MBNA (AA) credit card sleight of hand

molerat

You cannot pay a statement in advance of it being produced therefore you made multiple payments on the previous statement and failed to make a payment on the next statement (as will be clearly stated in the card t&cs). As others have said this is the same with any card.

thegoodman

tomsco wrote: »

The T&C's are not there to catch you out, if anything they're there to help you understand what is required of you and what is required of the lender. As you said, the difference is one you've found, others have pointed out in your thread that they have had success in refunds onto the account, but it is entirely up to the lenders discretion as whether to allow this or not.

Why would you waste the FO's time. As others have pointed out, if you have not attempted to comprehend the T&C's than you alone are at fault.

Agree with you. The T&C there to help you to understand the product.
Even if you don't understand the whole document, it is important understand the due date, way the apr works and some basic points.
I think most people with the basic English and very tiny common sense should be able to understand them.

Why take a credit if you either don't agree to or understand the T&C?

InsideInsurance

But the "month" is not a calendar month but a statement month. So if a statement runs from the 8th to the 7th as yours seems to then if you pay on the 1st May then it counts towards the statement that was produced on the 8th April and not the statement produced on the 8th May just because you made the payment in May.

Unless you make another payment between the 8th May and the due date (26th May) then you have not made a payment against that statement and so would receive a late payment fee

thegoodman

davp wrote: »

I had a bad experience with MBNA too (see other thread) so I sympathise. The T&Cs do seem designed to catch you out, but they are typical I'm afraid. The difference I've found with MBNA is their refusal to relent for any reason, and online transactions do not always run smoothly.

You could try the Financial Ombudsman, but they're likely to be only interested in whether the T&Cs were followed. That such a document is almost impossible to absorb entirely is considered irrelevant.

The T&C is clear in terms of due date and 0% offers.
I am very happy with their offers and over all service.
I have been using the online service to make payments without any problem

At the end of the day like all companies mbna is to make money it's not a public service.

prowla

molerat wrote: »

You cannot pay a statement in advance of it being produced therefore you made multiple payments on the previous statement and failed to make a payment on the next statement (as will be clearly stated in the card t&cs). As others have said this is the same with any card.

Yes - that's the gist of it, except that the payments after the due date of the previous month and before the issue date of the next month don't count as either; they are simply deducted from the balance but not attributed to either statement.

I certainly did not read and commit to memory that item in the T&Cs (it is probably in there and/or a variance that was issued at some point).

InsideInsurance wrote: »

But the "month" is not a calendar month but a statement month. So if a statement runs from the 8th to the 7th as yours seems to then if you pay on the 1st May then it counts towards the statement that was produced on the 8th April and not the statement produced on the 8th May just because you made the payment in May.

Unless you make another payment between the 8th May and the due date (26th May) then you have not made a payment against that statement and so would receive a late payment fee

Yes, but the additional payment was made after the due date of the previous month's and in the time where transactions would still be being included for the forthcoming one.

As I say, the warning is not about paying late for the previous month, but instead it is concerned with paying early for the next.

In layman's terms it's as if I lent you a tenner 'til next week and you offered to repay it before, but I refused to accept it.

But them's their rules.

thegoodman

prowla wrote: »

Yes - that's the gist of it, except that the payments after the due date of the previous month and before the issue date of the next month don't count as either; they are simply deducted from the balance but not attributed to either statement.

Not correct. The payment made at any time will go towards the current statement. If made after the due date, the payment will count as late and the charge and intrest will apply. You cannot make the payment before the statement is generated, same as you cannot pay the electric bill before the invoice is generated if you have an outstanding balance. The balance will be used towards the current invoice.

This is not new to credit cards, most business work this way.

prowla

thegoodman wrote: »

Not correct. The payment made at any time will go towards the current statement. If made after the due date, the payment will count as late and the charge and intrest will apply. You cannot make the payment before the statement is generated, same as you cannot pay the electric bill before the invoice is generated if you have an outstanding balance. The balance will be used towards the current invoice.

This is not new to credit cards, most business work this way.

I understand the way you are justifying it.

I made the payment in advance of receipt of the invoice, and that was unacceptable.

thegoodman

prowla wrote: »

I understand the way you are justifying it.

I made the payment in advance of receipt of the invoice, and that was unacceptable.

Was your last invoice fully paid?
If it was then you will have a positive balance which will go towards your next invoice if not your payment will go towards current invoice even if due date is passed.
How can you make an advance payment when your current invoice is not paid?

InsideInsurance

prowla wrote: »

Yes, but the additional payment was made after the due date of the previous month's and in the time where transactions would still be being included for the forthcoming one.

As I say, the warning is not about paying late for the previous month, but instead it is concerned with paying early for the next.

In layman's terms it's as if I lent you a tenner 'til next week and you offered to repay it before, but I refused to accept it.

But them's their rules.

Unfortunately, your laymans term example is overly simplistic. You have agreed to pay an amount against each statement so to do extend your laymans examples it is more like borrowing £100 from your mate and agreeing, explicitly, you will pay them a tenner each week. In week one you give then a tenner, week two you give then twenty but in week three you give them nothing.

Obviously your argument is that it is week three so by now you have should have given them £30 and you have but the problem is that you didnt agree to give them £30 by week three but explicitly you'd give them £10 a week and you have failed to meet this because you gave them nothing in week three.

Likewise with a credit card you agree to pay against each statement. If you pay before the statement is created then actually you are still paying against the old statement even if it is made after the payment due date.

prowla

thegoodman wrote: »

Was your last invoice fully paid?
If it was then you will have a positive balance which will go towards your next invoice if not your payment will go towards current invoice even if due date is passed.
How can you make an advance payment when your current invoice is not paid?

Yes - I am talking about additional payments, not arrears.

What you say in your 2nd paragraph is not the case; the positive balance is not taken as a payment towards the next invoice, and that is what I refer to as a "sleight of hand".

For example in August last year I paid £100 on the 1st, which was a late payment for the July (my error, as I say), and I also paid £100 on the 8th, but that was not accepted as a payment towards August (actually August's invoice was dated the 8th, but payments were only accepted from the 9th).

Basically there is a window for payments which starts the day after the invoice's issue date and ends the day before the invoice's due date, and payments made in the (approx 1 week) gap between the two are in a kind of limbo; they reduce the overall balance owed but are not deemed to be a payment on either invoice.