Despite the controversy surrounding the cancellation of 160,000 of their customer’s credit cards, Egg has refused to back down.
The credit card provider cancelled a number of cards after it was taken over by Citibank. The company justified its decision to do so by stating that cancelled customers could have become high risk in the future. An Egg spokesperson said, "The review was based upon a large number of variables and studied the level of risk inherent in groups of customers, rather then every individual, so while some customers in that group may be up to date with their payments and have a good record with credit reference agencies and so on, the probability of them becoming a higher-risk customer in the future is higher than we wish to accept."
However, critics have suggested Egg cancelled the cards of customers who regularly paid off their balance, because they were failing to make a profit off them. Egg denied this claim and pointed out that it made money on every client regardless, because it received a fee for every transaction made.
A representative from the credit card provider met with the Labour MP Nigel Griffiths to discuss the cancellations, although they have decided to stick by their decision. It is now thought that Mr Griffiths will take the case to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for further investigation.
Customers with cancelled cards will no longer be able to use them after the notice period provided. However, it’s not all bad news, as customers will not have to repay their outstanding balance at once, unless they want to. In fact, they will still be able to continue paying their minimum monthly repayment, or even larger instalments until the balance is cleared in full. The company has also said that they will consider any complaints from customers who think that their account was closed unfairly.
Source:
BBC
This article is copyright protected and is not for republishing
|
del.icio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
blogmarks