Aqua credit card, direct debit reversal

A question about : Aqua credit card, direct debit reversal

Last week, on the 4th of Feb, when I was trying to make a payment online via my aqua card, it was declined two or three times. I called Aqua to ask them what the problem was since I had a credit balance of Ј11 on the account, making the usable amount Ј3561.00. My actual credit limit is Ј3550. They said that a letter had been issued from the head office and that they could not access any of my details and that I'd have to wait for the letter.

I received the letter today. It stated that they would have to confirm my personal details (to send them a DL and a utility bill) which I don't mind AND they mentioned that I had a direct debit reversal on my account recently.

First off, I never leave a balance on my account. Every month, I pay off the entire outstanding amount on the card much before the payment due date. There is never a balance on the card and I have not yet paid any interest on the card even after almost 2 years of its use.

What I would like to know is why Aqua would send me a letter stating that I had a recent direct debit reversal due to which they had to freeze my account. It is interesting that they even mentioned that if I do not respond or have a reasonable excuse for the direct debit reversal, they would close my account. My claim is that this is an outright lie! Moreover, my account has a credit balance, not a debit balance!

The only reason I use the card is to make purchases online, so that my purchases are secure and that I do not have to use the my debit cards.

I have responded to the letter with copies of my documents and explaining that I did not have a direct debit set up on the account in the first place and that there was no balance to be paid either.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Aqua or am I the only one? What else should I be doing? Should I worry about my credit ratings?

Best answers:

• Have you set up a direct debit to pay the bill and did you pay early by any chance?
  Putting a credit card into credit (even if by accident) might also have triggered something at Aqua.
  Have you checked your bank statement to see if they have returned any payments to them?
• I didn't ever set up a direct debit for the card... The payment was not due either. The minimum payment due on the 2nd of Feb was nil. So they should not have charged my bank (even if I was to have set up a direct debit).
  I checked with my banks too, there is no direct debit set up towards the credit card, and there never was. So it all seems a bit fishy to me.
  Quote:
• So have you phoned Aqua to see what is going on?
• Yes, I did, actually. The response I got from the lady who answered was that they don't have access to any of my details and that I should just reply to that letter from the head office. That's it. She blankly refused to answer any of my queries.
• You risng them & they refused to speak to you about your account you hole with them, then you to speak via letter!? Wow, im waiting to recive my Aqua card, i hope there not a pain in the rear to deal with.
• Sounds to me that they have closed your AQUA account - this letter will probably confirm this.
  If it does not state why - check your credit files in case there is something on there to spook them.
  Only you know this but there has been no funny business going through your card has there?
• I called them today, again. Lady who answered said that my documents scanned onto the system today and that they will be looking at them within this week. It happened to me once, when I changed address (about a year ago) and they did a similar thing - asked for docs, but didn't mention anything about a direct debit reversal.
  As far as funny business is concerned, there is no funny business going on! I just make a lot of purchases online and pay the amount off within a day or two, usually. Not sure if that fits the definition for funny business.
  Amazon just gave me a refund for one of the orders today because the item came damaged and I returned it (Ј190 approximately). If Aqua was to close the account, will they give me back the credit amount via cheque? The account should be about Ј200 in credit now because of that refund.
  I checked my credit file again, today, no changes yet.
  Thanks for the responses!
• Update...
  I received a call from Aqua head office today. The guy over the phone apologised about the direct debit reversal letter. He stated that there was no direct debit reversal on my account. The only reason why the card was blocked was because it went into credit (as pointed out by Jones here).
  Everything is alright now and I can use the extra credit on my account too.