MBNA rate increase

Ordinary_Joe

I had exactly the same thing.

After offering lots of shortish term rate offers, they came out and bumped me to 24%.

It was clearly a deliberate ploy as opposed to them operating rate for risk as I was meeting the payments.

nzseries1

Am I right that ombudsmen don't require justification for interest rates?

Correct. It's a variable interest rate, meaning they can change it whenever they like.

Am I being penalised for being a tart?

It's possible, but the methods Virgin uses for scoring applicants are known only to them.

Is this just the bank's latest route to squeezing the consumer to make up for their losses?

Most likely!

Trying hard not to get mad but really want to get even!

Think about how you've had 0% interest from them for the last 15 months, and think about how you're going to move your rate from them as soon as the 0% is up. That means you're already one up on them, they could have invested this money but instead they've lent it to you and got nothing!

scott_lithgows

More than likely I will get same letter in Feb 09 (about the same time I will be setting up a BT out of it.Is it worth keeping the account open after? Will they try and tempt me with some 0% offers ?

JJ49

Think about how you've had 0% interest from them for the last 15 months, and think about how you're going to move your rate from them as soon as the 0% is up. That means you're already one up on them, they could have invested this money but instead they've lent it to you and got nothing![/quote]

Good point! Thanks for bringing me down off the ceiling.:A

nzseries1

JJ49 wrote: »

Good point! Thanks for bringing me down off the ceiling.:A

I always think about this myself.

I say to myself "If I am borrowing money at 0% and I'm making interest on it by putting that money in a savings account... then somebody must be losing... oh wait, it's Virgin!"

JJ49

I phoned Virgin and firmly but politely requested the interest be dropped back to a more reasonable rate.

Asked for their justification for an increase akin to loan shark rates, particularly in light of recent events: last week's .5% interest cut, banks being justifably lambasted for their sharp business practices and Branson's commitment to his 'customers'. After the 'I'll have to check with my manager' routine they came back and offered to drop it back to 19.9%. RESULT!

A word to the wise....she did say that everyone with a promotional offer was going to have an interest increase so watch out for it.

nzseries1

Nice! Well done!

Bismarck

JJ49 wrote: »

A word to the wise....she did say that everyone with a promotional offer was going to have an interest increase so watch out for it.

thanks for the warning...the MBNA cat and mouse rate game will be ongoing for as long as they try and entice folks with their teaser rates. It's just up to us to ensure we've got options when the promotional periods expire.

bx19rd

Capitol One did the same to me years ago, I was at 19% then suddenly it jumped to 34% no matter how many phones calls, how many emails, how many letters I wrote they point blank refused to change it to anything. Went on for months that...

rodent

Does it really matter ?
what if they put it up to 1000% ...personally i am as likely to py this as i am to pay 10-20% .....that is "not over my dead body" likely

Mine has been put up to 34% as well ....my credit with them is around 100K ....which they very kindly keep giving to me at 0% ....play by the rules and you wont get hurt.


The Rodent