Tesco visa have ruined my credit rating

eth0_

I was going to get a mini-notebook pc yesterday on credit from PC World as I haven't borrowed in about 2 years (apart from getting a new credit card earlier this year) and wanted to keep my credit history looking good.

I've used HFC bank (who provide the credit in PC world) three times in the past 5 years and have never missed a payment with them and always paid off in full at the end of the interest free period.

Crazily they refused me credit for a 270 euro laptop!

Luckily I got a copy of my credit rating a few months back so I took another look...

The *only* bad thing on my credit rating in ten years of credit history was last year, from Tesco Visa.

Basically I rang them and said i'd like to closed my account. I paid off the final balance over the phone using laser, they confirmed there was nothing more to pay, and told me to cut up the card. I thought nothing more of it. Until three months later when their collections department rang me demanding payment of 40 euro outstanding (credit card stamp duty!!!).

The statements had been going to my parents house and I hadn't been home to see them. So now on my credit rating it says I missed three months of re-payments to Tesco Visa credit card, which obviously makes me a bad debt risk :rolleyes:

Is there anything I can do about this? Could I get Tesco to remove this entry on my credit rating?

I'm afraid to think what else I could be refused credit on because of their f*ck up :-(

smartblaa

Sorry to hear about this situation.

Some of those are right knuts when it comes to this sort of thing.

This could give you some info.
Data Protection Website

The issue is with Tesco Finance, so you'll need to ring them up.
AFAIK they can remove this black mark on your account.
I would throw the whole lot at them, ask to speak with supervisors etc.
Maybe even throw in the odd fib(mortgage refusal etc.)

eth0_

Cheers I will ring Tesco tomorrow. Mentioning a mortgage refusal sounds good.

A friend of mine reckons they took three months to ring me because they wanted the interest and penalty charges to build up. grr!

ejmaztec

I had a run in with a guy at a finance house a few years ago. They were sending me out statements on a loan that got paid off months before. After I spoke with this obnoxious git, he agreed that nothing was owing. Obviously, he must have been greatly offended by my attitude, so put my name down on the credit agencies black-list afterwards, out of sheer spite - just for the hell of it. When I found out, through a search, I had no choice but to ring him again to melt his ear-drum. :mad:

eth0_

Who would I go to if Tesco refuse to fix this? Financial regulator?

dazberry

eth0_ wrote: »

Who would I go to if Tesco refuse to fix this? Financial regulator?

Have a read of this, it may appear obvious but its a step by step guide through the complaints procedure. Also have a look at the FAQ, it gives details on the complaints procedure as part of the consumer protection code.

D.

daltonm

HI there, I had a similiar problem with a company and wrote to them, and they contacted to ICB and it was sorted out. I could not imagine that Tesco wouldn't resolve this matter if you approach them, you should keep your letter along with any reply from Tesco and send it to the company that refused you credit also, on seeing this they may review their situation.

Biggins

I bought a pc thru HFC as well years ago, paid it all off no problem. Next thing I know I have a bad credit rating too! Took a while to get sorted. including a trip to their HQ in Dublin and with useless help from them.
HFC - get your act together.

Darando

Doesnt CC stamp duty get taken from your account in April like a direct debit, gets added to your bill immediately? i.e you pay it up front for the year. So did they charge you for a card that didn't exist? Then I would have serious issue with them - how can they charge for a non-existant card and then ruin your credit rating....That is a disgrace if so..demand cost of calls to them, stationary to regulator etc.

(thats if I read and understood your post correctly:o)

eth0_

hmm no, as far as I understand it, if you close your card after a certain point in the year, you have to pay stamp duty for the next year.

I'm not sure. Will find out when I call Tesco tomorrow.

Davy

eth0_ wrote: »

hmm no, as far as I understand it, if you close your card after a certain point in the year, you have to pay stamp duty for the next year.

I'm not sure. Will find out when I call Tesco tomorrow.

It applies for a 12month period from april to april. Its not paying for the next year, unless you pass april and have the account active you have to pay the whole 12 month period. You probably opened the account after april and had never paid the stamp duty because closing it before the following april.

ScouseMouse

HFC bank have recently announced they are pulling out of Ireland. So who is now looking after the credit for Harvey Norman. It cant be them.

Find out who it is and then, maybe, you could contact them directly.

eth0_

They're physically pulling out - i.e. closing their branches in Ireland.
They are still going to offer credit to DSG stores, Harvey Norman etc.

