mbna round for tea?

justheclothesonmyback

hi all,
i've been on a dmp for about 6 months now sending out letters from national debtline. creditors have agreed to temporary arrangements with reviews thereafter, except mbna, who have'nt formally accepted my offer but have cashed my pro rata cheques nonetheless. during this time they've been continuing to add interest and charges, constantly phoning and sending regular letters threatening this, that and the other. national debtline have advised that in my situation just to doggedly send what i can shared out fairly, which is what i've been doing... but the last letter (i stopped answering their calls) threatened to 'authorise collection agents to visit your home in order to interview you regarding repayments

i've been a real wally to get myself in this situation, but i'm doing me best to sort myself out, and hope that next year i'll be in a better position to tackle my debts, but at the moment i'm just treading water... i'm terrified that if someone calls round, my family will find out the extent of my troubles... - i don't want them to find out - they will be so disappointed in me and shocked too - always been responsible type, still don't know how i let myself get into debt, last year just seems like a bad dream...

has anyone had collection agents from mbna visit, or is this just an empty threat (i fervently hope)?

thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.

skylight

Empty threat.

Actually, I had a lovely argument with a lad from MBNA today who was obviously new in the job (HA! Easy pickings!!!!)

Every 2nd word was ER or AH. Not a clue.

It climaxed after 7 minutes when he told me that I MUST pay the arrears and perhaps I should borrow the money to pay it back. "But how do I pay them back if I can't pay you?" - "Er, not our problem" - "And do you realise that advising me to get into more debt is against the OFT rules?" "errrr...." - you can guess how the entire conversation went on!

But - I digress!

No - it is an empty threat. It costs them money to send someone round. And *if* they did, don't let them in. I haven't come across anyone on these boards yet who has had a threatened visit from any creditor. Not at this stage.

The only time you are likely to get a door-step visitor is *if* they take you to court for a CCJ (But this costs them lots in upfront fees, so even then it is rare) and then *if* you don't keep up payments on a CCJ. Eventually a bailiff turns up, but lets worry about that *if* it happens in a few years.

justheclothesonmyback

thanks charlotte664 for that. feel a little less nervy now - i mean, i was hoping it was just a case of intimidation, but it does get to you. every fortnight or so, i get a letter from them with a warning in bold black telling me if i don't respond within a certain date, or pay a certain amount, they will, depending on their mood:

apply for CCJ,
apply to court for attachment of earnings 'which could be embarrassing for you - hah! as if they cared!
default the account (for gawd's sakes, do it and have done with it, credit rating's down the toilet for sure, maybe then they will freeze the interest and charges and debt will actually start coming down)!

don't care about attachment of earnings or ccj's, whatever, just steadily plodding away with the pro rata payments and trying to get on with life - only thing i do care about is that the family don't find out what an eejit i've been.
all the best

justheclothesonmyback

charlotte664 wrote:

Empty threat.

Actually, I had a lovely argument with a lad from MBNA today who was obviously new in the job (HA! Easy pickings!!!!)

Every 2nd word was ER or AH. Not a clue.

It climaxed after 7 minutes when he told me that I MUST pay the arrears and perhaps I should borrow the money to pay it back. "But how do I pay them back if I can't pay you?" - "Er, not our problem" - "And do you realise that advising me to get into more debt is against the OFT rules?" "errrr...." - you can guess how the entire conversation went on!

And what is with these guys, why do they waste so much energy trying to get you to cough up what you've not got? Blimey, just the letters they send have prob'ly wiped out a small forest!!

Xbigman

justheclothesonmyback wrote:

And what is with these guys, why do they waste so much energy trying to get you to cough up what you've not got?

Bacause it works! Once you realise you are in debt you are vulnerable and they know it. Take yourself, if MBNA were to start phoning your relatives that would be a great way to apply pressure. It might be frightening and disgusting but it's true. You just have to stand up to them.

As to their threats, they are 99% empty. They cannot simply attache your wages without going through a CCJ first and a CCJ nearly always mean the interest and charges being frozen. This can be, and often is to your advantage.
Regards



X

isgman

I had 4 x MBNA accounts.. they after a long time have now "sold" them.. the "New Owners" so far are ok with the payment offered under my financial statement that the CAB sorted out for me... mind you if ever I was given another MBNA card I would throw it on the fire.. you can take a look at the following link I did about MBNA
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=146453

Dr.Shoe_2

I've actually had a positive experience with MBNA. I had a phone call on my mobile which cut out in mid conversation as I lost signal. When I got home there was a message on my landline with their number to call them back. I did this yesterday and gave them a income and expenditure (which I've got saved on my computer for such an eventuality) over the phone and straight away she agreed to freeze interest for 12 months on both my CC and Loan and the net result is that I am paying £22.25 a week which is within my budget every friday when I get paid. This is better for me because most of my problems stem from cashflow rather than being totally broke because I'm paid weekly.

joolz43

The thing I am finding with MBNA is that they insist that the £300 arrears I now have on my payments (due to paying insufficient amounts rather than nothing) while my DMP is set up and the rest of the debt are two different debts. The CCCS say they are the same debt. Meanwhile someone rings almost daily asking for money but only for the £300 arrears. If I had £300 I would on some days have paid up.

mm2000

Caan I ask how much your debt to MBNA is. If below £5,000 then the courts would be unlikely to award them interest if it went to court for a CCJ. If this is the case for you send them a letter that unless they cease with the interest charges and accept your offer you will withdraw any further payments or tell them as you are unable to make payments to freeze interest payments you will have to consider declaring yourself Bankrupt. A little bluff can go along way sometimes.

jaja_3

I'm sure this has been said before, but just from my experience with good ol' MBNA - tell them to remove your phone number from their records and you will only deal with them in writing.

Before this, threaten them with the FSA and harrassment charge, we won our case against them for this a couple of years back and received compo.

Sadly, they have recently raised their heads again - so just threatened to do the same, and they have magically disappeared:beer: We already have an agreement with them that is stuck too religiously.

The mere mention of their name makes my skin crawl, had some dreadful experiences with them myself until I learn the rules.

Best of luck
Jaja

skylight

With our lightbulb moment last year, they were scum from the outset.

They told OH to sell his mobile phone and our TV to make the payments. (we didn't!) They would not be allowed to get away this with me now.......