More MBNA Intimidation/Scare Tactics!!

sallyjo_2

Dear Lulgirl,

Total agreement, they are the worst of a bad bunch! I was their customer twice!! stupid me. I took out a loan to get rid of them once after 6 months of having trouble with payments and their continual harrassment. Then surprise surprise, they approached me 1 year later via the Abbey National (with whom I had £.49p in a current account) with a £5k preapproved card. I didn't realise it was MBNA, I would have burned it on the bbq.

They are not allowed to approach your neighbours. You have shown responsibility for your debt by going to the CCCS and negotiating a DMP. I am on a DMP and the CCCS is great (and by the way is financed by the credit card industry - so they are almost forced to respect the DMP) Constantly trying to get you to pay more then you can afford is a breach of OFT guidelines. Exposing your personal details to neighbours is a definite breach.

Don't tolerate any harrassment from them, there is excellent advice in this thread. I would add though don't talk to anybody on the telephone, keep it in writing only. Write to them once saying you will not discuss anything on the phone to them, all correspondence must be in writing. Remind them all payments are via your DMP with the CCCS and to call them if there is a payment query. Send it recorded delivery. Then when they call, and they will, refuse to talk to them, don't go through their data check baloney. Say goodbye and hang up.

Itemise all the harrassment you have suffered and call Trading Standards and lodge a complaint, (that worked for me when the Co-operative Bank kept calling me at work) also the others mentioned on here.

Another tip - BT have a call barring service. Its expensive, £10 per quarter, but it stopped the Halifax in its tracks when they were harrassing me up to 3-4 times a day and on Sundays. Worth every penny!! though I just hang up on them anyway.

Xbigman

Firstly you should write (recorded delivery) to MBNA stating you will only deal with them in writing. Then keep a record of all their calls to you. Give it ten days to take effect and then start counting the calls. After ten calls from them (after the ten days) contact the office of fair trading (OFT) and they will stop the calls. Forget the ombudsmen or FSA as they have nothing to do with this aspect.

As for contacting your neigbours, you must find out exactly what was said. If MBNA just said who they were and asked your neighbours to let you know they called then it might not be harrassment. If they said it related to a debt then complain to the OFT again as this is in direct breach of the rules and is more serious harrassment than lots of phone calls. You can complain under the data protection act (I think its the information commisionaire or is it data commisionaire you complain to) but only if they have released factual information about you such as the fact you have an account with them.

If your mortgage is in joint names then you are financialy linked to your husband and your credit record can be trashed along with his.
If the debt is unsecured MBNA can take you to court and get a CCJ. They can then go for a charging order on the property. This can be fought but it is not easy.
If the worst happens, a charging order does not allow for repossession as long as you keep paying them something so the good news is that is an empty threat.
Regards



X

mm2000

I'd deffinately contact the Trading Standards and FOS. Phoning your neighbours is 100% harrassment, don't let anyone persaude you otherwise. Cease all telephone contact with them and demand the write to you only. Under the Bankers code of practice they are obliged to respect this. Any further calls can the be treated as harrassment. Demand they remove your telephone no. from your file. Before you contact the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) you must make a complaint through MBNA's complaint department allowing them the chance to resolve the matter to your satisfaction. If they do not resolve it then contact the FOS straight away go to their website you can fill out a complaints form on line and print it off to send with all your evidence. Keep copies of all letters you send. Any calls you have made to MBNA and the calls they made to you will have been recorded and will be kept on your file. These can be used as evidence against them.
MBNA can only make a charge on your property if they have filed for a CCJ and you have failed to make the payments. If they do file for a CCJ and the payments are to hihg for you, you can apply to the court to have them reduced. If you do recieve a CCJ form from the courts this will have to be filled in and returned to MBNA or those acting on their behalf. Enclose details with this the harrassment you have received as well as details of payments offered and made. Don't just send these details with the completed forms but also send copies to the court where judgement will be made.
The harrassment they are causing you is illegal and they could in actual fact lose their licence to lend money. Trading Standards are much more liable to fine them however which could be as much as £50,000.
Get yourself down to your Citizens Advice and they can help you with your plan of action. Get a copy of the Bankers Code of Practice if you don't already have one and read the section on repayment difficulties. The Code of Practice will also contain the names and addresses of Bodies who you can inform and complain to about MBNA's conduct. Keep the pressure on them.
I have had trouble myself with MBNA and a Abbey Credit Card which became payable to MBNA also. having got into payment difficulties the said they needed a payment of 1% of the balance to ensure a decent payment and gaurantee no further interest and charges. They gave the impression that this would be until the debt was paid and no increase would be required. However after several years they demanded an increase on both accounts to have the debts repaid within 5 years. I contested this but they started interest charges and kept on insisting I increase the payments. I sent a complaint on both counts to the FOS and the complaint was upheld that they could not change an agreement as the yhad tried to do and I continued to pay the 1% amounts interest charges were withdrawn and respective charges credited to the accounts. I was also awarded £100 by the FOS at MBNA's expense.
Remaincalm breath deeply and make them pay dearly. Good lUck keep us informed on how you get on.

lulgirl

Thanks everyone! Have posted the complaint form off to the financial ombudsman today and written (again) to MBNA and sent the letter recorded.

Just to clarify, what MBNA actually did on the day they called my neighbour was, they called when we were both at work and left a message on our answer phone. They then about 30 mins later called our next door neighbour and got them to put a note thru our door saying for us to contact Craig from MBNA as they were having troub getting in touch with us (despite having left the answerphone message and having spoken to hubby a couple of days before!). Whilst the DMP was being set up we sent 3 token payments with covering letter to cover the interim period and maintain contact. I hate them.

mm2000

If I were you I'd get your neighbour to send them a hefty bill for passing on the message and using them as a messenger service.
I hate them too. I really do hope you can screw them for the harrassment.

lizzie47

Had same sort of rubbish of mbna myself...found "consumeractiongroup" wonderfull,At best you will get legal and moral support.and advice.An at the very least you will be able to see how other mbna victims have dealt with them,,there is thousands who feel the same as you,loads to have a look at on the mbna forum..You realy dont have to put up with these people treating you like they do...have a look you may feel better an arm yourself at the same time(so to speak;) )with information


All the best
Lizzie

yoshihirouk

I'll say it again:

I worked for MBNA for 2.5 years in "Consumer Finance"/the Loans department. Yes "Customer assistance"/Collections is a ruthless department with numerous tactics used, such as this one.
MBNA don't have a complaints department but just write something for the attention of Quality Assurance or Customer Assistance.

oops_a_daisy

this is a link entitled 'get even with debt collectors' - dont know if it will help

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2006/c060515f.htm?source=ioowfeml0040012