Issues with MBNA/Bank Of America

MartynShort

Hi All,

I really hope you can help me with this as I'm getting to the end of my tether with this now...

I have an Amazon Credit Card with is run by MBNA, which is part of the Bank of America. The long and short of my problem is, I paid off the remaining balace on the card and rang MBNA to cancel the card and close my account, which they told me had been done. I destroyed the card and thought nothing else of it until about a month ago when I received a text from MBNA asking them to contact me about a query...

They told me they had tried to take payment from my current account (direct debit) and it had failed. I asked them for the date they tried to take the payment, and it was AFTER the account had been paid off and closed, therefore there was no balance to pay. They had then added 2 months of charges and interest on top of this. I made a formal complaint immediately and this is still been investigated by MBNA.

Yesterday, I received a statement from MBNA saying that I was now 3 months in arrears and my credit account had been suspended.

Basically, what I need to know is where I stand on all of this, as MBNA are being less than helpful and are taking far too long to deal with this in my opinion. I'm concerned that the "missed" payments are going to affect my credit rating in future (which I have spent some time working hard to build up). The balance itself is minimal as it is completely made up of charges added on my MBNA!

Sorry for the huge first post!

Martyn

Tixy

When you thought you had paid off the remaining balance - did you allow for the fact there would likely be trailing interest charged the following month? (that is the interest from the previous statement date to the date you actually made your payment).

Did they send you a statement the following month? or the one after?

MartynShort

Tixy wrote: »

When you thought you had paid off the remaining balance - did you allow for the fact there would likely be trailing interest charged the following month? (that is the interest from the previous statement date to the date you actually made your payment).

I hadn't taken this into consideration actually, however nor was I made aware by MBNA that this would be an issue, as far as I understood when I got off the phone to them, the account was closed and that was it. Either way, in that month I was charged 6.99 interest, and the payment they were trying to take was in excess of £35, so this in no was was to cover the previous months interest. Also, the payment was completed by the 21st of February, the statement date is the 13th.

Tixy wrote: »

Did they send you a statement the following month? or the one after?

I received no further statements prior to the one I received this month, the only communication I have had from them is one text, and letters since I contacted them.

MartynShort

Just to add, they didn't text me until the 15th May either.

Tixy

Prior to closing the account did you normally get statements in the mail or did you only use online statements?

If it was only online and they were generated showing the interest charge but you didn't check them then I would think your best bet would be to speak to them and offer to pay the interest owed originally and see if they will cancel the other costs and remove the missed payments a goodwill gesture.

If you usually had paper statements and they definitely did not come to you then I set this out to them and state that you accept you have the interest to be paid but that as they did not send statements or notify you of the amount due that you require them to remove the negative marks from your credit file and remove the missed payment charges etc.

Tixy

Ah just seen the point about the £35 payment.

Did you have a DD set up to pay the minimum amount? if so but you paid the balance before that they will still try to take the minimum payment shown on the statement.
The statement is worded something like 'we will take the minimum payment by DD regardless of any other payments made'.
In these circumstances they would usually take the DD - and then you'd request that they refunded it, or the other option is to cancel the DD (with MBNA not your bank) the preceeding month - so that you can then pay the final amount manually.

Buzby

Your error was in assuming that asking them to close the account would not apply if there was any debit balance showing. This also goes for cards that have been closed months before, when a late debit arrives and the card company pays against it.

Because you forgot about the outstanding interest (which is always applied the month following the initial zero balance), there is no reason for them to tell you this, as having a DD mandate, they will simply collect the final amount and the account is suspended (noting the caveat outlined earlier).

If the only reason why the DD was not paid, was because you cancelled it, I'm afraid you don't have a leg to stand on. If it was because they did not collect the funds despite having a valid DD, you have a little wriggle room.

Clearly, you do owe them, and if they are not prepared to waive the fees for the failed or missed payments, you will have to grin and bear it - however, do remember this also appears on your credit file, and only they can remove it. If you explain the situation and agree to pay the outstanding amount immediately a request that they cancel the late payment markers is not un unreasonable request.

It goes without saying, ALL cc companies operate this way.

thenudeone

mbna statements always clearly state: "your regular direct debit will always be taken, regardless of any additional payments you make"

So you knew there would be a direct debit to come, even if you paid off the full balance, because it says so very clearly.

An since you were already paying interest, that interest would continue, so the payment would be applied against that.

sistafromanothermista

A similar thing happened to me (search my threads) having contacted Virgin about this they admitted they had mis-led me and have arranged not only for my account to be closed but a refund of rejected DD fee and they are also paying the interest for me too :beer: it's worth talking to them about it.

*LolaB*

With regards to the time they are taking to deal with your complaint, they are allowed 56 days issue a final response as set out by the FSA/FOS.

I agree with the other posters, it sounds like residual interest that has caused the outstanding balance & subsequent fees. If it is you are liable to pay it but they may refund you on a goodwill basis, you never know.

tomsco

sistafromanothermista wrote: »

A similar thing happened to me (search my threads) having contacted Virgin about this they admitted they had mis-led me and have arranged not only for my account to be closed but a refund of rejected DD fee and they are also paying the interest for me too :beer: it's worth talking to them about it.

This is a honest question, but could you confirm how they mis-led you? Did they actually state something when another thing would happen?