From: "Alex" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.legal
Subject: Re: Barclaycard....Advice needed
Date: 9 Jul 2006 08:56:21 GMT

At 15:56:03 on 08/07/2006, Peter Saxton delighted uk.finance by
announcing:

> On 8 Jul 2006 07:01:39 -0700, "littlemiss"
>  wrote:
> 
> > Peter Saxton wrote:
> >> On 8 Jul 2006 05:48:25 -0700, "littlemiss"
> >>  wrote:
> > > 
> >> >I had a Barclaycard account for close on to 5 years which i paid
> off in >> >full around december 2005. During the Telephone call in
> which i paid >> >off the card, i asked the advisor to confirm that
> the account had now >> >been closed, which they did. A few weeks
> later i logged onto my >> >barclaycard online account and could no
> longer view it, thus in my >> >opinion confirming that my account was
> now closed thus when i moved >> >house at the end of december i felt
> i had no reason to contact them >> >with my new address. I thought
> that was the end of it but i have >> >recently been contacted by a
> firm called Mercers regarding the debt i >> >owe to barclaycard.
> Apparently my account was never fully closed due to >> >a life
> insurance scheme i had in place called barclaycard life plus. I >>
> >have now been told that if i dont pay in full they are going to
> "send >> >in the debt collectors" due to the fact that i havent made
> a payment in >> >6months.  >> >
> >> >Has anyone else had this problem before??
> >> >
> >> >I have called barclaycard and after some searching they found the
> >> >details of my account they told me i would need to speak to
> mercers >> >regarding the matter, and niether mercers nor barclaycard
> are able to >> >provide me with the details of who to call to cancel
> the barclaycard >> >life plus, that a member of barclaycard staff
> signed me upto.  >> >
> >> >I dont feel that i should be held responsible for this debt
> considering >> >that i was wrongly advised in the first place. Any
> suggestions of what >> >i should do to resolve this matter would be
> grately appreciated??  >> >
> >> >LittleMiss
> > > 
> >> It's ridiculous for Barclaycard to say you need to speak to
> Mercers.  >> You don't how Mercers any money. If Barclaycard won't
> explain what is >> owed then you have a good defence.
> > > 
> >> I don't think this life assurance is related to your Barclaycard
> >> account. It's just something that they got you to take out through
> >> knowing you had an account.
> > > 
> >> Surely you can stop paying a life insurance scheme at any time? You
> >> just won't get any benefits!
> > > 
> >> --
> >> Peter Saxton from London
> >> peter@petersaxton.co.uk
> > 
> > I can cancel the life insurance at anytime but apparently canceling
> > the card doesnt cancel the life insurance payments that come off
> > the card (a bit like cancelling a bank account and the bank still
> > paying out on all your direct debits instead of stopping them).
> > whats really getting to me is no one is able to provide me with the
> > number to cancel this insurance and i just feel that im never going
> > to get rid of this stupid card and now my credit rating is shot to
> > pieces
> 
> I'm not an expert and I am only talking in practical terms, but -
> 
> If you stop paying then you are in effect cancelling the policy. You
> cancelled the card which was the method of payment. 

Not quite.  Accounts are not closed immediately precisely because there
may be outstanding CCAs which the card issuer is obliged to honour.
It's the cardholder's responsibility to cancel any CCAs.

> I'd check your
> credit record to see what it looks like and then ask Barclaycard to
> change it.

Which they have no obligation to do if it's correct.