Credit Card Claims FAQ

- What Is The Process? Once we have received your signed Letter of Authority and Our Agreement, we will write to you to acknowledge receipt and confirm that you have 14 days to change your mind. We won't do anything during that period but if we don't hear from you during the 14 days then we assume you still wish to proceed. We will then lodge your complaint with your card provider and if we need to get copies of statements we will also submit a request for these. It can take 40 days for your provider to respond.

Once we have the statements from your provider or from you, we go through them all to identify any charges which we believe we can recover. We add interest to these and produce a schedule totalling all the charges and interest. We will then notify your provider of the amount of your claim.

Should your provider choose not to refund your charges, we will refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For this we will need to complete further forms for you, which you will need to review and sign. We will let you know more details about the process from that point on when we contact you.

When we receive an offer which we believe is reasonable we will contact you with details of the offer which you will need to sign and return to your provider. Payment usually follows a few weeks later.

Return to FAQ list » - How long will the process take? We can't give you an exact timescale for completion of the claim. The time it takes can depend on the credit card company we are complaining to and whether or not you have the statements to determine how much you are claiming. However, on average, cases where we already have details of the charges take about 3-4 months and 5-6 months where we need to get statements. This is an average and whilst some cases can take much less, those which go to the Ombudsman can take much longer. Return to FAQ list » - What is your fee and how do we pay? If we are successful we charge 25% plus VAT (only on the 25%) of any compensation we win for you. For example, if your compensation is £1,000 our fee would be £293.75. You don't pay anything if we are unsuccessful.

The provider we are complaining to on your behalf will pay your compensation directly to you (not us) and we will send you an invoice for our fee. This is payable within 10 days of the invoice. Return to FAQ list » - Is there anything to pay Renaissance upfront? No. We even pay the fee from your provider for copy statements where necessary. Return to FAQ list » - If I complain will it affect my account?
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  Is it true that my credit card company can close my account? It depends on the card provider but generally speaking it is possible for your account to be closed at any time by the provider by issuing you with 30 days notice at the provider’s discretion. It is however extremely rare for a provider to apply this. Obviously this is not something for which we can take any responsibility. If you are unhappy about the charges and this is a concern for you, we recommend that you have a look at accounts with other providers and perhaps open one before proceeding with your claim. Providers are more competitive now and it is far easier to transfer accounts than it has been in the past so it pays to shop around. Why should you put up with a service which penalises you unfairly? Return to FAQ list » - If I complain will it affect my credit rating? No. It will not affect your credit rating in any way as you are legally allowed to make a complaint for a refund of unfair default charges. Return to FAQ list » - What do you need from me? Before we can proceed, we will need 2 signed copies of the 'Letter of Authority' per account and a signed copy of the tear off strip 'Our Agreement'.

It's unlikely we'll need anything else but if you do have anything you think maybe relevant (for example any correspondence relating to a failed attempt to reclaim your charges), please forward this as well. Return to FAQ list » - Can I claim for more than 6 years of charges? No. You can only claim back charges from 6 years prior to the date of your complaint. Return to FAQ list » - Can I reclaim charges even if it was my own fault for going over my agreed limit, or for a late payment? Yes. You can because your claim relates to the charge made by providers being disproportionate to the cost incurred by your provider for taking any action and are therefore contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. You are not complaining about whether a charge should have been made or not. Return to FAQ list » - Do Renaissance have a minimum level of charges for the cases it takes on? Yes. This is £1,500 over 6 years. This is purely a commercial decision made by Renaissance and doesn't mean you are not entitled to reclaim your credit card charges. We would urge you to contact your credit card provider and complain about these charges yourself. Return to FAQ list » - Is there a limit to the amount that I can reclaim? No. There is not a limit to the amount you can reclaim. There is however a restriction on the length of time you can reclaim credit card charges and this is limited to 6 years. Return to FAQ list » - How much am I likely to get back? We are unable to say precisely but our average claim is over £1,000 and our biggest win is over £3,700 Return to FAQ list » - Can I still complain if I no longer have the account? Yes. You can, providing you still have the credit card number for the account in question. We can still only reclaim your charges for the last 6 years. Return to FAQ list » - What happens if the credit card company won’t refund my charges? Then we will escalate the complaint by referring the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Return to FAQ list » - Will I have to go to court? No. We believe that in most cases complaints should be dealt with by the Financial Ombudsman Service and not through the courts. Return to FAQ list » - Will the credit card company contact me? They should not contact you as you have given us the authority to act on your behalf. They may however send some correspondence to you through the post. They should send us the same documentation in which case we will ask you to disregard what you receive directly as we deal with everything for you. If you are in any doubt whatsoever please contact us and we will be happy to advise you. Return to FAQ list » - Can I complain myself and if so why should I go through you? Yes. You can complain yourself and would follow the process outlined above. There is also information on our website (www.easyclaim.co.uk ) and you may wish to search for alternatives.

We know from experience that people don't have the time or inclination to plough through years and years of statements or complete all the paperwork. Many other people are put off by the additional forms required by the Ombudsman and find the concept of taking issue with their credit card company quite intimidating. We are a specialist Claims Management Firm and have dealt with thousands of financial services complaints to many different firms. What's more we will complete all the forms and conduct all the negotiations with the companies on your behalf. Renaissance takes away the pain of paperwork and worry. Return to FAQ list » - What experience does Renaissance have? We are an award winning* and one of the UK’s leading specialist Claims Management Firms based in Swindon. We started in 2004 and since then we have won over £40 million in compensation for our clients and have a success rate of over 85%.

*see Press page for details Return to FAQ list » - Why can't you take my complaint on if I've claimed before? This is purely a commercial decision made by Renaissance and doesn't mean you are not entitled to reclaim your credit card charges. We would urge you to pursue your claim through your card provider. If you feel you are getting nowhere you can refer your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Return to FAQ list » - Why do you need my account details upfront? We ask for these details so that we can register the complaint with each respective provider. We type these on to the Letter of Authority before we send it to you to verify and sign. Alternatively, when you receive the Letter of Authority you can hand write the details on yourself if you so desire. Return to FAQ list »