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Credit card payments from expired card

I was recently astonished to find a payment on my credit card statement that had been authorised using invalid security details.

What happened was this. I used to have an internet account with PlusNet, which I recently cancelled. PlusNet tried to charge my credit card after I cancelled my account. This didn't surprise me, as that's just the kind of unscrupulous people that they are. But what did surprise me was that the credit card company (Egg) processed the payment, as my card had recently expired and the details that PlusNet had were therefore out of date.

I contacted Egg about this and they told me that once a continuous credit card payment is set up, then it is valid for all time even if the card details expire, and if the merchant asks them for payment then they have to oblige.

Surely this can't be right? Doesn't this just make life easy for online fraudsters if credit card companies can process payments based on out of date expiry dates?

Reply to
Adam
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Alas it is right.

A fraudster would not have had a continuing authority based on data valid at the time that authority was set up and would thus be caught by the wrong date. If this had been a first payment rather than (hopefully) the last in a string of payments it wouldn't have been authoriised.

Reply to
dtren

Really?

I have had credit cards expire and forgotten to inform people and they then have to call me for new details - the transactions were never processed.

Reply to
Sam Smith

This cannot be right. If you can give a company continuous authority to debit your card account then you can also withdraw it. Write to PlusNet informing them that you are revoking the authority which you had previously given, and copy the letter to Egg. If they try to debit your card again after that, refuse to pay for the transaction. If necessary, go to court and let's see what they think about this ridiculous claim that you are forever liable for whatever charges the company feels like dumping on you.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Blunt

At 12:23:12 on 04/01/2006, Sam Smith delighted uk.finance by announcing:

But did they actually set up a CCA or were they just submitting the old details as a new transaction again?

Reply to
Alex

Not sure now. They had been monthly payments. CCA? Credit card agreement? Not sure what that is.

Reply to
Sam Smith

At 15:17:44 on 04/01/2006, Sam Smith delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Continuous Credit Authority; the credit card's answer to DD but without the protection.

Reply to
Alex

I guess it must not have been a CCA then.

Reply to
Sam Smith

You are correct BUT the credit card company has no record of the authority only the issuer does. So you cancel with in this case Plusnet, and you should be ok. Just get it in writing!

Reply to
Eric Jones

Which is precisely why I suggested writing to PlusNet.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Blunt

In message , Adam writes

The card's validity is distinct from the credit account validity.

It is the card that expires, not the account with the credit card company.

Its like a bank account. The debit card has an expiry date but the account hasnt.

Reply to
john boyle

In message , Sam Smith writes

I have had that as well, but they were not continuous authorities, just that they had retained my card details from the last time they used them.

Reply to
john boyle

The FOS might be quicker

Reply to
Fergus O'Rourke

"Adam" wrote

Why do that? They did nothing that wasn't to be expected. It's PlusNet that are at fault, isn't it - not Egg?

Reply to
Tim

and move to a pyschic credit card company?

Reply to
Tumbleweed

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