MBNA cards - a warning

gglaze

Yes of course it is technically a violation of terms to be late on a payment, and yes of course contractually the bank has the right to stick to the letter of the law and charge you every fee they can with no leniency.

But in the past (up to just a year ago?) I recall several instances where I made a stupid oversight and missed a payment by a day or a week or whatever - and no that doesn't make me (or the OP I presume?) a bad borrower, just perhaps a very busy one - but banks were generally lenient about this, which is why I didn't stress about it. I recall this happening once or twice (over a 3 or 4 year period) with my Tesco mastercard, and in those cases I actually never had to do anything, the lifetime rate stayed the same without me even calling them, and I made the payment in the next cycle and everything was fine. And I was happy to pay a "late fee" because yes in fact I was late - so I deserved that!

In some other cases perhaps I had to call the bank and explain that yes I was a couple days late due to a stupid oversight, and could they please show some leniency this one time, gesture of good faith, etc etc. And it was generally never a problem - they were happy as long as I could confirm a payment had already been sent (or if they could take a payment from my debit card immediately) and no harm done. I'm pretty sure I even had this with my MBNA card once - and they reversed the late charge, and also reinstated the promo rate.

But now things seem to be changing. For the OP with MBNA, and for me with Opus, and who knows which other cards as well. And sure, times are tough, policies are changing, so maybe that's just the way it is now.

I think the OP's point was not to say hey a bank isn't giving any leniency and I should be allowed to violate TOS whenever I want. It's more like, hey until recently most banks seemed ok about this, but all the sudden even the tiniest mistake from an otherwise very reliable borrower, will result in quite a harsh consequence, such as (in my case) not only a fee, but also cancellation of a *lifetime* promo rate. Sure, I supposed I deserved what I get for my stupid mistake - but maybe we should be getting a letter from the bank, like "hey yes we were much more lenient in the past and allowed you to get away with stupid crap, but now we are tightening up a lot and you won't get away with anything anymore". It's sort of like an change in "unnofficial" policy, so of course the card company doesn't need to notify us.

But thanks to the OP, at least we have someone to let us know before we make the same stupid mistake and assume, "oh a couple days late, I'm sure I can call in and get them to give me leniency like they always did in the past."

blacksta

Title of the thread caused me to panic but since i have a dd in place - I conclude the title is very misleading.

YorkshireBoy

gglaze wrote: »

...that doesn't make me (or the OP I presume?) a bad borrower, just perhaps a very busy one

I will never buy that argument. Are you saying these people never watch TV, listen to music, read a book, relax, go to the pub, etc? Unless the answer is yes to all, I'd say they were lackadaisical and/or lazy.

...maybe we should be getting a letter from the bank, like "hey yes we were much more lenient in the past and allowed you to get away with stupid crap, but now we are tightening up a lot and you won't get away with anything anymore".

MBNA sent such a notification several years ago now, in the form of a notice of variation to their/your T&Cs. They removed the wording "we may remove a promotional rate" and replaced it with "we will remove a promotional rate".

They even, in the accompanying 'summary of changes', reproduced the entire old condition with the new condition alongside it, and then in a third column gave the gist of what this key change meant. And they did/still do this for all major T&C changes.

But it relies on customers reading, let alone understanding, what they're sent, and as we know there are many who don't!

gglaze

Fair enough, if they have sent a notice about the change of policy, then that's probably all we should hope for. Admittedly, I was either too busy (or lazy) to read that particular notice if I received it. I was just quite disappointed when I called Opus, explained I was a long-time cardholder in good standing, and still could not get any leniency. Times have changed I suppose.

Still, I'm interested to know if anyone else has stories of leniency still being granted by any of the card companies (so I'll know which ones I can bee to lazy to read their T&C updates and which ones I can't..)

chris-j

It's not hostility. Just because people are disagreeing with OP does not make it hostile or trolling. Interesting that the people in sympathy with OP have also breached T&Cs - Credit card companies are not charities, golden rule for BT's and 0% purchases is always DON'T MISS PAYMENTS OR UNDERPAY. Simples.

Rupert_Bear

I do not understand why these very busy people do not just up a direct debit. I have mine in place for the min payment and never have any issues.

chattychappy

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

I do not understand why these very busy people do not just up a direct debit. I have mine in place for the min payment and never have any issues.

I'm a very busy person but manage without DDs!

tomsco

gglaze wrote: »

But now things seem to be changing. For the OP with MBNA, and for me with Opus, and who knows which other cards as well. And sure, times are tough, policies are changing, so maybe that's just the way it is now.

Times are not changing in regards to leniency on CC fees. You mentioned you had previous fees refunded, so maybe they say that and decided one is good enough.

gglaze wrote: »

I think the OP's point was not to say hey a bank isn't giving any leniency and I should be allowed to violate TOS whenever I want. It's more like, hey until recently most banks seemed ok about this, but all the sudden even the tiniest mistake from an otherwise very reliable borrower, will result in quite a harsh consequence, such as (in my case) not only a fee, but also cancellation of a *lifetime* promo rate. Sure, I supposed I deserved what I get for my stupid mistake - but maybe we should be getting a letter from the bank, like "hey yes we were much more lenient in the past and allowed you to get away with stupid crap, but now we are tightening up a lot and you won't get away with anything anymore". It's sort of like an change in "unnofficial" policy, so of course the card company doesn't need to notify us.

Having a look over the OP again, it does appear their post was just that, complaining his bank is following the T&C's to the word. They do not make is sound general to the world of finanace at all.

And on top of what Yorkshire said, there is most likely another clause in the T&C's as well stating that even if they are lenient once, they are under no obligation to be lenient again.

Rupert_Bear

chattychappy wrote: »

I'm a very busy person but manage without DDs!

Yes but chattychappy you are unique but so many are not as organised as your goodself.

Ultrasonic

Reading this thread I'm actually surprised to hear how often credit card companies are apparently lenient and DON'T enforce their Ts&Cs! There is no reason why they should do this at all.