MBNA Late Fees and qithdrawl of my promotional offer

jlg1

Hi everyone,

I know from having a search on this site and elsewhere I am not alone in this "problem".

Basically - I have a 0% interest offer until 2015 - with MBNA.

I always make payments on time - Septembers was due on 28th Sept - I made a payment online through debit card on the morning of 26th Sept.

Upon checking my statements (all are online by the way) I see I have been charged £12 late fee and £16.81 interest for Octobers bill which is due on a different date of 31st October - they seem to keep changing the due date...?

I phoned MBNA - the girl wasnt budging much - she did offer to refund the late fee and drop the standard interest rate from 18.whatever to 1.9% but I feel I should be back on the promotional offer and the late fee be wiped as I made every effort to get the payment in on time (she argued the 26th Sept was a Thursday and this left one banking day - the Friday so it actually went through after that).

This was made through Santander...she also said she could not speak with the Northern Bank" wherever she got that from as they were closed....

I have left it a manager is to contact me within 48 hours - is there a chance I am "in the right" and can have the offer reinstated AND have the late fee lifted - if pushed I might (reluctantly) pay the late fee IF they reinstate the offer.

I have never missed a payment on anything in my life and thought that paying on 26th was time enough for this to go through...due to crazy work issues I didnt get it paid earlier int he month. I will be setting up a direct debit from here in after this.....

Has anyone any thoughts on this...?

Sorry for the typo in the title of this post...:)

Thanks for any help...:)

James

YorkshireBoy

jlg1 wrote: »

I made a payment online through debit card on the morning of 26th Sept.

Then quote their timings to them...

MBNA_online_making_a_payment_area wrote:

Your payment will be completed on the next business day unless your request is received after 5pm, on a weekend/bank holiday, or after 2.30 pm on the last business day of each month when it will take an extra business day.

...and see what they say.

jlg1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Then quote their timings to them......and see what they say.

Hi,

Thanks a lot for that last part...very interesting..!

I was not told that in phone call - I will quote that back to them considering payment was made on the Thursday and not due til Saturday (28th) - going by the above - it should have went through on the Friday...they did say "you tried to make a payment too close to the weekend....?

Much appreciated I'll just do that....:)

James

YorkshireBoy

jlg1 wrote: »

I was not told that in phone call

It was there for you to read when you were making your payment on their website...just below where you were entering your card details.

jlg1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

It was there for you to read when you were making your payment on their website...just below where you were entering your card details.

Ive just checked and I can see that - I must have missed that somehow...?....all I can do is try and meet them in the middle somewhere - if it comes to it...:(

bengal-stripe

How did you make the payment?

A 'Faster Payment' transfer would have gone through without problems. If you pay on the website using a Debit Card, that will take something like 2 or 3 days and a cheque (God forbid) would take something like a week.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

bengal-stripe wrote: »

How did you make the payment?

A 'Faster Payment' transfer would have gone through without problems. If you pay on the website using a Debit Card, that will take something like 2 or 3 days and a cheque (God forbid) would take something like a week.

Like this:

jlg1 wrote: »

I made a payment online through debit card on the morning of 26th Sept.

YorkshireBoy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

A 'Faster Payment' transfer would have gone through without problems.

Almost certainly, yes.

However, the PSRs allow for "by the end of the next business day" which, in the case of Virgin, may have been too late for Friday's cut-off.

Again, from the aforementioned online secure area...

Faster Payments made between 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, will be completed and available for you to use within 2 hours of us receiving cleared funds from your bank. Outside of these hours, or on a weekend/bank holiday, your payment will be completed and available for you to use by 10am on the next business day.

...so 'if' there was a problem, and the funds didn't arrive until after 4pm Friday, then the OP would be in the same position.

So, pay when you get the statement...or the following day...or the following week even...maybe even two weeks later...at a push even 3 weeks later...but if you really want to eek out every last bit of time, then pay by direct debit which, in the case of the OP, would have meant payment was collected on Monday 30th (and still not been classed as late).

jlg1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Almost certainly, yes.

However, the PSRs allow for "by the end of the next business day" which, in the case of Virgin, may have been too late for Friday's cut-off.

Again, from the aforementioned online secure area......so 'if' there was a problem, and the funds didn't arrive until after 4pm Friday, then the OP would be in the same position.

So, pay when you get the statement...or the following day...or the following week even...maybe even two weeks later...at a push even 3 weeks later...but if you really want to eek out every last bit of time, then pay by direct debit which, in the case of the OP, would have meant payment was collected on Monday 30th (and still not been classed as late).

Hi again,

I usually pay at least a week in advance maybe more - just was a hectic month with work and stuff -

Yes thats exactly what they are saying - the payment was late.. I checked my printout of the payment (I always run one off) and it actually says it was made on 26/9 at 18:37pm - I hadnt realised it was that late in the day - so they could argue I missed the 5pm deadline making the 2nd working day Monday 30th I suppose. It was an honest mistake - I am never late with any payments for anything....

I have been offered 1.9% interest instead of the standard rate and I wont have to pay the late fee - but because I was "angry" last night I refused it - so that now means I have to wait on a Manager phoning me "in the next 48 hours" ...? even on a Sunday....?

I am wondering whether to accept the 1.9% (roughyl £2+ per month) - still seems unfair though...spoke to CS this morning and again she said I'd have to speak to a Manager...if I didnt take the "offer"....funny how they can just reduce the % without explaing how they come to that figure...or is that standard...?

I mean for a "one off" surely they could let it go...Ive found online - others have been let off with the late fee and the offer has been re-instated...?:eek:

jlg1

jlg1 wrote: »

Hi again,

I usually pay at least a week in advance maybe more - just was a hectic month with work and stuff -

Yes thats exactly what they are saying - the payment was late.. I checked my printout of the payment (I always run one off) and it actually says it was made on 26/9 at 18:37pm - I hadnt realised it was that late in the day - so they could argue I missed the 5pm deadline making the 2nd working day Monday 30th I suppose. It was an honest mistake - I am never late with any payments for anything....

I have been offered 1.9% interest instead of the standard rate and I wont have to pay the late fee - but because I was "angry" last night I refused it - so that now means I have to wait on a Manager phoning me "in the next 48 hours" ...? even on a Sunday....?

I am wondering whether to accept the 1.9% (roughyl £2+ per month) - still seems unfair though...spoke to CS this morning and again she said I'd have to speak to a Manager...if I didnt take the "offer"....funny how they can just reduce the % without explaing how they come to that figure...or is that standard...?

I mean for a "one off" surely they could let it go...Ive found online - others have been let off with the late fee and the offer has been re-instated...?:eek:

To update my thread...

I spoke to a manager today - he was very helpful and he acknowledged that this was a genuine oversight on my part and not a deliberate default on the payment - so he reinstated the offer and removed the £12 late fee - so I'm over the moon with that - he did mention the faster payment option as well - tbh I had never heard of that before...so it WONT happy again lol - it'll be paid well in advance, every time from now on...

Just to say thanks for all the help with this - much appreciated...:)

James

redpete

jlg1 wrote: »

I spoke to a manager today - he was very helpful and he acknowledged that this was a genuine oversight on my part and not a deliberate default on the payment - so he reinstated the offer and removed the £12 late fee

Well done for that, and well done to MBNA.

I feel I should be back on the promotional offer and the late fee be wiped as I made every effort to get the payment in on time

Apart from setting up a direct debit for the minimum amount which would put the responsibility on MBNA to take the money when it is due.