Is This Legal??? MBNA scam

leebee_3

Hi people
i am a complete newbie to this forum so apologies if i have overlooked any rules or anything.

I am exceptionally angry with my credit card company now, and really need to find out where i stand and whether i can make a big deal out of this...

I have a Virgin credit card through MBNA, and always pay my mimimum payment plus a little extra. This month I got my statement but with an overlimit fee on there of £25. I couldn't understand why i had gone over my limit when i had paid the minimum payment from the previous month, plus a little more, and had made no additional purchases.

When i called to question this, they said that you should not look at the minimum payment as accurate!!! :eek: How on earth does that work? If the minimum payment figure they give you is short of what you really need to pay, whats the point in having it?

Anyway, on top of that, the reason for me going over my limit is because they had put my interest rate up from 15.9% to 24.9% !!!
I guess thats a separate issue but surely their computers can handle calculating an accurate 'minimum payment' even if there is an interest rate change in the middle of the month?

To me it seems highly unethical and possibly illegal (?) to quote someone a minimum payment amount then say on the next statement that that wasn't enough???

Any advice appreciated as I'd really like to make this underhanded tactic known to as many people as possible.

Thanks
Lee Bee

jonesMUFCforever

Depends!
Virgin are one company that only insist on you paying a minimum of £5 I think.
If the total interest charged took you over your limit (are you that close to it?) they might be right.

davep

Yep u got to watch Virgin, they try all sorts of scams.

I was on the 9 months 0% deal paying min £5 per month and this month I paid off the balance in full via a bank transfer, when the account was zero I then cancelled the DD for £5 so they did not take it as well.
I then go on my account this week and find they have charged me £25 fee because they could not get the DD payment. I rang them and asked what this was all about and they said it clearly stated on my last statement they would take a £5 payment on the 18th, I said why would you still do that when the account is £0, they tried to argue it was my fault for cancelling the DD but agreed as a one off "good will gesture" to refund the £25 fee, prats.
My advice if you are confident you are in the right is to stick to your guns and they should back down and refund you.
Good Luck.
David

leebee_3

Hi
Thanks for your replies.
I was not on the £5 min fee, i was paying full whack. My minimum payment was £188, and i paid £190. Then on my next statement they said that this was not enough!!

Anyway I called citizens advice and they told me a few good things. I got onto Virgin and kicked off grand style. It seems that what they did is very illegal, and they are also not allowed to increase your interest rate by this amount. Result was that I got the £25 fee refunded, plus the extra interest charges and got them to drop the interest rate back down to 14.9%.

I'm not going to let this go though, I am going to try and take it to the press.
Wish me luck!

Thefunkygibbons

Good that they backed down

Virgin do play fast and loose sometimes

I am sure that they lose statements "accidentally" sometimes

nomoneytoday

leebee wrote:

Result was that I got the £25 fee refunded, plus the extra interest charges and got them to drop the interest rate back down to 14.9%.

I'm not going to let this go though, I am going to try and take it to the press.
Wish me luck!

I'm sure the press won't be interested. You got a refund.

If they had insisted on the unfair charge the press might be worried for a story...

grumbler

ejones999 wrote:

Virgin are one company that only insist on you paying a minimum of £5 I think. If the total interest charged took you over your limit (are you that close to it?) they might be right.

Virgin (and many other MBNA cards') £5 minimum payment is only during 0% introductory period. Outside introductory period it is 2.25%.