Unbelievable phone calls from mbna

triciaP1

I really can't believe this.
I paid my mbna card last month as I do every month without fail.
Always pay at the least, the minimum, extra if I have it.
over the last few months my payments have always been about £25 minimum payments so I when my last statement came I thought rather than look for change I would just give them the £30 I had on me. thinking everything would be OK, you know extra fiver off the bill.
I thought no more of it. last two days had a few phone calls on the answer machine. the silent type where they put the phone down, at first I thought them hoax calls. today I had 6 missed calls on my mobile and my husband had 2 phone calls at the house asking for me, they then told him they were Mbna. I went online to check and saw that to my horror the interest rate had gone up. and the minimum payment should have been " £32.75. I was the grand sum of £2.75pence short.. Now they have smacked me with a £12 late payment surcharge and have bombarded me with phone calls.
Surely they can see from my history that I always pay and anyone with a brain could see that perhaps I hadn't realised the rate had gone up. I could kick myself. It will certainly teach me to read the statement more closely. and not take it for granted that i'm paying over the amount due, damn damn damn.
But I'm even more annoyed about the phone calls. talk about over the top. Can I report them to an ombudsman or someone?
Tricia.

YorkshireBoy

Are you sure it's due to an interest rate increase and not the change in minimum payment calculation (now 1% plus interest)?

drewwhonumba2

I would kick up a real fuss....tell them that the reason you went with mbna in the first place was because you was assured that the customer service was second to none blah blah....kick up a massive fuss about the increase in APR....then try and get them to return the APR.......then tell them you expect a refund on the late fee.....and that you dont expect this to affect your credit history

triciaP1

I've not even heard about the minimum payment calculation!!what is that? another way of taking money of us I assume. the interest rate isn't enough for them!! omg!!

triciaP1

To be honest it's the phone harassment I am most annoyed about, the charge for late payment was my fault for not checking and assuming I was paying enough to cover the minimum. that's a lesson I'll not forget.

drewwhonumba2

triciaP1 wrote: »

To be honest it's the phone harassment I am most annoyed about, the charge for late payment was my fault for not checking and assuming I was paying enough to cover the minimum. that's a lesson I'll not forget.

Why dont you set up a direct debit to pay the minimum, then if you have any spare cash you can pay it by phone or internet banking

YorkshireBoy

triciaP1 wrote: »

I've not even heard about the minimum payment calculation!!what is that? another way of taking money of us I assume. the interest rate isn't enough for them!! omg!!

Well technically it's in your interest because it pays down the balance quicker. However, many are up in arms because the increase could be significant on a high balance (my own has gone up from £25 to ~£180 per month).

MBNA wrote to customers a few months ago to say the new calculation would apply from April.

If your interest rate has increased you would have been given 60 days notice. Check your recent statements.

triciaP1

I'll think about that. I always resisted setting up direct debits because I like to pay off any extra amounts of spare cash I have and it saves frequent trips to the bank.

pimento

I'd be more worried that it took a shedfull of phone calls for them to get to speak to you.

What if they'd been calling to ask you about a possible fraud on your card?

oscar52

Then they would have simply blocked the card - MBNA have always been quite sharp with that.

triciaP1

You have jogged my memory, I seem to recall a letter, but to be honest they are filled with so much gobbledee gook I never take them in.

Something in my brain say's NO!!!

I never wanted to be a Philadelphia lawyer.