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Citi credit card terms rapped by watchdog
Friday, 24 Apr 2009 10:56
Citi credit card terms and conditions may have misled customers on their right for protection when buying goods abroad.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has ruled terms and conditions on Citi credit cards had wrongly claimed customers could not claim compensation for failed purchases abroad.
Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, customers can claim money back from transactions that go wrong from the credit card company for an item worth between £100 and £30,000.
The legislation states credit card issuers are individually and jointly liable with suppliers if a consumer has a valid claim against the supplier for misrepresentation or breach of contract.
Citi claimed this did not apply to purchases abroad on a number of its credit cards, but a House of Lords ruling in March 2006 stated credit card firms must cover foreign purchases.
But an investigation in December last year showed the firm was still claiming overseas transactions were not covered.
Citi will now write to all customers to find if any claims have been stopped because people thought they were not covered.
Ray Watson, OFT Director of Credit, said: "Section 75 provides important protection for consumers who use their credit cards abroad.
"While in practice Citi has been honouring claims for overseas use of its cards, some of its customers may have been misled into not claiming by its stated exclusion of liability for overseas transactions.
"Citi has recognised the problem and has acted responsibly to make consumers aware of their rights."
The Citi cards affected by the decision are:
• Citicard (Platinum Visa, Platinum Mastercard and Visa Gold)
• Citicard Visa Classic
• Ultima
• AAdvantage Visa
• Private Bank
• Audi Mastercard
• Shell Mastercard
• EasyJet Mastercard
• Bmibaby Mastercard
More...
