Morgan Stanley £20 Annual Fee

Freebyman

Just got a strange letter from Morgan Stanley, I cancelled the card in the middle of May and today got a statement without a mention of the £20 and a letter stating from the 1st of June my agreement has been transferred to Goldfish Bank Limited. Im very puzzled, is this a way of getting the £20 out of me or have they gone mad?

MrsMillar

Freebyman wrote: »

Just got a strange letter from Morgan Stanley, I cancelled the card in the middle of May and today got a statement without a mention of the £20 and a letter stating from the 1st of June my agreement has been transferred to Goldfish Bank Limited. Im very puzzled, is this a way of getting the £20 out of me or have they gone mad?

See Posts 174-180!

Freebyman

whoops, didnt read them thanks for the prod in the right direction!

bodybutter

As an update to my situation with the monkeys at Morgan Stanley.

Following my letter to them they sent back a complaints procedure and reserved the right to reply in x amount of days (28?).

The following day I had another letter saying they are sorry to lose my custom and they think £20 is excellent value. They refered to the £15 cash back limits. And basically said my account is closed.

I called up the call centre basically asked for a cheque for the £30 cashback, and badgered them for the missing amount as it did not fall in the £15 brackets. I was on the phone for close to an hour begging, pleading, threatening, chatting basically every emotional mood to try and get them to pay my cashback 100%. In the end Morgan Stanley just hung up on me! Thanks!

So I thought !!!!!! them, well today nearly a month later I have recieved the missing amount of cash back as well as my £30 cash back. I cant log into the account centre, no biggy. My statement has come together with a letter saying I am now a customer of gold fish bank.

I am wondering if Morgan Stanley are selling off their credit card business as it is not a "strategic fit" in management speak?

ernie-money

I am soooo angry! Because I always check my statements online and also make online payments I have not been paying that much attention to my statements as they have come through. I always open them and stick them in a folder for reference, but I haven't been reading everything that comes with them. Therefore I have missed the notification of the £20 fee, until I today logged on to the website and noticed £20 had come out of my account.
I instantly rang and queried it, but I could tell straight away that I wasn't getting anywhere. I argued that an important message like that should have been sent in a separate letter, rather than sneaked in with the statement, or at least displayed online when you log on, but apparently this is how they communicate important account changes to their customers.
I have resigned and guess I just have to bite the bullet and pay the £20, but I am still thinking about a way of getting them back...
I was just thinking - what happens if I spend a load of money on my card, pay the next statement in full, request my moneyback and then afterwards return the goods - what happens then? Will they actually take the cashback amount out of my account, or will I just end up with a negative cash back balance? Does anyone know?
I would normally never do something like that, but I am so angry that they've managed to pull this one on me, when I'm normally really good with my money!
:mad:

bodybutter

Just spent 5 seconds trawling the web for a connection between GoldFish Bank and Morgan Stanley and came across the following:

http://www.viploan.co.uk/article/Credit_Cards-1822.shtml


Morgan Stanley Bank International Ltd. is buying the Goldfish credit card business of high street bank Lloyds TSB in a 1 billion-pound cash deal.

The company's U.K. credit card division managing director Charlotte Hogg said the company will invest in Goldfish brand and strengthen its foothold in the market. Morgan Stanley now targets the affluent customers while Goldfish is a mass market card.

Posted on : Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:35 GMT | Credit Cards News
By : Rob Davis

dodman

I'm in the same position as you, ernie-money. I just found out today when I looked online and saw they'd taken £20 for an annual fee.

Looking back through my paper statements I see this is mentioned in May. It says 'Please do remember that our terms and conditions are changing ...'

I have no recollection of getting any other letter from Morgan Stanley telling me about this. Can anyone confirm what prior warning they had before their May statement?

As it is, I've emailed their customer services asking them to close the account, pay me my cashback and return me the £20 they've taken, on the grounds they made (and make) no online mention of this charge at all.

If they don't agree, maybe I should pay off my outstanding balance in full (less the £20), then buy goods to the amount of my current cashback, and finally cancel the card ... leaving minus £20 on it.

Shiggaddi

dodman wrote: »

I'm in the same position as you, ernie-money. I just found out today when I looked online and saw they'd taken £20 for an annual fee.

Looking back through my paper statements I see this is mentioned in May. It says 'Please do remember that our terms and conditions are changing ...'

I have no recollection of getting any other letter from Morgan Stanley telling me about this. Can anyone confirm what prior warning they had before their May statement?

As it is, I've emailed their customer services asking them to close the account, pay me my cashback and return me the £20 they've taken, on the grounds they made (and make) no online mention of this charge at all.

If they don't agree, maybe I should pay off my outstanding balance in full (less the £20), then buy goods to the amount of my current cashback, and finally cancel the card ... leaving minus £20 on it.

Unfortunately if you dispute charges for any company, and you stand your ground and refuse to pay, and the companies are adamant you still owe them money, they can call in the debt collectors to recover this money.

When I first made the complaint on the phone, I just said, "Well if I pay off my card minus the amount you owe me for cashback, then that should be fair" The reponse was, "If you do that, the amount owing will accrue interest, and if it isn't paid, then we would take legal action to recover it from you"

The only notification I received was in my statement, and I never received a separate letter, but having spotted it in the statement in May, I was able to take action.

System

Well i have defected and gone to Tesco Clubcard Credit Card but i wasnt quick enough to leave MS before the charge was imposed on my account so i will probably keep the card till at least after christmas (in case i need more credit). I have about £6 in cashback too so i will hang on to it for a few months at least till i can draw out the £15 cashback.

Jandy123

Dear All, I am a Platinum card holder and I have had the £20 charge letter too, so I think it applies to us as well. I am a full-pay direct debit customer and I think it is us that the charge is aimed at. I would advise those who are thinking of cancelling immediately to at least wait until their cashback reaches £15 first ( the cashback can only be claimed in multiples of £15) and then you can claw back some of the £20 the swine have ripped you off for. I am certain that the company are trying to frighten away the people who are making money from them by not getting into debt. This was confirmed for me when I received the letter about them making full pay direct debit customers wait a further 15 days after the statement date before they take the money out of your account. They are hoping you either can't afford to pay in full by then or are made cautious and don't spend as much as you could, thus limiting the cashback you earn from them. Grrr! As if their profits weren't high enough, without these mean little tricks. Any way love and hugs from Jandy