MBNA interest charges - small print con!

Nadine_Lee

My understanding is that if you use a credit card then at the end of the month you pay interest on what you owe - simple enough??? No....I was not aware and I don't know if it is just with MBNA or all credit cards that it works like this.....

Ok I will use my example to explain...I run a small home business and use an MBNA credit card to buy things online so I am protected....at the end of the month, I get my statement and I usually pay a 'near enough figure' to pay it off - BIG MISTAKE!!! Ok, my last statement was £2,016 so I just paid a round figure of £2,000 believing that there's going to be very little interest on the remaining £16. I got charged £46 on this!!!! Why?, well if you don't pay off your statement amount TO THE PENNY, you get charged interest on the entire amount NOT on the amount you owe.

I am totally shocked and disgusted by this but MBNA are covered in their terms and conditions so I just want to make others aware of this. I have been stupid enough to not check my statements and assume I was paying very little interest but obviously this has not been the case and I have certainly paid for it as looking back at the past few months, I have paid loads of interest!!!

Any suggestions as to whether it is possible to claim anything back as I am currently sending a complaints letter to MBNA??

jakesmummy05

I know where you are coming from. I paid my bill on line the day after it was sent and still got charged the interest from the initial amount the bill was for. I queried this as I worked out how much interest I should have paid but they told me it was worked out from the initial amount, but next month would be alot lower. Still feel robbed though!

Voyager2002

All credit cards operate like this.

The solution: set up a direct debit to pay off the full amount each month.

IWantToBeFree_2

Nadine_Lee wrote: »

My understanding is that if you use a credit card then at the end of the month you pay interest on what you owe - simple enough??? No....I was not aware and I don't know if it is just with MBNA or all credit cards that it works like this.....

Ok I will use my example to explain...I run a small home business and use an MBNA credit card to buy things online so I am protected....at the end of the month, I get my statement and I usually pay a 'near enough figure' to pay it off - BIG MISTAKE!!! Ok, my last statement was £2,016 so I just paid a round figure of £2,000 believing that there's going to be very little interest on the remaining £16. I got charged £46 on this!!!! Why?, well if you don't pay off your statement amount TO THE PENNY, you get charged interest on the entire amount NOT on the amount you owe.

I am totally shocked and disgusted by this but MBNA are covered in their terms and conditions so I just want to make others aware of this. I have been stupid enough to not check my statements and assume I was paying very little interest but obviously this has not been the case and I have certainly paid for it as looking back at the past few months, I have paid loads of interest!!!

Any suggestions as to whether it is possible to claim anything back as I am currently sending a complaints letter to MBNA??

Given that how they calculate the interest is in their terms and conditions, I would say you've not got a leg to stand on and you are wasting your time writing a letter.

If you knew this was in the T&Cs then why didn't you just pay the £16? Or did you not check them before you got hit with interest?

Like you say, you were stupid enough not to check the interest point on your statements!

Nadine_Lee

My stupidity, I just assumed you only paid interest on the amount that you owe. If I knew I only had to pay the other £16 to save the interes, of course I would have paid it, I just rouned down the figure, that's all. I didn't see it in terms and conditions though I didn't exactly study them!

Good news is that I have since been credited 2 1/2 months interest charges after a phone call - they have done it out of courtesy because I had genuinely not known about this and I paid close to the outstanding each month!

IWantToBeFree_2

Surprises me that they have given it you back because you 'didn't know about it'... Maybe people should actually read the terms and conditions provided to them properly rather than just assuming things!

Nadine_Lee

Come on, who reads terms and conditions in depth...I think the assumption that you pay interest on what you actually owe is reasonnable...why should you pay interest on what you've already paid back?! Anyway, learnt my lesson and got a part refund relatively happy with result.

HouseHuntr

Nadine_Lee wrote: »

My understanding is that if you use a credit card then at the end of the month you pay interest on what you owe - simple enough??? No....I was not aware and I don't know if it is just with MBNA or all credit cards that it works like this.....

Ok I will use my example to explain...I run a small home business and use an MBNA credit card to buy things online so I am protected....at the end of the month, I get my statement and I usually pay a 'near enough figure' to pay it off - BIG MISTAKE!!! Ok, my last statement was £2,016 so I just paid a round figure of £2,000 believing that there's going to be very little interest on the remaining £16. I got charged £46 on this!!!! Why?, well if you don't pay off your statement amount TO THE PENNY, you get charged interest on the entire amount NOT on the amount you owe.

I am totally shocked and disgusted by this but MBNA are covered in their terms and conditions so I just want to make others aware of this. I have been stupid enough to not check my statements and assume I was paying very little interest but obviously this has not been the case and I have certainly paid for it as looking back at the past few months, I have paid loads of interest!!!

Any suggestions as to whether it is possible to claim anything back as I am currently sending a complaints letter to MBNA??

This post doesn't quite add up because if you usually pay a "near enough figure" you would have noticed that you'd been charged interest on the full amount before now so is this just jumping on the knock MBNA bandwagon ?

You may have paid it back now, but what about the length of time you had the £2000 ? It could have been up to 56 days so is it not fair that they charge you for the time you had it ?

Credit cards have operated (near enough) like this since conception. There's certainley nothing new or odd in that so to say it's a CON and that you feel robbed is totally unjust and wrong.

If you've received 2 1/2 months interest refunded I'd be extremely happy with that rather than complaining about something which occurred through your own negligence.

bengal-stripe

Nadine_Lee wrote: »

My understanding is.....I was not aware.... 'near enough figure'....believing.....not check my statements......assume....??

...I run a small home business

Do you run your business equally well-organized?

nzseries1

Nadine_Lee wrote: »

Come on, who reads terms and conditions in depth...I think the assumption that you pay interest on what you actually owe is reasonnable...why should you pay interest on what you've already paid back?!

You don't pay interest on what you already paid back. You pay interest from the date of the transaction, until you pay it back.

If you had purchased something for £2016, and paid off £2000 the very next day, you would only pay interest on that £2000 for one day.