MBNA £50 charge plus extras?

jumperabv3

First of all, I would like to emphasize, I am not upset about this charge, I actually did this knowingly just to "test" the card. So this is not a ranting post but I'm only posting this to verify it with you.

Okay, so I have an American Airlines card with MBNA. I decided I wanted to test it and deposit £1,000 with Bet365. I already placed a bet on the NBA (odds of 1.18) and Bet365 withdrew back to the card £1,181 so I don't need to pay this balance myself, it would probably post either later on today or tomorrow in the account (currently the refund from Bet365 isn't there but this isn't relevant to my post). So I made a £1,000 deposit from the card on the 3rd of November - they closed the statement today - here are the results:



Apparently they charged me £50 cash advance fee, plus as long as the refund from Bet365 doesn't show there, then they charge me interest of around £0.71/day.

My questions are:

(1) What's your opinion about this?
(2) Would I get miles into my American Airlines account as if I spent £1,000 or £1,050? (does the extra charge of £50 count towards the American Airlines miles account?)
(3) I've not been gambling for a long time .... I am trying very hard to avoid doing it (this is not a question but recommendation to people to avoid gambling).

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

The cash advance fee is standard on gambling.

You don't earn miles on fees or interest.

jumperabv3

Deleted_User wrote: »

The cash advance fee is standard on gambling.

You don't earn miles on fees or interest.

Thanks.
:T

thebritishbloke

I'd be surprised if you even earned miles on what was treated as a cash transaction.

jumperabv3

thebritishbloke wrote: »

I'd be surprised if you even earned miles on what was treated as a cash transaction.

Yes, I confirmed, no miles on that transaction, but glad I tested it. The British Airways card (not with MBNA) does get you AVIOS and there is no (expensive) cash advance fee for using it with gambling.

thebritishbloke

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Yes, I confirmed, no miles on that transaction, but glad I tested it. The British Airways card (not with MBNA) does get you AVIOS and there is no (expensive) cash advance fee for using it with gambling.

At least you have a net profit. I just wouldn't risk gambling using credit.

jumperabv3

thebritishbloke wrote: »

At least you have a net profit. I just wouldn't risk gambling using credit.

Yes, I agree.
And I wouldn't risk it with gambling at all.

Please, anyone who reads this - just avoid it, at all costs, it is bad for you. I'm 'recovering' ... from the 25th of June I placed exactly 3 bets including this one so far (one was on the Scottish Referendum, another one was inside a Paddy Power betting shop, betting on a tennis match and risking 500 GBP to win 42 GBP, and the third is the one I referred to in my initial post) ... I'm doing my best to avoid gambling as much as I can using self-exclusion and other tools ... I'm not happy with those "winnings"... I know it can haunt me down, so I'm doing my utmost to stay away from it.

Please do the same if you read this.

jumperabv3

Oh wow ... I totally didn't expect this!! Look at this!!



I actually got a REFUND for my Cash-Advance fee. The refund was for the amount of £59.09 - that is £9 more than what they charged me (£50.00)

I went on chat with them to find out about these good news:
Lyndsey: Thank you. I'm accessing the account for you now. I may be a moment but I am still here.
Me: No problem.
Lyndsey: Thanks for your patience, I have reviewed your account, I can confirm that is your cash advance fee as you have had a credit from B365, we return the cash advance fee.

......

Lyndsey: That's great, I am glad I was able to look at your account today, is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: Yes, last thing please. You charged me a cash advance fee of £50.00 - but you refunded me with £59.09 - I think you overpaid me, no? (you gave me extra £9.09)
Lyndsey: No that's correct, it is because you have credited back to ourselves more than you took out.
Me: Oh, ok ... that's a very nice gesture I wasn't expecting....
Me:
Lyndsey: You're welcome, is there anything else I can help you with today?
Me: That's all. Thanks. Have a good day.


So I actually got extra £9 on top!!
That's actually a GOOD DEAL, with or without miles!!

:T:D:T:D:T

grumbler

jumperabv3 wrote: »

So I actually got extra £9 on top!!
That's actually a GOOD DEAL, with or without miles!!

:T:D:T:D:T

It's a good deal only because you were lucky to win.
In fact you gambled with £1050 to win ~£1191, i.e. the actual odds were ~1.13 instead of 1.18 because of the cash advance fee.

jumperabv3

grumbler wrote: »

It's a good deal only because you were lucky to win.
In fact you gambled with £1050 to win ~£1191, i.e. the actual odds were ~1.13 instead of 1.18 because of the cash advance fee.

Well, almost ...

I risked £1,000 to win £1,181 exactly:

• If I win I get it and they (MBNA) actually add 5% on top of the £181 !! (so £181 x 1.05 = £190) --> odds of 1.19
• If I lose I have to pay £50 (plus interest, which is £0.70/day approx) --> odds of 1.13 as you said, well sort of.

So apparently if you risk £1,000 to win £600 for instance, you get 5% on top of the £600, which is extra £30 !!

But as I said - just avoid gambling - regardless of extra 5% it's just not worth it.... BUT.... for those of you who do arbitrage (e.g. here) then the extra 5% might be useful (it's only 5% on top of your winnings, not on top of your initial deposit).

Good thing I'm "testing" all these cards. :D:D

jumperabv3

grumbler, by the way, my MBNA account is exactly in £189.48 in credit. My odds were 1.181 so I got extra 5% from them on the winnings (£181.82).

You should however deduct the approximate £0.70/day interest they charge between the time I made the deposit until I received the refund back into the account, so currently they took interest for 2 days (statement got closed on the 5th)... by the end of this month it would be another 1 day interest of £0.70 (between the 5th and 6th of November).

So really it would be in my case £188.80 approx - final amount, which indicates 3.8% extra on top of what I won!

I'm just doing this to show you how much you can get back, probably many people aren't aware of it.