MBNA money transfer issue

hope123_2

OK a long story...

I had a balance of £2484.41 with Virgin 0% cc, which ended in January, so i opened a Santander 0% card. I asked them to transfer the whole amount, but they only gave me a credit limit of £1700.00 and only paid Virgin off £1200.00 (without telling me). So when i got the Virgin statement and saw that i still had a balance of £1208.81 (with £24.40 interest) i was alarmed. I rang Santander & they agreed to transfer another £440.00 to Virgin, so that still left me with a balance of £768.81 still on the V card.

So then i noticed that on my latest MBNA cc statement (which i use for purchases & always pay off in full each month) there was a promotional monthly rate - 0% for all balance transfers & money transfers until August 2010.

"That'll do pig", I said to myself & rang them. I asked about a balance transfer, "fine" she said, but when i started to give the girl the Virgin cc number, she said i couldn't do a balance transfer, as MBNA & Virgin were in the same group, but i could do a money transfer for £770.00 and & it would cost me £30.80. So i did it.

So now Virgin is all clear, Santander has £1640.00 (+ £49.20 fee) & MBNA has £770.00 (+ 30.80 fee).

So, when i got my next MBNA statement, i decided to pay off all card purchases + the fee of £30.80, thereby leaving the outstanding balance at £770.00 (thinking it was 0% til August).

Not so it appears...

I got this months MBNA statement on Monday & there's an interest charge of £11.47. I rang up to query it & was informed that as i had USED the card & hadn't paid off the full amount i would have to pay interest each month until it was clear. But i was told by the girl back in February that the money transfer was interest free until August, so why should i have to pay it all back ???

Anyway, i lost my temper with the bloke on the phone cos i told him that the girl hadn't told me that & i asked him WHY ON EARTH would i do a money transfer onto a card that i used all the time ??? I told him i'd had the card for about 10 years, used it regularly & always paid my balance in full, surely anyone could see that i would need to use it ALL THE TIME !!

So then he put me on hold, spoke to his manager (allegedly) and then told me i could have the full balance (which was now approx £1000) at 0% til August, on condition that i didn't use the card...

I still wasn't very happy about it & i said to him "so what am i supposed to do now if i can't use this card for purchases ???" and he said (and this is the best bit)..."Well you have a Virgin card with a nil balance...you can use that one !!"

I nearly laughed...:rotfl: but i was too mad... :mad:

Am i just being ignorant...cos i didn't know that i shouldn't use my card for purchases, cos i had done a money transfer onto it ?

Should the girl have told me that clearly or should i "just know it" ??

You see, i thought the 2 transactions would be dealt with separately : the card purchases & the money transfer...

So anyway, my question to you, dear reader, is...is it worth me complaining in writing or am i wasting my time ?

thanks for reading

CannyJock

You either know, or you'd hopefully have spotted it as advice in the article on credit cards or in other posts from others.

No point complaining.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

hope123 wrote: »

Am i just being ignorant...cos i didn't know that i shouldn't use my card for purchases, cos i had done a money transfer onto it ?

Should the girl have told me that clearly or should i "just know it" ??

I see that you registered in November 2007 but I guess you don't come to the Credit Card area too often because that is one of the cardinal rules and although it is hammered home time and time again many people fall into the trap. You are definitely not the first to fall foul of this. Sorry.

hope123_2

Ok fair point, thanks to both for your comments...:)

gata.org

I had a similar, but different situation with MBNA and I complained in writing.

And the 2nd time they coughed up all the money they'd charged me + interest.

Just threaten small claims / financial ombudsman, and be adamant about what was explained to you over the phone.

HouseHuntr

gata.org wrote: »

I had a similar, but different situation with MBNA and I complained in writing.

And the 2nd time they coughed up all the money they'd charged me + interest.

Just threaten small claims / financial ombudsman, and be adamant about what was explained to you over the phone.

Rubbish!!!!!!

Rupert_Bear

hope123 wrote: »

OK a long story...

I had a balance of £2484.41 with Virgin 0% cc, which ended in January, so i opened a Santander 0% card. I asked them to transfer the whole amount, but they only gave me a credit limit of £1700.00 and only paid Virgin off £1200.00 (without telling me). So when i got the Virgin statement and saw that i still had a balance of £1208.81 (with £24.40 interest) i was alarmed. I rang Santander & they agreed to transfer another £440.00 to Virgin, so that still left me with a balance of £768.81 still on the V card.

So then i noticed that on my latest MBNA cc statement (which i use for purchases & always pay off in full each month) there was a promotional monthly rate - 0% for all balance transfers & money transfers until August 2010.

