MSE News: MBNA to end 'order of payments' credit card stealth fee

They'll all be doing this eventually. It's good news in the long term, but in the short term, I'd expect to see an increase in the posts on the c/card forum by people thinking that it's already started and that they have been robbed by the evil credit card company.

I'll bet a few pints that MBNA marketing people will try and turn the positive allocation of payments around and gleefully inform people that they can now withdraw cash from their credit card and it will now be the first thing to be paid (after charges, interest and PPI).

Do we have an exact date when this change will be effect or is this just a teaser press release from MBNA?

EDIT: In terms of maximising a stooze, this could be good news - if you have a £5k balance with a minimum repayment of 1% then you basically just spend £50 a month and let their minimum repayment settle the purchase

CannyJock wrote: »

They'll all be doing this eventually. It's good news in the long term,

I don't think it's good news at all for us "Canny" folks.

Sneaky rules like this were an opportunity for the clued-up to benefit from managing their accounts in the optimal way, while the masses paid the price. Now CC providers will maintain their profits by offering less impressive deals all round.

I can't speak for other lenders but MBNA will be applying the change for both existing and new customers.

I assume it will be the case for all credit card lenders though.

chris_m wrote: »

Because that's a better headline attention grabber

Doesn't have as good a ring as something which was "clearly set out the terms and conditions that you really ought to have read before signing up".

I would have thought better of an MSE journalist.

Degenerate wrote: »

I don't think it's good news at all for us "Canny" folks.

Sneaky rules like this were an opportunity for the clued-up to benefit from managing their accounts in the optimal way, while the masses paid the price. Now CC providers will maintain their profits by offering less impressive deals all round.

I'm pretty sure we can turn it to our advantage regardless

The card companies will still make a profit from this - if nothing else, it'll encourage them to normalise their interest rates to some high rate that penalises everyone carrying a balance forward regardless of how it's made up. And give them even more reason to encourage people to use their cards for anything because it's all at the same rate.

Trust me, they won't be out of pocket