Charged for paying bill "too early" (MBNA)

BillJones

cautiousjon wrote: »

That's really poor. MBNA's systems should easily be able to take account of additional payments and amend the monthly DD accordingly. Barclaycard, Halifax, (previously) Lloyds TSB and (previously) Egg manage(d) to do this. It is not particularly complex?

Nothing to do with complexity. As above, it is done for a reason, not through lack of attention or effort.

People really need to start taking some responsibility for understanding terms and conditions. If you are incapable of doing so, or simply can't be bothered, then of course there will be problems down the road, but why then blame the banks for your own choices?

chattychappy

Gromitt wrote: »

Personally I prefer the "minimum payment by DD" method, then if fraud occurs on my account I can call them up about it and freeze that transaction, knowing the DD will not try and pay for it. I know people for which this has happened, for thousands of pounds. The transactions were under investigation but of course it's all computer controlled and the DD was attempted, which bounced and then caused them automatic charges by both the CC company and the bank, along with bad credit reports. A small amount of interest is far easier to handle.

Yep, in fact that's one reason why I won't sign a DD at all - though I agree having one just for the minimum reduces the risk substantially.

In my case £6800 of fraud hit an otherwise dormant credit card. I was abroad and only discovered the situation 6 weeks later when I was back in the UK. Not having a DD acted as a firebreak. If that had gone out of my current account, all sorts of other payments would likely have been bounced and sorting out these out remotely would have been a real hassle.

Now I only have cards which I can check online and do so regularly even with dormant ones. But it is still the case that when things go wrong you are still sometimes required to shuffle traditional paperwork or attend branches. It can also be a real hassle to get negative CRA reports reversed.

After about 30 years I have yet to forget a manual payment. No doubt it will happen one day. But I'd happily pay the £12+interest in the knowledge that my current account remains beyond the reach of an errant DD. And a single missed payment is unlikely to have much long lasting impact on my record. Besides I just find making manual payments so much simpler than trying to remember to allow for DDs flying around.