"That'll do pig", I said to myself & rang them. I asked about a balance transfer, "fine" she said, but when i started to give the girl the Virgin cc number, she said i couldn't do a balance transfer, as MBNA & Virgin were in the same group, but i could do a money transfer for £770.00 and & it would cost me £30.80. So i did it.

So now Virgin is all clear, Santander has £1640.00 (+ £49.20 fee) & MBNA has £770.00 (+ 30.80 fee).

So, when i got my next MBNA statement, i decided to pay off all card purchases + the fee of £30.80, thereby leaving the outstanding balance at £770.00 (thinking it was 0% til August).

Not so it appears...

I got this months MBNA statement on Monday & there's an interest charge of £11.47. I rang up to query it & was informed that as i had USED the card & hadn't paid off the full amount i would have to pay interest each month until it was clear. But i was told by the girl back in February that the money transfer was interest free until August, so why should i have to pay it all back ???

Anyway, i lost my temper with the bloke on the phone cos i told him that the girl hadn't told me that & i asked him WHY ON EARTH would i do a money transfer onto a card that i used all the time ??? I told him i'd had the card for about 10 years, used it regularly & always paid my balance in full, surely anyone could see that i would need to use it ALL THE TIME !!

So then he put me on hold, spoke to his manager (allegedly) and then told me i could have the full balance (which was now approx £1000) at 0% til August, on condition that i didn't use the card...

I still wasn't very happy about it & i said to him "so what am i supposed to do now if i can't use this card for purchases ???" and he said (and this is the best bit)..."Well you have a Virgin card with a nil balance...you can use that one !!"

I nearly laughed...:rotfl: but i was too mad... :mad:

Am i just being ignorant...cos i didn't know that i shouldn't use my card for purchases, cos i had done a money transfer onto it ?

Should the girl have told me that clearly or should i "just know it" ??

You see, i thought the 2 transactions would be dealt with separately : the card purchases & the money transfer...

So anyway, my question to you, dear reader, is...is it worth me complaining in writing or am i wasting my time ?

thanks for reading

You have to accept you got it wrong. Taking it out on the poor guy on the phone due to your own stupidity is no help to anyone.

You have been a member since 2007 and I would have expected you to know better.

We all live and learn!

chattychappy

This will sound patronising, but you must change your approach in the future or you will have similar problems again.

1) Don't get angry with people on the phone when they tell you stuff you don't want to hear.

2) You must take more responsibility. Get on top of the rules and then determine the effect of them on your situation. If you don't understand, get advice. You can't rely on a provider to work out what is best for you and take care of your interests - unless you are paying them for financial advice. Part of your reasoning seems to be that MBNA could see how you'd been using the card for purchases so why would they think you'd enter such a transaction on the basis they claimed you had. But that's not the point - I'm a fat bloke. If I walk into a shop and buy a small shirt, is it for the shop to refuse the sale because they "should know" that the shirt doesn't fit?

In fact the advice you start using the Virgin card for purchases does seem to be good advice - but you just laughed at it.

Get a grip!

twist-and-shout

At the risk of sounding patronising too, whenever you do balance transfers or money transfers with mbna/virgin they read out a disclosure that you have to agree to before the rep can approve it.
It would have gone something like this:


Before we can send the transfer it will go through our approval process which takes about 2 working days. Is this ok?
Then once your transfer has been approved we will send ***bank name, amount and account number*** and it will credit them 3 businness days after the transfer has been approved. Is this ok?
If at any time you breach the t&c's of this agreement you will lose your promotional rate and will go to the standard rate of xx% for MT and/or xx% for BT.
We will allocate your payments to balances at the lowest interest rates first.
If you ever have balances attracting the same promotional rate we will allocate your payments to the balance promotion that ends first.

Only after you have agreed can the transfer be sent and every advisor on the phone has to read that so there would be no point in complaining plus they have agreed to put all the existing purchaces onto the 0% so in my opinion they have done more for you than they had too.

p.s Just a note of warning you said you were paying off the MBNA card in full every month. Was that on Direct Debit? If so call them back and check they have amended back to min payment whilst you have the 0%

Any

HouseHuntr wrote: »

Rubbish!!!!!!

I admire your reading skills.
I can't even make sense of the post!;)

hope123_2

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

You have to accept you got it wrong. Taking it out on the poor guy on the phone due to your own stupidity is no help to anyone.

You have been a member since 2007 and I would have expected you to know better.

We all live and learn!

yes i accept i i got it wrong, it's my 1st experience of doing a money transfer & i have learnt the hard way.

despite having had various credit cards over about 20 years, i have never had any problems with them until now.

i have been reading the forum for 3 years on & off, but have don't think i've ever been in the cc forum (never needed to).

and there's so much info available, you'd have to have a photographic memory to remember it all !