MBNA rate increase

methusala_2

yes indeed.
Virgin informed me they were upping my interest rate to 29.9% and I was fortunate enough a few days ago to be able to tell them where to store thier card. I feel sorry for the customers they have who are locked in due to balances and circumstances that doesnt allow them the freedom your son and I had to act on Virgins decision.
Virgin have increased interest accross the board for all existing customers.

HamiltonL

kitkat84 wrote: »

Although MBNA still service a small number of Abbey cards, the majority are now Santander

Between January 2006 and July 2007, Abbey (Santander) took over a small number of MBNA run Abbey cards (beginning 4222, 5120 and 5229). The rest were still run as Abbey MBNA (4129, 5186 and 5407), though they were in essence being run as one group. Since July 2007 MBNA and Abbey have split their credit card operations services as we all know, so the 4129, 5186 and 5407 cards are now solely run by MBNA. The 5120, 4222 and 5229 cards are run by Abbey, as are the newer 5286 and 4319 cards that customer joining Abbey from (Abbey) MBNA have received for the past 12 months.

jamiex

I have a Virgin Money card at a flat rate of 6.7% and they haven't notified me about any changes, so hopefully they won't increase my rate. I must be quite high risk, as I'm a student with no income (can't remember whether I told them I have an income or not(!) - they only gave me a £1000 limit though)

clio

Alan
how long has your son been with Virgin, its shocking they do this and they are one of the worst for upp'ing peoples apr!

salesadmin

I too have had this done to me, same situation always paid on time usually more than the minimum payment, have just set up direct debit and they respond with a 20% APR increase on my interest rate!

I Hopefully should have the money to pay this off by the time it goes up (through other loans) but if I wasn't able to do that I would probably be stuck with this debt for years!

clio

SalesAdmin
perhaps they don't like it when you don't pay off a lot of the balance each month they may see just small payments as a weekness to pay, ive only been with virgin 4 months so not sure how they work the increase of apr.
have you rnag them up to enquire if it can be dropped at all??

salesadmin

Hi clio

I've been with Virgin about 3/4 years and maxed it out at first then paid all back, then maxed it out again when money got short! (And after they had upped my limit because I had cleared it!) I only have a balance of £1,200 and have been paying back about £100 a month with no further spending on it. (My wages drop dramatically from next month as I'm going part time)

I haven't called them as I am hoping this other money will come through (new rate doesn't start until October) if it doesn't then I will call them.

clio

HiYa S-A
Wheres the loyalty nowaday eh customers don't get any respect nowadays do they. It's good you are not using it, but i would ring them as shy bairns get nowt lol ...

speedbird1973

Sorry MABLE, but in the case of MBNA that's just wrong!

They did it to me. I owed c£8000 on one MBNA card and nothing on any other MBNA cards with combined limits of about £75k. I always paid £750 of each month (and then usually spent similar on work expenses the next) so the debt remained static.. They put my rate up to 34.9%. I'm a very low risk borrower.

In term's of the OP's son.. transfer the debt over, but keep the Virgin card. When the Abbey deals run out Virgin will offer an excellent insentive to transfer the remaining debt back.

NickX

Well MBNA run cards such as Virgin are good if you handle them in the right way. The positive points are :

(a) Higher than average Credit Limits
(b) Very low Minimum Payments when on a promotion
(c) Transfers of funds direct to your bank account
(d) Good track record for existing customer offers

However, from reports on this site, if you handle them wrong, ie end up on their standard variable rate, miss a payment, break your credit limit etc then they turn and bite you.

I think the answer is always manage an MBNA account with extra care to avoid them turning on you.