Balance transfer for my Gran

Pamela_W

Hi, my 87 year old gran has a credit card debt of £2,000. This isn't her doing (long story) but she's stuck with it now and the worry is making her ill.

I can't afford to pay it off for her, but I thought I could at least try and get her a balance transfer so it's easier for her to manage... the problem is, the ones on the forum seem to have a minimum salary of 20k, which she obviously doesn't earn, or be part of the MBNA family, which is the bank her existing card has been issued from.

I'd welcome any suggestions, thanks forumites.

Tixy

I can't see that she would get a new 0% card at her age.

Is she struggling to make repayments? She could write to them, explain the situation and ask if she can make token payments and if they will freeze the interest.

Pamela_W

She is struggling, so it's worth a try to write to them.

BW, Pam

Pamela_W

3 months down the line I've ended up paying her card off. MBNA were so unhelpful / inefficient they almost caused her an angina attack. Miscommunications, no communications, abrupt letters asking her to cut her card up, requests for forms we'd already completed...it went on. I've initiated a complaint but I certainly wouldn't recomend them as a bank.

CLAPTON

Pamela_W wrote: »

3 months down the line I've ended up paying her card off. MBNA were so unhelpful / inefficient they almost caused her an angina attack. Miscommunications, no communications, abrupt letters asking her to cut her card up, requests for forms we'd already completed...it went on. I've initiated a complaint but I certainly wouldn't recomend them as a bank.

on the other hand, it would seem that their tactics worked rather well from their point of view

Pamela_W

Indeedy, and that occured to me too. She's just a worried old lady at the end of it though, it wasn't worth continuing the battle.

bigadaj

You could always make a complaint rapidly escalate it and it will either cost them the fee to investigate or they may refund some cash/pay compensation to avoid the investigation fee, typically five hundred quid.

Pamela_W

That's interesting. I have initiated a compliant and they rang me to try and talk me out of it saying all the things they had done were "standard procedure", (now I understand why if it costs them that much) but when I explained the situation the customer care woman was happy to escalate it. We'll see.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Pamela_W wrote: »

...This isn't her doing...

You haven't elaborated on this point but if someone else has defrauded her in some way it's possible that she wasn't actually liable for the whole sum.

chanz4

Its more like £350

YorkshireBoy

chanz4 wrote: »

Its more like £350

It's exactly £500...but only if it's passed up the FOS foodchain and handled by an adjudicator, rather than frontline staff.

And if MBNA have followed "standard procedure" it will be one of the 5 in 6 complaints that aren't passed to an adjudicator...so the OP shouldn't build their hopes up.