Refusing to remove credit card details

after_shock3000

Is it legal for a company to refuse to remove your credit card details from your account on their website.

If there is an alternative method of payment available on the site and you do not want your credit card details to be stored there anymore, how would you get them to remove them?

Also the card in question has been cancelled any due to someone getting hold of the details and making a fraudulent transaction. Yet they still refuse to remove them.

The company is American (won't mention the name in case that isn't allowed) and the card was issued by an Irish bank (Just in case that makes a difference.

dermot_sheehan

If the company was Irish or even EU based you can demand erasure under the Data Protection Act.

padser

From a practical point of view the handiest thing to do is to report your credit card as lost, so that its cancelled and you get a new one with a new number. That makes the card number they have obselete.

The downside is that if you have any sites/companies that you want to have the card number you will have to change it with all of them.

Talliesin

If it's cancelled, what's the problem?

padser

That you need to actually go and change it, ie hastle for sites that you use it on a lot eg Airlines etc

Our man in Havana

Sometimes when you can cancel a card sometimes the bank simply reissue the card with the same number, like wtf!

Also once they processed the card once they could in theory keep getting charges on it. Happened to me with a gym membership, I changed the card number but they were still able to charge me.

Rebeller

Bond-007 wrote:

Sometimes when you can cancel a card sometimes the bank simply reissue the card with the same number, like wtf!

Also once they processed the card once they could in theory keep getting charges on it. Happened to me with a gym membership, I changed the card number but they were still able to charge me.

Issuing a new card with the same number as the original would seem to defeat the whole purpose of cancelling the original one! I've never heard of that before.

The bank will usually be liable for any charges to a card after it has supposedly been cancelled. In other words, if you discover that your card has been lost, stolen etc you should not have to pay any charges made to the credit card account from the time and date of notification to the bank.

Hobart

Talliesin wrote:

If it's cancelled, what's the problem?

The problem is that some sites, will only allow you to have a limited number of cards registered. Look at betfair, for example, they have a very stringent policy on the amount of cards you can register and the refund/returns policy.

I had a VISA card registered with them. It was lost. However I had made a deposit before it was lost. When I went to withdraw some winnings, to another card, betfair insisted that I "zero the balance off" from the Visa card, before I could withdraw the winnings to another card.

As the card was lost, this was impossible. I could not de-register the card either, as the balance on the Visa could not be cleared. Many phone calls etc...later, it was sorted. Their excuse? Fraud protection, which makes some, but not complete, sense.

So the bottom line is, it can be a problem, depending on the site you are using your CC on.

OP, as the company is American, I don't think there is much you can do form a legal perspective, on this issue. Becoming a nuisance and phoning their customer service dept a few times, may force their hand.

after_shock3000

Ok, thanks for all the replies.

The problem with leaving the details there is that the company is also known for automatically renewing subscriptions when they expire. They don't seem to stop even if you ask them from what I've read.
And if there is an expired card on their system they just renew it anyway and put a minus balance on your account. Then after a few months when they don't get their money they send a letter saying that the balance will be passed onto debt collection etc. to the card holder at the name, address etc. that they have stored..
The card is not mine (yes i did have permission from the holder to use it the one time I did), but if they do renew the sub its gonna cause a whole lot of hassle.

Jo King

Complain to the data Protection Commissioner. Data is only supposed to be retained on computer for as long as is necessary.

Hobart

Jo King wrote:

Complain to the data Protection Commissioner. Data is only supposed to be retained on computer for as long as is necessary.

Would this apply to American based companies?

johnnyskeleton

You might want to ask the cardholder to contact their bank. As far as I know, the cardholder's bank can formally contact the american company and ask them to never take monkey from it again (and possibly to remove the card details). If the company refuses, I think VISA international can get involved. Because credit cards are based on trust between the companies, the banks and the credit card agencies (visa/mastercard etc), this method is often quite successful.

Overheal

Afaik is American law only allows you to view such data; the whole country seems maliciously geared to stripping your soul away from you.

ian.f

If it's allowed I'd love to make a guess at what company it is.

My money's on .... Paypal;)

Our man in Havana

Nah, they allow you to remove details.

I am betting on a book/dvd store with a name like a river in south america.