Rate Jacking Sucesses/failures

CannyJock

MichelleMyBelle wrote: »

So, I transferred my existing balance to my husband's credit card (also MBNA but as he was a new customer they were offering him 0% on balance transfers!) and I closed my own credit card account.

Are you saying that you transferred a balance from one MBNA card to another?

LittleStepsFirst

I've just had the letter of joy from MBNA today too... going up to 29.9% APR.

I've had the card for years as an emergency only card, stuck £700 on it last month as the car needed fixing and I was skint, and as sure as eggs come out of chickens backsides - they jack my APR.

I've told them to stuff it. Opting out and will take great delight in shredding the card... I might even send them the shreddings back through the post!!

zhatorna65

So, after my MINT card getting rate-hiked (and frozen by me) last year, now MBNA have just done the same trick.

Purchases up to 1.8735% (was 1.2408)
Balance transfters up to 2.0084% (was 1.2408)
CC cheques (RIP) up to 2.1413% (from 1.2408)
and the piece de resistance... Cash transactions up to 2.2071% (was 1.7366). I make that 29.95% annually.

I didn't even have the stomach to phone them up and beg them not to do it despite being a good customer for 15 years, so I've just "opted out" online. (I tried getting it reversed on the phone with MINT/RBS and they treated me like an unreasonable imbecile which I thought was unnecessary.)

This means my balance of £16,232 is now frozen and I can look forward to paying off what's effectively a flexible loan - albeit with no holidays - at 15.95%.

This now leaves me with one usable CC remaining, my Smile VISA. I'm hoping for better treatment from Smile (co-op) than Bank of America or RBS... generally I've found them to be reasonable.

What happened to all the CC reforms that were being mooted before the election - have they all been forgotten? They should really stamp out this kind of practice. Personally I'm going to be seriously inconvenienced, but it's not the end of the world. For some people already struggling to get by, this could really kick them into touch.

Savvy2Be

• Who Rate Jacked you: Marbles(HBOS) argh!! 17.9 to 27.9% & now Halifax 'One' card - rise from(it began around 15% but had the card for years and slowly it went up) Latest - 26.7 to 29.9%
• Did you manage to get the rate reduced ???? Marbles - Nope. I phoned and complained and wrote and complained and got nowhere so paid off the card and am glad to be rid of it! Halifax 'One' - I intend on ringing them and asking but doubtful. In the process of doing a BT to Satander.

Kan58

I took up the MBNA card in 2007 at 0% intro - APR @15.9. However to my surprise I received a letter from MBNA in Nov 2008 stating that my APR has increased to 34.9%. I wrote to MBNA expressing my disappointment and anger at the increase in my APR by 50%. They responded saying that they had written to me previously with a notification that my APR had been increased to 24.9%. I informed them that I never received such letter and requested a copy. After a delay of 3 months I received a copy of a letter with no letter heading. I responded back stating that it was the first time I had seen the content of the letter and I would like my original APR reinstated. I got fed-up with their delaying tactics, I approached the financial ombudsman, after a few months of going back and forth MBNA offered a settlement of £1,213,64(according to them based on the difference between 15.9 and 34.9%) and £150 for my hurt feeling.They also agreed to reinstate my APR to 15.9% for 6months. I was advised by the Financial ombudsman to accept the offer. I requested for the information used to calculate their offer, I was informed by the financial ombudsman that MBNA was inuandated with demands and unable to provide the data. Is that right?:(

GiveItBack

Hmm. Maybe a little better news then..

Recieved a letter from LloydsTSB saying they were going to increase my rate from 16.6 to 20.8.

Called them to cancel the account, and was told by a helpful girl that I could actually keep the account open and still keep the same rate.
I'm not fussed as I don't use the card.

However, she said that they don't send out confirmation as a matter of course. (hmm).

I asked for a confirmation letter to be sent out specially (gave a few reasons), and I'm now waiting for letter.

Will keep you updated.

