MBNA - Financial Ombudsman

jonesMUFCforever

andy86 wrote: »

I contacted MBNA requesting a refund first. I am not entitled to file a complaint with the Ombudsman without contacting MBNA first.

Please do not waste the ombudsman's time - it is obvious that you were in the wrong (unknowingly or unwittingly) so accept some responsibility for your actions and move on.

If it has not done any long damage to your credit score move the debt to another card.

andy86

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Please do not waste the ombudsman's time - it is obvious that you were in the wrong (unknowingly or unwittingly) so accept some responsibility for your actions and move on.

If it has not done any long damage to your credit score move the debt to another card.

Why did the ombudsman tell me they will look into it? if it is wasting their time?

jonesMUFCforever

andy86 wrote: »

Why did the ombudsman tell me they will look into it? if it is wasting their time?

It is a standard reply - just like when somebody owes you money says the cheque's in the post.

YorkshireBoy

andy86 wrote: »

Why did the ombudsman tell me they will look into it? if it is wasting their time?

I can't see your complaint getting to an "ombudsman" to be honest. I think it'll be dealt with by their frontline staff. That way there's no fee charged to MBNA either.

MBNA know all they have to do is show the FOS the T&Cs you agreed to, namely they gave you an interest free loan (with a 4% fee) for circa 2 years, and in return all you had to do was to pay them when they told you they wanted a payment (via the statement). You didn't do that. Nor, by your own admission, did you even look at your statements for several months.

You have a very weak case, mainly due to the time period that's passed since the breach.

But good luck with it.

chattychappy

andy86 wrote: »

the thing is, I don't like using DD. reason being, I'm basically signing a piece of paper allowing them to take money from my account. and if they make a mistake doing that, I don't get to charge them fees and hundreds of £s in interest.

Quite agree about DDs and I never sign them either.

Standing Orders are fine, but you do have be careful with the dates. The payment has to hit between the day after the statement date and the due-by date. If you set up the SO to hit in the middle of this period, you are unlikely to be caught out. I have a number of cards and the dates have never varied by more than +/- 3 days. But you really must check statements - for fraud prevention if nothing else.

andy86 wrote: »

I believe the law takes into account reasonable intention. The fact that I have demonstrated intention of making my payments and have not been grossly negligent. although they do have their rules and I admit I understand how the charges have occurred I can guarantee I will not let it happen again (and I still wont use DD), I still think they are being unreasonable in their decision not to refund the charges.

Well, law's my day job and I've not heard of "reasonable intention" and gross negligence isn't really relevant here either.

I think your only grounds for complaint are the amount of the penalties levied. Penalties should reflect the cost to the injured party of the breach. CCs have systematically levied a defacto £12 following an OFT decision that above this level they would presume them to be unfair. That doesn't mean a £12 penalty is lawful and the OFT quite rightly made it clear that £12 shouldn't be regarded as appropriate in all cases.

So if I were to argue it, I'd put MBNA to proof that the £12 levied (twice?) is proportionate given the costs they have incurred as a result of the breach. Ie precisely how has your breach cost them that much - did they try phoning you? Did they send you a personalised letter - or did a computer simply churn something out? If you lost your BT deal incurring additional interest too, I'd throw that into the pot - arguing that this amounts to a disguised penalty. Yes, the T+Cs say you will lose a promotional deal if you breach T+Cs, but just because something is in the T+Cs doesn't mean it's lawful.

All rather tenuous, but that's the best I can come up with!

andy86

chattychappy wrote: »

Quite agree about DDs and I never sign them either.

Standing Orders are fine, but you do have be careful with the dates. The payment has to hit between the day after the statement date and the due-by date. If you set up the SO to hit in the middle of this period, you are unlikely to be caught out. I have a number of cards and the dates have never varied by more than +/- 3 days. But you really must check statements - for fraud prevention if nothing else.



Well, law's my day job and I've not heard of "reasonable intention" and gross negligence isn't really relevant here either.

I think your only grounds for complaint are the amount of the penalties levied. Penalties should reflect the cost to the injured party of the breach. CCs have systematically levied a defacto £12 following an OFT decision that above this level they would presume them to be unfair. That doesn't mean a £12 penalty is lawful and the OFT quite rightly made it clear that £12 shouldn't be regarded as appropriate in all cases.

So if I were to argue it, I'd put MBNA to proof that the £12 levied (twice?) is proportionate given the costs they have incurred as a result of the breach. Ie precisely how has your breach cost them that much - did they try phoning you? Did they send you a personalised letter - or did a computer simply churn something out? If you lost your BT deal incurring additional interest too, I'd throw that into the pot - arguing that this amounts to a disguised penalty. Yes, the T+Cs say you will lose a promotional deal if you breach T+Cs, but just because something is in the T+Cs doesn't mean it's lawful.

All rather tenuous, but that's the best I can come up with!

Thought I was getting nowhere with this thread... thank you so much.

opinions4u

andy86 wrote: »

Thought I was getting nowhere with this thread... thank you so much.

Despite the helpful suggestions, I'd be amazed if you got anywhere once you've exhausted the MBNA complaints procedure.

You're best hope is goodwill from the company. The FOS and the courts cannot, in my view, side with somebody who has ignored their statements and not paid when due.