Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

[iolanthe]

At new year 2003 i bought some 40 quid shoes in the sale. The cashier told me i'd get another 10% off if i got a debenhams card. In my ignorance, i subscribed thinking it was a loyalty card type thing. She didn't explain the charges.

I then paid around £18 by D/debit for 49 consecutive months from April 2004 to May 2008 which i didn't notice until going to work in Italy.

I now have one DCA after another chasing me for another 500 odd quid, which has now appeared on my credit report.

I believe i was mis-sold the store card. Do i have a leg to stand on?

Thanks for any advice.
Rob

[EXC]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

What were the £18 charges for?

[PlanB]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

Let me get this right. You borrowed £40 on a store card and you've already paid back £882. So what was the other £842 for? On top of that you are being chased by a DCA (Lewis?) for a further £500. Total amount charged to your account would be a mind-boggling £1,382. I hope they were very nice shoes!

Debenhams accounts are provided by Santander cards. The current Ts & Cs can be downloaded from this link where you'll see the charges for penalties (late payment, over limit etc) are only £12 in line with OFT standards since 2006 (?). But if you were paying by direct debit I can't see how you could possibly have any charges since you had authorised the creditor to help themselves to the minimum amount due each month (I presume).

http://finance.debenhams.com/cards/store-card/t-and-cs/

[PlanB]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

. . . . She didn't explain the charges.

I then paid around £18 by D/debit for 49 consecutive months from April 2004 to May 2008 which i didn't notice until going to work in Italy.

I now have one DCA after another chasing me for another 500 odd quid, which has now appeared on my credit report.

I believe i was mis-sold the store card.

I don't know about mis-sold the card yet, but were you mis-sold PPI added to this account? Debenhams were very persuasive i.e. aggressive with selling this product which may have been useless to you since you were subsequently working/living in Italy.

[PlanB]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

Was there also a Card Protection policy on there? It would have been a box you ticked or more likely the sales girl ticked on your behalf Debenhams accounts were previously managed by G. E Money (before they were sold to Santander) which was fined £610,000 by the FSA for mis-selling their store cards and ordered to pay compensation to customers.

Have a read of this:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/c...d-holders.html

[iolanthe]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

Thanks for your replies, folks.

To clarify; the £18 (approx) monthly charges were Direct Debit payments which escaped my notice (i was flush at the time and didn't check my statements) until i went to live and work abroad, at which point i immediately cancelled the D/D and went, thinking i'd paid quite enough for a pair of £40 shoes (49 consecutive months without any defaults, at around 18 pound a time). I never contacted anyone at the time, but have had the likes of Mackenzie Hall onto me, one after another and i always ignore them. However, it now finally appears on my credit report.

I would never have accepted the store card - which was then managed by GE Capital, had i known it was in fact a credit facility. I've never owned a credit card and doubt i ever will. I certainly never made any more purchases on it.

My obvious negligence in dealing with this sooner aside, i think i was mis-sold the card and am in no mind to pay any more money than i already have for a very ordinary 40 quid pair of shoes!

PPI, as far as i know, doesn't come into this one. I don't own the credit agreement (not sure i ever did).

Again, thanks so much.
Rob

[EXC]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

I'm still not clear on what the £18 charges were for.

Do you have any of the store card statements?

[enaid]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

I think the op purchased a pair of shoes for £40 on a store card (probably offered to her with a promise of a discount) I presume the £18 was to pay off the card but as the Int rate on these things is astronomic gawd knows how long it would take especially if PPI was added.
So if DD was cancelled before amount was paid off fully then these things happen.

[Turboman]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

theres also 16 months from when you bought the shoes to starting the direct debit presumably

[iolanthe]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

The payments were for the product i bought, i suppose. Regrettably, i don't have any store card statements - i doubt that i ever notified them of changes of address as i wasn't aware i was in a credit agreement - it was a casual transaction that took place; the cashier said i'd get another 10% off if i took the card, which i took to mean no more than a loyalty card. (Obviously, i was very green then.)
However, i do have bank statements that show all those payments described in my original post.

I've no record either of whether the agreement included PPI. Hard to know how to play this as GE Capital no longer own the debt - it's been sold on many times.

[EXC]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

As Turboman rightly pointed out it appears that you didn't pay anything for the shoes for 16 months and the direct debit was set up to pay off the debt that had accumulated as a result. It would be useful to know who decided on the figure of £18 per month to pay it off. You could try sending whoever now owns the debt a subject access request.

But to be honest even if the card was mis-sold you have exceeded the 6 year time limit to complain or to defend it in court on that basis.

[charitynjw]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

If the last payment was made in May 2008, & no acknowledgement in writing has been made, it will become Statute Barred in May 2014.

[iolanthe]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

I don't know at which point i started paying off, as i only have bank statements from mid-2004. Actually, i've just seen my credit report which states that the card was taken out on Christmas Eve 2003, and i have 49 consecutive D/D payments.

The official default date according to my credit report is 14/1/09. Payments were stopped "by originator request" on 8/5/08.

I never agreed a figure to pay - i must've simply filled out the form in store, wished them a merry Christmas, and forgotten all about it.

Gosh., i'm worried about this as i am now applying for a job with the Home Office, which i cannot be considered for with this on my Credit Report. I am sickened by the whole affair- i've paid a fortune already, and they want another 500 quid, all for a 40 quid pair of shoes that i had the money for when i bought them. AAAaaaarrggghhh.

Thanks for all responses.
Rob

[wales01man]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

did you never wonder what the DDs were for in 4 years of paying

[iolanthe]

Re: Mis-sold a store card - do i have a leg to stand on?

This is immaterial. Any negligence or ignorance on my part, i have paid for.

I am trying to deal with the status quo.

If you've nothing constructive to say, then save both of us the effort of your correspondence.