit record isn't going to be affected by this as I'll be making payments until the full credit limit is paid then I'll stop. By which time I'll no doubt have access to other credit cards on lower interest rates.

 

I just hope they take me to court as I'm sure any judge will look at the letters and copies of my phone bills as well as the payment history and throw the case out. They put themselves in this position not me. I've been paying my bills on time and without any issues, they're the ones who won't accept the payments or delay them.

[citizenB]

KrashBandikoot, have a read of the article below.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?834-Fair-Treatment-for-Credit-Card-Holders-and-Borrowers

 

Vanquis has a duty to treat you fairly, from your comments above, they arent. If you are being charged a high interest rate because of their manipulative practice in not applying your payments to the account in a timely manner, then you can actually do something about it

 

 

 

 

 

6 Customers' interestsA firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

7 Communications with clientsA firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.

8 Conflicts of interestA firm must manage conflicts of interest fairly, both between itself and its customers and between a customer and another client.

[KrashBandikoot]

So what's the best approach to make an official complaint about this then?

 

Contacting the Ombudsman is pointless, writing to Vanquis as I have won't offer much in the way of change and I'm sure all I'll get is a lip service apology which won't be worth the paper it's written on. Surely there has to be a body that can actively get involved and put a stop to these delaying tactics?

[Skyrocket1]

Martin what was the upshot of this?

 

I have my account number of an old closed account with Vanquis and so need to SAR them but am almost resigned to the fact that they will either say my account is too far closed and they no longer have info or send me a load of rubbish that makes no sense to me. I know I had charges and PPI on this account.