Once your credit card has been stolen...

[NoSnotAllowed]

...can companies with the credit card details still take money?

An online company is making it extremely difficult to cancel a subscription. If I report my credit card as stolen and get a replacement card with a different card number, will the online company still be able to take money?

TIA

if your card hasn't been stolen and you report it as such, you are committing fraud.

contact the card company, raise a complaint and get the subscription stopped that way.

Fraud? Crap :(

Thanks, will try it that way instead.

Why not simply call your CC company and tell them that you want to cancel the payment to the online company? Explain the situation honestly and see what they can do.

Yes if they were already taking the money before - when the company issues you with a new CC any recurring payments will automatically be transferred over from the old card.

If you signed up for a subscription which has a minimum term or cancellation period which you agreed to, and the online company can prove you did so, then the CC company is allowed to continue making the payments that you owe, and even if they stop you will still owe the money and could end up with bailiffs, CCJs etc.

If you didn't agree to anything then the CC company should be able to cancel it for you no trouble.

However, generally for subscriptions/recurring payments you are much better off using Direct Debit rather than a regular CC payment - DDs give you much more protection.

Why not just say you lost it or accidentally broke it?

Lost doesn't stop a regular payment agreement. Would be horrendous if you reported a CC lost and had important regular payments blocked as a result.

The law changed earlier this year - you can now cancel continuous payments from your card, directly with your card issuer.

Cancelling continuous card payments

So if the payee won't cancel, get on to the credit card people...

I've spoken to the cc people and they are stopping all further payments.

I've emailed the company in question to cancel my account. They have replied saying that I have to phone a 'toll free' number to cancel and it can't be done via email. However, after googling the number it appears to be an American number (therefore not toll free) and people are saying its impossible to actually get through to anyone.

They obviously really don't want people to cancel.

Does anyone know - have I done enough from a legal perspective to show that I want my account cancelled? Or do I need to jump through their hoops to cover myself?

Arrrrggghh. So frustrating. I only signed up in a moment of complete madness. Wish I could turn back time.

get back to your credit card company for final advice on this one. As others note, it is their problem to help you out.

'toll free' tells you that the company is in America (in the UK they say 'freephone') and therefore outside UK law.

no need to lose or cut up the card, or tell anything but the truth.

lesson learned?

Hell yes lesson learnt. I feel like a number one prize dick right now.

No-one would believe I'm actually quite bright normally I am far too naive for my own good.

Thank you for the advice.

you were actually the victim of a borderline con so don't worry too much. :-)

Thanks special