Reclaim interest and charges from a Vanquis credit card
Vanquis built its business lending to people with thin or poor credit files, often at high interest with low starting limits that it then bumped up. Under the FCA's consumer credit rules (CONC 5.2A), a lender has to make a reasonable assessment that repayments are actually affordable before it lends, and again before significantly increasing your limit. If Vanquis skipped that, lent into obvious difficulty, or kept increasing your limit while you were only making minimum payments or missing them, that can be irresponsible lending. The good news: you don't need a claims company taking a cut. You send the complaint, and if it's upheld you keep 100% of the refund.
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The FCA's CONC 5.2A rules require a lender to carry out a reasonable creditworthiness and affordability assessment before entering into the agreement and before each significant credit limit increase. CONC 6.7 also covers persistent debt: if over an 18-month period you've paid more in interest, fees and charges than you've repaid off the balance, Vanquis must intervene, prompt you to pay more, and at the 36-month stage consider forbearance, which may include reducing, waiving or cancelling interest, fees or charges. Where lending was unaffordable, the remedy the Financial Ombudsman typically applies is a refund of all interest, fees and charges from the point the lending became unaffordable, plus 8% simple interest per year on those amounts, and removal of any related negative markers from your credit file. Vanquis has 8 weeks to give a final response. If it rejects you or goes quiet, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge, normally within 6 months of their final response.
Step by step
- 1Pull your account history together. Ask Vanquis for a statement of account or make a Subject Access Request covering the whole life of the card so you can see your opening limit, every credit limit increase, and what you paid in interest, fees and charges.
- 2Write your complaint to Vanquis. Use their responsible lending complaint route and state plainly that you believe the card or the limit increases were unaffordable, point to any missed payments, persistent minimum-only payments, or other debts at the time, and ask for a refund of interest and charges plus removal of adverse credit markers.
- 3Give them 8 weeks. Vanquis must send a final response within that window. Keep copies of everything and don't accept a quick low offer if it ignores limit increases or the 8% interest.
- 4If they reject it or miss the deadline, escalate free to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of their final response. The ombudsman can order the full refund and credit file correction at no cost to you.
What they'll say, and your comeback
“You passed our credit checks at the time, so the lending was affordable.”
Comeback, Passing an automated credit check isn't the same as a reasonable affordability assessment under CONC 5.2A. The rule is about whether I could sustainably afford the repayments, not whether a score let me through. I'm asking you to show what affordability checks you actually did.
“You kept up with your minimum payments, so there was no problem.”
Comeback, Making only minimum payments for years while interest piled up is a classic sign of persistent debt under CONC 6.7, not proof of affordability. The rules required you to intervene, and the fact I never reduced the balance shows the lending wasn't sustainable.
“This complaint is too old for us to look at.”
Comeback, Affordability complaints aren't automatically time-barred. The relevant limits run from when I reasonably became aware I had cause to complain, and the Financial Ombudsman applies that test, not a flat cut-off. Please assess the merits.
FAQ
Will complaining hurt my credit score or get my card closed?
Complaining doesn't itself damage your credit file. If anything, a successful complaint usually improves it, because Vanquis has to remove negative markers tied to the unaffordable lending. They could close the account, but that's separate from the refund you're owed.
Do I need to have missed payments to claim?
No. You can still have a valid complaint even if you never missed a payment, if the borrowing was only sustained by minimum payments, other credit, or it was clearly beyond your means when granted or increased.
Ready to get your money back?
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A self-serve tool, not a law firm. General information, not legal advice.