Mbna

Rockahula

Hi, to all those customers of MBNA Eurpoe Ltd, all I would like to say is that they are nothing but a company with no customer service policy. They WILL not assist you in any matter and make false promises to ALL their customers. I am currently fighting them for illegally applying charges against my Credit Card and I have taken the matter further with the Financial Ombudsman. Having paid £2000 in 8 months on monthly installments for a £5000 debt. Almost £1900 of that has been in interest charges alone. DO NOT apply for a card with them. If Richard Branson is reading this event though he is not connected with MBNA - it carries the Virgin Logo and they are completely disgusting in the way they treat people like you and me.

Look out also for the call centre from India calling every day and being nothing but an inconvenience. I have taken the matter further with the Ombudsman. As for the test case ongoing - they do not want to know. I have had about all I can take from these people who say they have the customers interest in mind........interest is the only thing on their mind. Say no more. Trotters inc.....See you in court MBNA.

TFD_2

£1,900 interest in 8 months on a £5000 debt? That would be 4.75% per month, which I make to be just under 75% APR.

Can you clarify those figures?

Rockahula

Sure,

You work these figures out quite well. Would like to know the calculation so fast. In hindsight as we all say, if only I knew but I can't change the past, thanks for your interest however. Here it goes:

As at Nov 08 Balance £4200 min payment £25.00. Paid £75.00 interest £10.15
Dec - I went over limit due to sudden family death and interest was increased to 39.5% due to this fact.
Mar 09 statement Balance 5519.00 Min payment £235.I paid 395.00 interest £206

I could go on, I am reading my statements now and each month what I am paying to MBNA doesn't seem to go down only up. I almost get a reduction in interest to 12% (Aug 09) but advised to send in my concerns by letter - when I do they have frozen the interest pending the complaint .
Got a letter today stating nothing they can do. I can't win but I will not lose without a fight.

What can I do except write on here for some valuable advice. I have added up what I have paid since Nov 08 and it is shocking what I have paid up until now and what interest they have charged. I don't know what else to do. Is the Financial Obudsman worth it - I have written as soon as I got the letter today and will post tomorrow. MBNA false promises and complete lack of customer service from the outset. Partially my fault for getting here in the first place I suppose.!!

TFD_2

Ok my figures are a bit out, as we're talking 11-12 months since Nov 08. Even so this doesn't all add up: 39.5% APR is approx 2.8% per month, which should be £150ish on a £5500 balance.

But maths aside, 39.5% APR is a huge rate to pay on that sort of balance. If you can't resolve with MBNA, then writing to the ombudsman is the next step.

Rockahula

Thanks for the advice, I have strongly contested this with MBNA and their result is that I will not get the reduced 6 month 12% APR rate as I have now made a complaint, they told me this after I addressed the overcharging issue and have logged everything now as I a am a firm believer on principle in this matter. MBNA have some bad press on here - I just wish I knew all along what a rough ride I was going to be in - this is financially killing me. Badly - and they do not seem to budge. Never mind I will take this as far as I can. I just wish I could tell them I too am freezing my payments until MY complaint is resolved. Big compaines I suppose get away with it!! Thanks once again.

Northstar68

Rockahula I understand totally. My husband and I each have a credit card with Alliance & Leicester MBNA and have done for over 10 years.
When problems started last year due to loss of jobs we tried and tried to see if they could help, lower interest, turn the balance into a loan whatever, but noooooo they put up the interest without warning, a letter came and bam, it shot up to about 29% if I remember rightly, plus they reduced the amount of time in which to pay the minimum payment. Nightmare.
They were quite rude on the phone and said that it was not their problem and....get this.....'they were in it to make money from us'.
Anyway, because of the excessive interest we then went over the limit etc and.....well....the rest is history as they say.

I just wanted to say that I understand totally as we have been on the receiving end too, out of all our creditors, they really do seem to be the most difficult to work with, reason with etc. I mean, one woman from their recoveries department even shouted at me on the phone not to pay the token payment because it was too late and they were taking us to court. I'm glad I still made the token payment because they could well have then used that against us in court!! (by saying we didnt make token payments)

Awful, just awful. Never again. I very much look forward to severing ties with them completely once this is all sorted out.
Once I sort out my DMP paperwork I will go for reclaiming all those overlimit and late payment charges. I can go back 10 years. fingers crossed.
All the best of luck to you, hang in there.

binaryuniverse

Always remember Martins first rule. That banks are not here to help you.

Northstar68

binaryuniverse wrote: »

Always remember Martins first rule. That banks are not here to help you.

Sadly, that was a steep learning curve for me, I was so naive until earlier this year, I was stupid enough to think that by being with the A & L and Barclays and Abbey for 20 years would actually make a difference!

I have learned the hard way that there is no such thing as customer loyalty with a bank. Thanks to this forum and all the helpful people on here I am finally getting things sorted, slowly but surely.

Martin's first rule is one of my mantras now! :T The rose tinted spectacles are well and truly off! LOL