The Laura Ashley chain of fashion and furniture shops has been caught up in yet another unsolicited credit cards row after its storecard partner GE Capital sent out thousands of credit cards, and the PINs needed to use them, to the store’s customers without the prospective cardholder applying for them.

This unsolicited card stunt is possible because the credit cards are classed as an ‘upgrade’ to the storecards already held by the recipients. GE Capital sent all its Laura Ashley storecard customers a letter warning them of the change, and any who did not reply opting out were deemed to have agreed.

Debt experts accused the company of operating outside the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, and of irresponsibly fueling debts. MPs have asked regulators to close this loophole.

This is not the first time GE Capital have attracted criticism for this tactic - Debenhams and M&S storecard holders have also previously been targeted by the provider of over 40% of the UK’s storecards.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under General Credit Card News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.