Virgin Mastercard general rip off or just me?

loopy.magic

I have a Virgin Mastercard that for 18 months now has been charging 34.9% interest and if I want to do balance transfers it will cost me 5% transfer fee. Over the past year I've asked them to reduce it twice but they just flatly refuse.

This is completely beyond the interest rates and transfer fees for my other cards. Average Rate for these is 17-18% and the standard transfer fee of 3%.

Is there anyone else out there experiencing this with Virgin cards?

tazza34k

I have a virgin MasterCard been about 2 years I took it out at 0% for 16months , just before my promotional period they sent me 2 letters increasing my APR from 16.9% to 24.9% then to 34.9%.

I opted out of the second hike. ( I was asleep for the 1st hike) there minimum payments was a joke. Last month Interest charged on £6580 was £147 they took a minimum payment from me for £148 so I paid off £1 that month, that was the last straw. I have balance transferred my virgin card to my other cards, and paid off as much as I can now.

I called them yesterday they told me my account would automatically close when the balance reaches Zero, Can't wait.

bigstevex

but if you only pay a pound off the balance each time you'll have that debt for the next 548 years lol!

Its not technically virgins fault aswell its good old MBNA! They are appalling, i got their 9 months no fees 0% bt card and it'll be paid off in full in month 9 lol!

_Andy_

Just because they have a higher rate than another card doesn't make it a 'rip off' - simply that they're not, for you, competitive.
Why should they reduce it just because you ask - they're there to make profit.

jonesMUFCforever

To follow on from Andy's post - if your credit rating was A1 then you would be able to get decent rates and balance transfers.
I feel OP has not told us everything about his circumstances here.

loopy.magic

_Andy_ wrote: »

Just because they have a higher rate than another card doesn't make it a 'rip off' - simply that they're not, for you, competitive.
Why should they reduce it just because you ask - they're there to make profit.

It's all objective I guess, but in my opinion 34.9% interest for anything is a rip off.

If you don't ask you don't get. I've asked other credit card companies to reduce rates in the past and sometimes they have obliged. I'd rather ask and be refused then not ask.

loopy.magic

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

To follow on from Andy's post - if your credit rating was A1 then you would be able to get decent rates and balance transfers.
I feel OP has not told us everything about his circumstances here.

What about my circumstances do you feel I haven't told you that's relevant? my other credit cards have standard interest rates of 19.9%, 17.9% and 14.9%.

TFD_2

loopy.magic wrote: »

What about my circumstances do you feel I haven't told you that's relevant? my other credit cards have standard interest rates of 19.9%, 17.9% and 14.9%.

My credit cards, have, believe it or not, APR's of: 14.9%, 17.9% and 19.9% (oh and 34.9% on Cap One)

My credit rating sucks. I wouldn't expect anything less than 34.9% from MBNA.

Moggles_2

Standard rates are not fixed, they're variable.

IME, the only foolproof way to keep standard rates down
is to ditch and switch as necessary

BenL

loopy.magic wrote: »

I have a Virgin Mastercard that for 18 months now has been charging 34.9% interest and if I want to do balance transfers it will cost me 5% transfer fee. Over the past year I've asked them to reduce it twice but they just flatly refuse.

This is completely beyond the interest rates and transfer fees for my other cards. Average Rate for these is 17-18% and the standard transfer fee of 3%.

Is there anyone else out there experiencing this with Virgin cards?

Just incase there is any confusion - You don't pay MBNA/Virgin 5% extra to move your balance away from them. You pay (or not pay if you get a good deal) any balance transfer fee to your new provider.

alibat_2

MBNA have a long history of treating people poorly, doing all they can to keep them in debt forever, hiking APRs and turning extremely nasty if things start to go wrong. They may be the biggest card issuer and have what appears to be the on face of it, some of the best deals on the market. But personally, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!