New Balance Transfer Discussion Area

captainsensible_3

Rubix_76 you are very lucky! - I've just been stuffed by a 2% handling fee on my MBNA card. When I pointed out the 'MAY be charged' line on the terms and conditions and asked under what circumstances I would NOT be charged, I was told 'the handling charge would not apply if the balance transfer was made in error to the wrong card if it was the fault of MBNA' - and that is it, the ONLY way a charge MAY NOT occur. Is this legal? It is certainly not ethical, I feel there is a deliberate mis-selling going on here. I spoke to 3 advisors from MBNA before opening this account, nobody mentioned any charge, my balance transfer was included in my application and not after, and they even phoned me to ask if I wanted to transfer another balance. The guy I complained to said it was my fault because I did not ask if there was a charge!

Chadsman

captainsensible wrote:

Rubix_76 you are very lucky! - I've just been stuffed by a 2% handling fee on my MBNA card. When I pointed out the 'MAY be charged' line on the terms and conditions and asked under what circumstances I would NOT be charged, I was told 'the handling charge would not apply if the balance transfer was made in error to the wrong card if it was the fault of MBNA' - and that is it, the ONLY way a charge MAY NOT occur. Is this legal? It is certainly not ethical, I feel there is a deliberate mis-selling going on here. I spoke to 3 advisors from MBNA before opening this account, nobody mentioned any charge, my balance transfer was included in my application and not after, and they even phoned me to ask if I wanted to transfer another balance. The guy I complained to said it was my fault because I did not ask if there was a charge!

:eek:
If I were in your position I would argue they have not made themselves clear and have therefore created an ambiguity. I was faced with a similar situation once and pointed out that in a recent ruling relating to mortgages the ombudsman had siad that the benefit of the doubt should go against whichever party had created the ambiguity. If they are not willing to refund the fee ask for written confirmation you have exhausted their internal complaints procedure so you can approach the ombudsman.
HTH,
Chad

rubix_76

captainsensible,

I was indeed charge the 2% transfer fee, so I was lied to about the refund too !! But when I queried it, i told them it said "may charge" They then said,, "well you WILL be charged".

I will be more careful next time !!

Rubix_76

Jennifer

I just received confirmation of the issue of my Texaco Card along with the Credit Agreement.

Although the 3.9% Balance transfer rate IS for the life of the debt, the transfer has to take place during the first six weeks of opening the account!!
Jennifer

nlamont

I had the same issue with Virgin/MBA. I put the balance transfer on my application form but when I activated the card it didn't get transferred. I went to the website to transfer it and it said there would be a 2% charge. After reading the posts above, I thought it would be worth phoning them and sure enough the guy I spoke to said there would be no handling charge. In fact he said there was no handling charge for any balance transfers done like this over the phone, only for those on the net! He even let me transfer more than I'd originally stated - very obliging!

ceebee_2

Recently received a 0% bt card from Nationwide and although I never take payment protection insurance,their tc"s state ---"Accidental Death. (payout) 4 times outstanding balance

---

, & "The insurer will pay us (Nationwide)

---

for the credit of your Card Account."
So there you are, dead, in credit on your credit card.
How do you spend it?

For general information, the method I use to avoid missing a payment (and therefor incur penalties) is to set up a Direct Debit for the minimum payment each month. The crazy Nationwide banking system is set up such that if you then pay off a reasonable amount during the month, they don"t operate the Direct Debit that month !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another credit card I have (with 0% bt), collects the dd but if i"ve made a payment that month, in excess of the minimum, the dd is refunded and altho" the dd appears as a credit then a debit on the card statement, it does not appear on my bank statement. Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

^opm^

Im going to try this balance transfer myself-so i have applied for 2 new credit cards-what i dont get tho is this-i get the card and say it has a 6 month 0% period on it for balance transfers so i max it out and invest money-then just before 6 months is up i repay them in full and pocket interest-that part seems simple-but how do you get the card to be of any further use to you now as you have used the 6 month freebie up? am i missing something simple?

Reaper

The card is of no further use to you. Usually you would cancel it at that point. There are occasional exceptions, however. Egg offer a repeat 5 months at 0% starting on each anniversary of when you took out the card.

Chadsman

^opm^ wrote:

how do you get the card to be of any further use to you now as you have used the 6 month freebie up?

Nationwide cards (unlike most others) do not charge a premium for purchases in a foreign currency :T and there are lots of cashback cards offering rebates :beer: .

Herodotus

I have noticed that many of the cards that Martin suggests as having 9 months interest free for balance transfers, notably HSBC and Halifax, now, on their websites are advertising 6 months interest free. Is there a web link to the 9 months interest free offers, or are they no longer available.