Paying direct debit to Thomas Cook for Holiday am I Protected

[Jenasaurus]

I have been paying monthly for my holiday to Tenerife in December for 4 people. 540 a month over 10 months. Last payment will be in November. I can't get through to Thomas Cook to ask them but I wondered if anyone may know if I am protected if the company goes into liquidation as I paid via direct debit and not credit card. If I won't be refunded then I would at least want to stop the payments left to go which amounts to over half of the total amount and would be something. Does anyone have any experience of a similar scenario in the past. I woke to my daughter sharing a post about Thomas Cook likely to go under and it's made me worry about what I should do. Also the more travellers that feel this way and want to pull out will make it worse so I really don't know what to do.

You are still covered by Atol/abta but not by the bank in the same way as if paid by cc.

I'd just carry on paying. If you pull out you'll likely lose everything but as it stands you have the Abta protection.

Yes, you have ATOL protection. Nothing to do with paying by credit or debit card.

I believe you would get the CC coverage if you made even a small payment on CC. It’s worth researching rather than taking my word for it but that was my understanding. So make the first payment by CC and the rest by DD and you would be covered under CC rules, ATOL and ABTA for the full amount.

You could make one of the payments by credit card and then the whole thing would be protected under the consumer credit act too

Make a payment with your credit card, even a small bit will ensure you are covered under section 75

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is a vital UK law that means when you buy something costing between £100 and £30,000, and you pay for any of it on a credit card, your card firm's liable for the whole amount just as much as the retailer if things go wrong.25 Apr 2017

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2017/04/revealed-section-75-credit-card-protection-may-fail-due-to-payment-processing-loophole---shoppers-beware/

Get travel insurance today!!! That is a very expensive holiday. Ensure your insurance has "end supplier failure" if you can afford £540 a month, you can afford the £100 for insurance. Asda premium annual insurance (£100 for a family including skiing in the USA last year) has end supplier failure. If it's a cruise you need specific insurance

I don’t have a credit card due to having a poor credit rating from when I went through a divorce and redundancy. Hence using this as an easy payment option. So it looks like tail will cover me so that’s good. Is this even though I have no documents as they send them just before you travel.

I have insurance but only basic. I will look at the Asda one thank you

Make sure your insurance would still be valid for this now that they are already in trouble.

Is there someone you could borrow a CC from to make a payment? I'd let a friend do that for the protection.

I thought I read that Thomas Cook weren’t covered by ABTA? They didn’t bother as they saw themselves as a solvent company.

Is that not just for flight only bookings rather than a package holiday?

I worked for them for 10 years.

It will make a difference if you booked for example, a Virgin holiday or Cunard cruise via Thomas Cook or if it’s a fully Thomas Cook holiday using Thomas Cook flights etc?

You won't get the protection though by paying on someone else's credit card, doesn't work like that !

It’s a full Thomas cook holiday day package deal

TC are definitely covered by ABTA. Each shop has its own individual ABTA number. Tour operators would not trade through them without it.

So I should continue making payments then. I have paid 2000 so far and 3000 left to pay

Jen then you’re fine. The flights will be covered by ATOL should the TC airline go bust. The package (hotels transfers etc) is covered by ABTA. You would be refunded. It’s a pain in the arse, but you do get the money back. I dealt with many holidays when tour operators went bust and it doesn’t matter how payment was made.

Thanks for the replies. I am still hoping the holiday will go ahead

If you don't keep up payments you run the risk of missing a payment date and inadvertently cancelling the holiday.

However if you aren’t comfortable and want to cancel and rebook elsewhere you can get all money back paid so far minus the deposit amount.

Thank you mrsmcgregor Would the refund be automatic or would I have to claim?

Feel much better now thank you for the replies. I will reassure my dd

Completely unrelated but I can't believe you're paying over £1000pp for Tenerife?!

It’s a whole claiming and paperwork situation I’m afraid. It takes a few months (or it used to, things might be more streamlined now)