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Tesco Credit Card Refunds

With millions of customers across the UK, Tesco is most notably a supermarket in the eyes of British consumers. However, as one of the biggest multinational conglomerate companies in the world, numerous financial products and services are offered under the Tesco bank brand. If you formerly had a Tesco credit card and struggled to keep up with your scheduled repayments you may be eligible for a credit card refund claim.

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Who are Tesco?

Back in 1997, Tesco Personal Finance was formed as the result of a joint venture between Tesco plc and Royal Bank of Scotland plc. Eleven years later, Tesco bought the RBS share and changed the brand name to Tesco Bank. According to the dedicated Tesco Bank website, the brand has 5.2 million customer accounts, a lending balance of £ 6.4 billion, and £5.7 billion in customer deposits.

In terms of the brand’s current service offering, customers can select from a range of personal banking and insurance products as well as credit cards and pet insurance.

What are Tesco credit card claims?

Tesco Bank made headlines during the second week of February 2023 when Sky News reported that Goldman Sachs was being lined up to advise on the future of the Tesco Banking arm. According to City insiders, the review was at a very initial stage and may not necessarily lead to a formal sales process. Within the article, it was highlighted that a banking analyst suggested that the Tesco Bank sale could be
worth more than £1bn based on its book value. Alike other lending giants, Tesco Bank has received client unaffordability claims, some of which are upheld and lead to customer compensation.

 

For example, in November 2022, Tesco Personal Finance PLC trading as Tesco Bank was advised by the FCA on how to handle a client’s unaffordable lending complaint by following the below actions:

● Rework Mr. B’s account to ensure that from the time of the credit limit increase to £2,300 (November 2016) onwards interest is only charged on balances up to the total credit limit of £1,300, (being the credit limit in place before that date) to reflect the fact that no further credit limit increases should have been provided. All late payment and over limit fees should also be removed; and
● If an outstanding balance remains on the account once these adjustments have been made Tesco Bank should contact Mr. B to arrange an affordable repayment plan for this account. Once Mr. B has repaid the outstanding balance, it should remove any adverse information recorded on Mr. B’s credit file from November 2016 onwards for his account.

OR

● If the effect of removing all interest, fees, and charges results in there no longer being an outstanding balance, then any extra should be treated as overpayments and returned to Mr. B, along with 8% simple interest per year on the overpayments from the date they were made (if they were) until the date of settlement. Tesco Bank should also remove any adverse information from Mr. B’s credit file from November 2016 onwards.

Who has a Tesco credit card claim?

Have you had a credit card with a high credit limit? If your limit was so high that your monthly repayments were hard to manage causing more debt, you may be entitled to compensation. When choosing a credit card most people are initially given a sensible limit. Unfortunately, investigations by the Financial Ombudsman Service have shed light on lenders in the past who have continued to increase a customer’s already high credit limit. For some customers, a legitimate unaffordability claim can be explored if their credit card lender was irresponsible in allowing them to borrow so much that the debt was unaffordable.

Credit Card Refund Check List

 

“Rules imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority mean any firm offering credit has an obligation to check your financial situation to make sure you could afford the credit they were providing, before
giving it to you.”

1

You should never have been approved

Your lender should've assessed your financial situation each time they increased your credit
limit. In addition, if you had a recent spell of high cost and short term lending, recent credit
problems in the form of missed payments they should have also taken greater responsibility.
The customer felt that they were pushed into making the wrong decision without complete understanding.
2

Your limit should not have increased

Your lender should not have increased your credit card limit if it was obvious you were currently
struggling to pay your existing repayments. In addition, if you were only making minimum
payments for an extended period of time or you were missing payments, they should not have increased the limit. Transactions that show gambling should have been noted before a credit increase as well as taking out payday loans to cover costs.
3

You should be able to cover necessities

Your credit was not affordable if it resulted in you being unable to make your monthly
repayments without difficulty. You should also have been able to cover your normal household running costs, expenses and any other debts.