Defamation by credit card company

serpico

Has anyone had any experience of a credit card company wrongfully charging late payment fees and interest, the credit card bank then acknowledging that they did receive payment in time then credited the late payment fee back but repeatedly charging interest on the late interest than was not owed in the first place.

What if they wrongly applied late payment charges on several occassions and also recorded the false late payments with a credit reference agencies thereby seriously damaging a previously clean credit history.

The fact that alleged payments were made and received well before the due date being provable beyond all doubt.

Is this action by the credit card bank Defamation and/or Libel and what recourse would the victim of these fraudulent late payment and interest charges and damage to character and credibility by false information being given to credit reference agencies have.

YorkshireBoy

I take it this is MBNA serpico? (judging by many of your recent posts ).

My belief is that you've got to exhaust all channels with the card provider, and get them to register a "failure to agree", before you can escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for arbitration.

Once you then have a "judgment" from FOS, you can take the necessary steps to "cleanse" your CRA files.

greenwich

Yorkshire_boy is right. Work with your bank and insist nicely that they clean up your credit records. If it doesn't work, go to the FOS as a last resort.

You'll be going up a blind alley with talk of libel, defamation etc. (in legal terms, the bank enjoys something called 'qualified privilege' when it sends information to the credit reference agencies, even if it is wrong information. To sue successfully you would have to prove they acted in bad faith, which you will never do.)

serpico

Thanks for the replies, you can bet your life it was MBNA.

Working with this outfit is impossible, I have been trying for five months to resolve in the most diplomatic way possible this problem with my own and my wifes cards, these have always been paid in full, to give you an indication of our credit history with MBNA my wifes credit limit alone is £16K

Suffice to say that after receipt of each months wrong statements on each and every ocassion that I have phoned them, they have agreed with me that the charges were wrong and they would credit them.

The problem started when I sent a cheque to clear both cards in full, anyone with an MBNA Platinum account knows that the payment slip includes the card number and the full name and address of the cardholder. Therefore even if one forgot to write the number on the cheque there should be no problem.

As I have always done I wrote both card numbers on the back with account holders names and and the amount due to each one with a total that was equal to the amount on the cheque. I received the next statements showing a balance from the previous statements (not paid) and £25 late payment plus interest charges.

I immediately phoned and was advised that the late charges were because the numbers written on the cheque did not match any accounts? False and Not a credible excuse, even if the numbers had been wrong, the cheque with our names on and the credit slips identified the sender and accounts beyond doubt.

It was agreed that the true balances due were only the new debits on both cards, no £25s or interest, I subsequently paid the new debit amounts the following months statements arrived showing the late payment interest remained with further interest added. I phoned again and was advised the wrong interest on interest would be credited.

This has continued month in month out, each time new interest appearing, we stopped using these cards other than my wifes D.D for Sky. interest on interest continued to appear, only small amounts and further calls made.

In desperation I wrote to MBNA with a 3 page detailed breakdown clearly indicating that my own card should be zero my wifes true balance and advising that I would only be paying the new Sky balance on my wifes card.

I received a reply acknowledging receipt advising me to contact a named Customer Advocate on a Chester 01244 number not a freephone number. I commenced phoning at 9am and at 11-30 after continually pressing the redial
button none stop I was still getting an engaged tone, I eventually got through only to be advised that the named Advocate was not available.

I immediately wrote a further letter referring to my previous letter of complaint advising them that I would not be paying the interest only charge on my statement and only paying the new true balance on my wifes account with instructions to close both accounts. these were put in MBNAs own addressed envelope together with the paying in slip and a cheque clearing my wifes true debt in full.

I confirmed that one further D.D for Sky would apply and then be cancelled and on receipt of a statement it would be paid in full. I then received a reply confirming receipt of my letter and instructions and closure of both accounts.

However I have now received two further statements my own shows a credit of 06p the wrong interest having been credited. My wifes however shows a balance for previous statement of £24-34 plus a late payment fee of £25 plus a credit for the interest on interest wrongly charged plus further interest charged for new late payment the total being £70-56 which should only be £21 for Sky.

They confirmed receipt of the letter cancelling the accounts and duly credited all the previous wrong interest charges referred to in that letter, What happend to the cheque clipped to and referred to in that letter?

I have today spoken to them on the phone, they further confirm receipt of the letter but say no cheque. Do they seriously believe such a letter would be written and the cheque not included.

I know they have received the cheque to clear my wifes previous balance exactly as they had received the cheque six months ago and one last year all well within time. but there is no profit from those who clear balances in full

Fortunately for MBNA I no longer live in rural Cheshire a few miles away from them. However MBNA if you are reading this be mindful I will be flying over for some business in Gresford just down the road in November and it had better be sorted by then.

serpico

The most amazing thing is that received with my wifes statement was a letter.

A Guaranteed Personal Loan is waiting for you.

I recognition of your excelent record as an MBNA Credit Card Customer. I'm delighted to let you know that we've reserved an MBNA Personal Loan of £10,000 for you at a rate of only 7.9% APR.

Our decision has already been made so your Guaranteed Loan is ready. Of course you can always apply for a larger amount.

She already had a £16,000 limit on her card, she is disabled, and they know she must be a pensioner from her date of birth, irresponsible lending or what.

No wonder so many people are up to their eyes in so much debt that can never in a lifetime repaid.

omega27

I've never heard of sending one cheque to cover two different accounts. OK in theory, but I wonder if this is where the problems have come from? Have you done this before without issues? Good luck with MBNA & getting it sorted....

daveboy

MBNA online, debit card, sorted!

Why oh why do people waste their time with cheques?

CTT_2

What a silly thing to do and send one cheque for two accounts and you assume everything will be ok. When it is not you start slating MBNA. Well I am with them and I have never experienced any problems. The reason being I do not try to be too clever and I follow the correct procedure when paying. I have a dd set up to take my min payment and if I wish to make extra payments I this by bank transfer. Also I have two MBNA accounts and treat them completely separate when making payments and do not leave MBNA to asssume anything. The days of the personal touch have gone. Anyway did you really have to send a cheque. My feeling is you only have yourself to blame but as we all know it is easier to blame someone else.

daveboy

That was the sentiment I was going to make but with the new rules of MSE will probably be shot at by the moderators for doing so.

Sometimes, hard as it may be, it is actually the user of MSE who starts the thread, who is actually the one in the wrong.

As the OP has internet access, I just don't know why cheques were involved at all. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but using a debit card online would have avoided all of this and would have been paid instantly.

omega27

Some people are wary about using their cards on the internet, or might prefer to manage their account by using cheques. If MBNA take payment by cheque, they should accept them. But it seems strange to send a cheque for 2 account. Maybe they send the cheques to India for processing? ;-)

CTT_2

rjlawson wrote:

Some people are wary about using their cards on the internet, or might prefer to manage their account by using cheques. If MBNA take payment by cheque, they should accept them. But it seems strange to send a cheque for 2 account. Maybe they send the cheques to India for processing? ;-)

What about bank transfer then.