maglil55

I've been with MBNA for about 3 years - never miss a payment, normally pay a lot more than minimum and am a low risk client - that I suspect is the problem.
MBNA have continually offered various 0% deals to me during this 3 year period while keeping me on a standard rate of 15.9%. I've been happy to make use of the 0% deals but I have not been behaving (I suspect) as they wanted me to. In the past, had I used the 0% deal with the balance still on the card then the payments would have been applied to the 0% balance and they could happily go on clawing in the full whack on the bit subject to the standard rate. So, to counter this I paid off the balance first (left a little bit but not much) then did the balance transfer. I was getting rid of cards and I was coming to the end of my latest 0% deal on the MBNA card and I still had a balance on it but I was concentrating on clearing Barclaycard. Then - surprisingly MBNA offered me another 9 months at 0% on balance transfers. Bearing in mind Barclays had jacked me to almost 30% I was not about to let this opportunity go. So, once again I cleared almost all the balance and then promptly transferred the Barclays balance over. Put me close to the limit but was going to save a small fortune in interest every month. Settled in to start clearing this latest 0% balance then out of the blue MBNA decide to rate jack me. I did get in touch, they agree I'm low risk, that I never miss a payment and I usually pay a lot more than minimum. They refuse to explain exactly why I have been jacked and just quote the usual blurb. I put it to them that I'd been jacked either 1) it was a blatant attempt to make sure they could recoup the "losses" from the change in the hierarchy of payments or 2) they had realised I was not a customer they were going to make money out of so they would rather I went? They didn't confirm my thinking but they didn't deny it either!
I have rejected the increase but they are stuck with the 0%. Difference is now I will pay the minimum and make them wait until just before the expiry of the 0% before I repay the balance.
So, no success in getting the rate reduced again but at least I've worked the 0% to my advantage :beer:

dktreesea

Bank: HSBC
Rate: Started out at 13.9% where it stayed for several years, then, in the last year, went to 18.9 ==> 20.9 ==> 21.9 ==> 24.5 ==>27.9%

At first we rang the bank, with which we also have all our business accounts, which are all at really reasonable rates (overdraft 7% over base rate, corporate credit card 14.5%, unsecured loan £6.9% etc) to find out what was wrong with the account. Someone from overseas said there was nothing wrong with it, but they do a credit review every three months, and our account was chosen to be increased. I asked them to reduce the rate and she laughed, rather derisively, saying they weren't going to reduce it and there was nothing I could do about it, like laughing in my face.

So I then wrote to HSBC, complaining about her attitude, which I thought was really rude, and saying, since she assures me there is no reason for the rate increase, can they please decrease it, particularly as it bears no relationship to the rates they are prepared to give us on the business front, some of which are not even a quarter of the interest rate they have hiked the card upto.

We got a letter back saying nothing much, but refusing to reduce the rate.

I then got onto the financial ombudsman, but it turns out when it comes to interest rates the sky is the limit, and there was really nothing they could do. Perhaps, since they can't actually do anything, we would be better off not wasting any taxes on them?

So I contacted the bank again, but this time spoke to someone there whom I knew personally. I said to her I would just take funds from elsewhere and pay the card off, but I wanted to know how it came to pass that we had gone from having a really good credit rating with them to being scored so low they were now jacking the rates up to sub prime rates.

The first thing she said was just to pay more than the minimum balance, and the rate hikes will stop. Mmm, based on some of the other postings here, I doubt that somehow.

Then she told me something that really alarmed me. The bank's internal credit scoring is a bit like insurance companies use. So, as with car insurance, postcodes matter. She said that one of the reasons, when we first opened our accounts, that we got such good rates is because we were living in a very nice part of Cambridge. Whereas the area we live now, in Scotland, doesn't have such a good repayment profile. The people here don't earn as much. They have higher ratios of borrowings to total assets. More people default on their debts. The average time people spend living at their addresses is lower.

I had always assumed that the bank's decision to lend and at what rate depended principally on my past credit history and current ability to repay the debt. It's a bit of a shock to realise that what your neighbours are doing can influence the rate you get!

craigb1976

Hi all

I have recently raised a complaint to MBNA about the increase in interest rates on the two credit card accounts i have with them. The rates started off at 17.4% in 2003 and have raised perdiodically over the last 7 years. I recently noted that they are now set at 34%.

I have written to MBNA to suggest that they have acted unfarily in hiking these rates up and they have since responded stating that they feel the hikes are justified for the usual reasons (personal circumstances, international financial market etc). I have responded to notify them that nothing in my personal circumstances has changed. I earn significantly more now than i did in 2003. I pay by standing order each month rather than DD and its always 50% above the minimum charge.

I have suggested that the closure of my account and repayment of outstanding balance at a lower rate would seem the most appropriate actin but they have refused to do this again stating that their rates are justified. They have further suggested that if i remain unsatisfied that i effectively take my busioness elsewhere. However, in the current climate this is difficult to do!!!

Does anyone have any recent precedent where MBNA has agreed to reduce rates and if so, how did you do it, what rate did you secure and when...
My next step is to notify the Board of Directors at MBNA of my approach to the Ombudsmen noting their copany track record of Rate acking, particularly in the States where they were involved in a substantial court battle. Having some recent precedents to mention would be useful.

Thanks in advance

Craig

craigb1976

Would you mind if i used your case as a precedent for my approach to MBNA? I'm having exactly the same problems as you are and am just about to approach the Ombudsmen....