PPI and "card protection" charged on a card that doesn't exist!

[Jinxx]

Hello everyone,

 

I wonder if I might seek some advice from some of the knowlegeable people here, because I don't know very much about any of this stuff!

 

I recently set up online banking for the first time and discovered a direct debit on my account from MBNA which had been there since 2003. I didn't know what it was and so I cancelled it, but I was a bit concerned and it caused me to go looking through my statements. I was alarmed to see that it had been making approximately twice-yearly charges to my account for a long time. I had never noticed before (I know it wasn't smart of me not to read my statements thoroughly).

 

I took out a credit card with Santander in 2003, which was managed by MBNA, and cancelled it in 2007. When I cancelled it I specifically asked Santander if I needed to cancel anything else and they said no, so I never thought about it again. While trying to find out what is going on, I have just discovered that cancelling a credit card is not the same as cancelling a credit card account and things can still be charged to the account - no one ever informed me of this, but I was still confused because to my knowledge I had never signed up for any recurring charges on the card.

 

However, I managed to find some of my old credit card statements, and discovered there were some recurring charges after all. One of them was "card protection" which seemed to charge me around £30 several times a year. The other was PPI. I don't recall signing up for either of these things - I don't even know what they are - and interestingly PPI was not on the earlier statements but appears on them around 2005. I know for certain that I did NOT initiate that. And it would appear that since cancelling my card they have continued to charge me for either one or both of these things on a card that does not exist! The PPI is for small amounts and probably doesn't add up to a significant amount, but the "card protection" charges (is this the same thing as PPI, and if so why was I being charged for both?) add up to a lot over so many years. I'm quite bemused because up until a few days ago I didn't even know I had an account with MBNA. I am currently writing to them to ask for a full summary of all charges made to the account in the last six years.

 

I'm also confused because I don't know if I would be issuing the complaint to Santander (who apparently mis-sold/misinformed me both when I took out the card and when I cancelled it), MBNA (who have the account and were taking the money) and/or a third party (I don't know yet if the card protection is with MBNA or a third party company, since I didn't even know I had it). It doesn't seem fair that I could be penalised for not cancelling something I didn't know existed. I can prove that I couldn't have used the account or used an associated card beyond 2007 because I changed my full name in that year, both first name and surname, and cancelled the card rather than request a new one with new details because I didn't need it. So I couldn't possibly have legally used the account beyond that point.

 

I wanted to know if there was a likelihood of receiving a refund under these circumstances, and if so if I would be able to claim going all the way back to 2003 or just to 2007? And do any of you have any advice regarding how to go about claiming it? I know I need to request the details of the charges but I'm lost beyond that!

 

Thanks in advance (and also for reading this rather lengthy post),

James

[ims21]

Hi

 

Sounds like a good case for a reclaim to me.

 

If you didn't request these items and they were just slapped on there without your knowledge then claim them back. (with interest).

 

Get the info first and then you will be able to complete spreadsheets and send them in to the lender. Your claim will be with whoever you were paying.

 

And yes you should be claiming right the way back to the word go.

 

ims