In 2021, I bought a £3,000 laptop with a three-year loan from Klarna. I made the final payment in April and received confirmation it had been closed. But now another company is chasing me for nearly £200 it says I still owe.
Despite having made that final payment, the following month I received a letter that said the “ownership of your loan account” had been transferred to JC International Acquisition (JCIA) and I owed £184.48.
It said CreditLink Account Recovery Solutions (Cars) would appear on my bank statements, and “your existing payment date, and agreed payment amount, will remain the same”.
I was obviously shocked. How can two companies I have never heard of have access to my bank details for a loan I have paid off? The only reason they have been unable to withdraw money is because I have opened a dispute.
I tried to sort this out but it is now August and Klarna has not replied to a request from JCIA to confirm my loan is repaid, and these firms are calling me.
EA, Rochester
You have been treated very badly. The background here is that in 2023 Klarna decided to shut Klarna Loans, a regulated financing product which charged interest for a longer-term loan, and not related to its buy-now-pay-later products.
In the spring, all the outstanding accounts were transferred to JCIA on the same terms, and customers were told that it would automatically transfer their direct debits.
Obviously, the handover did not go without a hitch. Not all the accounts were up to date, so customers ended up paying too much and, in some cases, JCIA incorrectly instructed Cars, its debt collection agency, to chase payment.
Klarna assures me that JCIA is now automatically issuing refunds to those affected. You should never have been caught up in this mess and after I contacted Klarna it quickly resolved this and JCIA has confirmed your account is closed.
Klarna has sent you an apology and offered £200 compensation, which you accepted. It acknowledges that its handling of your case was “poor” and regrets the “missed opportunities to resolve your issue sooner”.
In cases like this, I suggest that people complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service but you have already done so. I would like to hear from other people affected by this.
