MBNA Minimum Payment Increase

chattychappy

CHRISSYG wrote: »

MBNA like probably all c/c companys have in their t+c that they can basically do what they want re min payments /interest rates.

Just because something is printed in T+Cs doesn't make it legally enforceable.

CHRISSYG wrote: »

An earlier post listed several threads on this subject and goes on to state its never been challanged why do you think that is ?

It's a relatively new announcement. It takes a while for challenges to filter through the system. Frankly unless an organisation takes it up a lot of people won't bother. Only a court ruling would give binding precedence.

People are asking if they have a right to reject it. In the absence of a court ruling, there is no legal authority to answer the question.

You certainly cannot conclude that because nobody has challenged something then it is OK.

My suggestion to people (assuming they don't challenge) would be to keep records, particularly if they incur extra cost - just in case it gets challenged later.

In the threads I mentioned, I also referred to the situation with default fees (missed payment/overlimit etc). That was a classic example of people saying well, the T+Cs say it's £25 then £25 you must pay. This went on for quite a while before it was discovered to be illegal and the OFT got involved.

[Deleted User]

for the record the mbna changes are forcing my BIL into a DRO,and they wont get a penny of the 12k+ he owes them

ILoveChocolate

Otherwise:
1) Under the current regime, people can choose to pay more. That choice is being removed.

Please can I check the above, I sometimes pay more than the min payment when I can on my virgin mbna, now the changes are coming into place can I no longer do that?

chattychappy

ILoveChocolate wrote: »

Otherwise:
1) Under the current regime, people can choose to pay more. That choice is being removed.

Please can I check the above, I sometimes pay more than the min payment when I can on my virgin mbna, now the changes are coming into place can I no longer do that?

Don't worry, you can always pay more than the minimum.

People are saying that the new regime is better because you will pay more back, hence pay off debt faster and with less interest. My point was, that you can choose to do that now. By increasing the minimum you are being forced to pay more.

[I will edit my original, it was a bit ambiguous]

ILoveChocolate

Thanks, thats great that I can still do that when I can afford to.

toriajw

Having spoken to MBNA a few times since they sent out the letters, I am one of the people who are going to be forced into a DMP partly due to them increasing the minimum payments and partly due to the fact they have decided to increase my APR once my balance is no longer 0% in April. I have been trying to pay more than my minimum payments recently but due to losing my job 3 weeks ago theres no way I can manage to pay the new payment once it kicks in. I know there are people out there going to say its my own fault cos I knew the payment would increase once it was no longer 0% but I didnt forsee not having a job to pay the payments. I find it amazing tho how my other credit card company has actually lowered my APR when I rang them where as MBNA have infact raised it!!
For someone like me who has found themselves out of work and althought I've paid tax since working at 16 (now 28) I cant get any help from benefits etc so MBNA have forced me into making a very stressful decision

Hax

toriajw wrote: »

MBNA have forced me into making a very stressful decision

I don't think you can really blame MBNA for this can you? As you say, you knew the monthly payments would increase when the 0% period expired - it's not MBNA's fault that you have lost your job and are now in the position of not being able to repay what you owe.

As a matter of fact, you would have had the option to take out PPI when you took on this credit card, if you had done then you wouldn't be in this position as the PPI would (probably) cover your monthly payments.

End of the day, everyone has the option of either planning for the worst case scenario - or, failing that, accepting the consequences of not having any such plan in place.

Sounds harsh I know - but you need to acknowledge responsibility for your situation before you are able to move on and deal with it effectively. Blaming someone else won't help you - and I doubt that you would have "survived" for long even if MBNA hadn't changed their minimum payment calculations as you don't have any income.

toriajw

You're entitled to your opinion but without knowing the rest of my situation, you cant really judge me! I would have been perfectly able to pay for my payments (even without a job) was it not for the fact the MBNA have increased the payment and also increased my usual rate from 19.9% to 34.9%!
I know its not their fault for me losing my job and I never said it was, but at the end of the day it wasnt mine either! Im trying hard to pay off debts which if you knew how they got run up, you might not tell me to "move on and deal with it", not everyone runs up credit card debts for the sake of spending and sometimes it would be nice if rather than companies being unhelpful they helped people and negotiated a way to sort it out and if rather than people judging others that are in debt they were more understanding and offered support
Rant over......

Hax

Sorry - been there and got the T-Shirt. At it's worst, I had £35K of debt - didn't lose my job, but my OH was unable to work due to ill health and unable to claim any benefits due to me working. This meant trying to make ends meet via credit cards. A big mistake. But I never once looked to blame the lenders for my predicament. Instead, I got a DMP and started working with my lenders - it's not as bad as you may think. Sure, it can be a long journey - but it's the price we have to pay for borrowing and not having plans for when things go wrong.

Lenders aren't going to be lenient to you and extend 0% APR without any penalty - otherwise, that would be unfair on their customers who do meet their repayments according to the agreement. Also, they cannot continue to enter good credit history on your file when you are not managing to adhere to the agreement - your credit report has to be a true reflection of how you have managed your account.

FWIW: You are entitled to reject a rate increase up to 60 days after the notice of the increase. Your account is effectively closed to new transactions and you continue to repay the debt at the old APR. As far as the CRAs are concerned, the account will look as if it is open and MBNA will continue to report on the account and repayment status.

toriajw wrote: »

it would be nice if rather than companies being unhelpful they helped people and negotiated a way to sort it out

P.S. That's where a DMP comes in ^

toriajw

Hax, sorry for the rant, you caught me at a bad moment of stress due to a lot of reasons (one being the fact that most of my debt was due to my ex and he wont pay a penny for it) Im not saying they should keep my 0% just that I find it strange that my credit rating is very good and my other credit card company has happily reduced my rate where was MBNA has increased it by a long way! Ive never been late or missed a single payment on any of my cards in the whole time ive had them.

Im going to ring MBNA tomorrow and close the account down so im purely paying it off and not adding any more transactions to it.