It's not HFC's fault, I guess they have tightened up their lending criteria with the current economic situation and the one black mark on my credit rating was enough for them to deny me.

wasim21k

well i also had very bad experience in close credit card account in aib second last bill was 2.and few cents and i paid in full so next month was 10 cent bill. well this time i thought in next gonna be 1 cent so to avoid this situation i paid 1 euro so account closed happy days.
but no about after 6 months i received bill that they ow me 90 cent and want to pay me i rang and said give to charity, through it in bin but dont send me bill as i m moving out of that place soon and i dont want some one receive my bill.
but no they keep sending me bill i thinkg 3 time then fortunately i started job in aib and i went in credit card section by person and requested please do not send bill to this address i m not living there anymore lady there changed address to my new address and also posted me 90cent cheque in post and i m having it in front of me at my work to remind myself

eth0_

A cheque for 90c, that's fantastic :-)

pinkypinky

I recently cancelled my own Tesco visa. They advised there was a small balance of €21 and they would be adding the €30 stamp duty to the bill. I got the bill and they hadn't bothered to add the stamp duty. They're not great.

However, OP, it is your responsibility to get your statements from your parents' house and that you didn't collect them and therefore didn't see the bill is hardly a defense.

eth0_

pinkypinky wrote: »

However, OP, it is your responsibility to get your statements from your parents' house and that you didn't collect them and therefore didn't see the bill is hardly a defense.

Actually it is a perfectly solid defense when Tesco told me "Ok your account is closed, please cut up your card", and then sent me a closing statement showing my balance was 0.00

marknoonan1974

You can get your credit report at the Irish Credit bureau, http://www.icb.ie/cr_options.php

you can get your credit report here for 6 quid, if there is something wrong they will correct it for you.

dudara

I think eth0_ said that they had already received a credit report from the ICB. That is how they know about the Tesco black mark.

It just goes to show, even when you think something is closed (a credit bard, a direct debit) that you should still monitor it for a while to ensure that it is truly closed down.

parsi

eth0_ wrote: »

Actually it is a perfectly solid defense when Tesco told me "Ok your account is closed, please cut up your card", and then sent me a closing statement showing my balance was 0.00

Not really.

After the cancellation they continued to communicate with you at the address that you had supplied to them.

So whilst their actions were somewhat extreme they were carried out as a result of non-payment of bills which were correctly issued to you.

As regards small cheques - AIB once sent me a cheque for 8c (took a lot of calls to their freephone number to get it..)

KatCookie

parsi wrote: »

Not really.

After the cancellation they continued to communicate with you at the address that you had supplied to them.

So whilst their actions were somewhat extreme they were carried out as a result of non-payment of bills which were correctly issued to you.

As regards small cheques - AIB once sent me a cheque for 8c (took a lot of calls to their freephone number to get it..)

Although i could have cost about ~30 cent to cash it into your account...

jayteecork

marknoonan1974 wrote: »

You can get your credit report at the Irish Credit bureau, http://www.icb.ie/cr_options.php

you can get your credit report here for 6 quid, if there is something wrong they will correct it for you.

So I have to pay €6 for my own credit rating, whereas some faceless corporation gets it for nothing?

eth0_

jayteecork wrote: »

So I have to pay €6 for my own credit rating, whereas some faceless corporation gets it for nothing?

I believe "they" (lenders) pay a yearly fee to access the ICB records.

eth0_

parsi wrote: »

Not really.

After the cancellation they continued to communicate with you at the address that you had supplied to them.

Eh...when you move house, do you write to all your old credit card companies which you no longer use, to inform them of your new address? :rolleyes:

I really don't know what more I could have done when they told me categorically that my account was closed and I owed nothing.

311

Is it definetly because of the credit card ? ,maybe it's because they're not interested in a giving a loan of such a small amount. (Don't mean to sound smart)

parsi

eth0_ wrote: »

Eh...when you move house, do you write to all your old credit card companies which you no longer use, to inform them of your new address? :rolleyes:

I really don't know what more I could have done when they told me categorically that my account was closed and I owed nothing.

Did they categorically tell you in writing ? :rolleyes: Surely by now folk know not to accept the word of a phone drone....

Then again maybe you should visit your parents more often to collect any mail (and of course to say hello etc)

parsi

KatCookie wrote: »

Although i could have cost about ~30 cent to cash it into your account...

Yep. However with free banking it cost nowt..

eth0_

parsi wrote: »

Did they categorically tell you in writing ? :rolleyes: Surely by now folk know not to accept the word of a phone drone....

Then again maybe you should visit your parents more often to collect any mail (and of course to say hello etc)

Do you read posts properly or are you just trolling?
I said I received a final statement showing 0.00 was owed.

How often I visit my parents home is absolutely none of your business.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

parsi wrote: »

Did they categorically tell you in writing ? :rolleyes: Surely by now folk know not to accept the word of a phone drone....

Then again maybe you should visit your parents more often to collect any mail (and of course to say hello etc)

little bit rude there.

dahamsta

Roundtower2 wrote: »

little bit rude there.

etho_ is no stranger to it herself, what goes around comes around.

kazzer

eth0_ wrote: »

Do you read posts properly or are you just trolling?
I said I received a final statement showing 0.00 was owed.

How often I visit my parents home is absolutely none of your business.

I was going to say that you should have been aware that stamp duty is added when you close the account, but as they sent you a closing statement of €0, then I think they are in the wrong. They didnt try to contact you by phone either (did they?)