New trick to catch you out - MBNA

RockSteady_3

It appears MBNA have another catch when you take transfer or cash payment from them. I took them up on an offer to have a few thousand interest free for 6 months. This was with a £50 capped fee so it seemed a bargain. This was just over 6 months ago.

My account was clear before the transfer, and I never used it for any retail purchases, so all there was on it was the transfer. Every month the estimated interest was zero, and I made the minimum payment.

In May on my statement, there appeared for the first time an estimated interest amount for the next statement. Beside it, the payment due date of 14th June. Now normally, you would expect to pay the amount in full and thus avoid the estimated interest.

Well, I paid it in full by the date and they still charged my account with the estimated interest!

The reason is, the transfered money becomes due immediately after the 6 months period, with no warning on the statement. Now, it is obviously in the T&Cs, but surely this is misleading? How are you supposed to know when to make the final payment unless you keep it written down. The statement should tell you, otherwise it is actively encouraging you to miss the payment.

The estimated interest amount therefore contains two distinctly different things:

The amount of interest you will have to pay if you 'don't' pay off the retail transactions.
The amount of interest you will have to pay even if you 'do' pay off the cash transactions.

How then is this figure meaningful at all? It is impossible to judge your exposure to interest.

I called to complain, went through 3 levels of management who couldn't justify this difference, and the manager basically got a bit indignant and resorted to saying that it is in the terms and conditions.

I intend to write a letter of complaint and take it to the FSA if required.

In the meantime, please make others aware of this money grabbing deceit.

MarkyMarkD

Rock

You don't have a leg to stand on with your complaint.

MBNA 0% deals last until your statement date in the month affected, so unless you keep a record of the end date of the 0% period, you will ALWAYS get charged some interest. Even if you settle immediately following a statement showing estimated interest for the next month, you will STILL incur interest for a few days (in fact, over a week allowing for the time for them to post the statement and the time for the payment to arrive via BACS).

But they've done nothing wrong.

They've offered you 0% until a specified date, which was clearly laid out in the original credit offer and the advertising material.

It's not up to them to remind you the promotion period is about to end. No credit card company does so, in fact.

The estimated interest amount is what it says - it's the estimated amount of interest if you only make the minimum payment. End of story.

Davidboy

You have to be so careful if you are going to use CC this way. I was not sure with my Mint card when the 0% last day was, so I simply phoned them an asked, made sure I paid it off by then...simply really!!

You are learnng the hard way mate!!


D

YorkshireBoy

MarkyMarkD wrote:

It's not up to them to remind you the promotion period is about to end. No credit card company does so, in fact.

IF and some of the other HBoS cards remind you on every statement of the exact date of the end of the introductory 0% rate.

Rock,

Around a month before the end of my Virgin (also run by MBNA) 0% period, I received a letter* reminding me that I still had time to transfer balances to my card, but they also clearly warned me that my 0% period would end with my June statement. ie, not the payment due date, nor the 1st of June, but the statement date itself.

I've just been looking through my Virgin documentation and noticed that I'd asked them for the 0% end date when I opened the account/transferred the balance. They told me the date was my June statement date. I recorded the date on some Virgin paperwork and made a note in my diary. You may want to adopt a similar approach with your next credit card.


* To all intents and purposes, the letter looked like 'junk mail'. It reminded me that I hadn't visited the members shop, told me I could service my account online, and informed me that my card was welcomed at around 20 million places worldwide. However, and crucially, it informed me in 2 separate paragraphs exactly when my 0% period ended.

Did you perhaps receive something like this from MBNA and discard it thinking it was junk mail?

kenshaz

Ring them up find exact date ,speak to a line manager if need be and then use TART ALERT see Martins article

MarkyMarkD

YorkshireBoy wrote:

IF and some of the other HBoS cards remind you on every statement of the exact date of the end of the introductory 0% rate.

OK, but they still don't say "**** YOUR 0% RATE IS ABOUT TO END - PAY YOUR BALANCE OFF NOW OR PAY INTEREST! ****"

giggs11

MarkyMarkD wrote:

It's not up to them to remind you the promotion period is about to end. No credit card company does so, in fact.

i'm on my 3rd 0% cc deal and each one has shown on the statement the exact date that interest starts being charged when a 0% period ends so you know the date to pay it by

gingercordial

MarkyMarkD wrote:

OK, but they still don't say "**** YOUR 0% RATE IS ABOUT TO END - PAY YOUR BALANCE OFF NOW OR PAY INTEREST! ****"

I suspect that's because they'd quite like you to pay them some interest...

YorkshireBoy

MarkyMarkD wrote:

OK, but they still don't say "**** YOUR 0% RATE IS ABOUT TO END - PAY YOUR BALANCE OFF NOW OR PAY INTEREST! ****"

True!

RockSteady_3

True, I learned the hard way that you need to be one step ahead. I have 'rate tarted' 5 times now with different cards, but this was the first time with MBNA, and I foolishly thought they would remind me as did the others.

Thanks for the advice.

dazed

MBNA DO send out a letter and some credit card cheques 6 weeks before your deal is to end. It states the month and says for example.. on your JULY statement the promotional rate will end ...

Sounds like you have not had the letter but they DO get sent out.