MBNA Balance Transfer

davedelaney

Hello everyone,

Just posting a personal anecdote as to my frustration with MBNA.

I've built my credit history steadily since 2017 when opening my first card, I've never paid a penny in interest on any of my cards, and I only allow balances to carry on 0% promotional periods. I have a card with Tesco with a 0% offer until October just past, and a Virgin card with 0% until January 2021, however I obtained a balance transfer offer card with MBNA which doesn't require any payment until 2022. My goal was to consolidate both the Tesco and Virgin balances over to this new card, to enable me to not pay any interest, and also to free up the Virgin card for any emergency funds required at a 0% rate.

I transferred the first balance from Tesco over to MBNA without hassle around a month ago, however when I went to do the same with the Virgin card today I was declined (despite being well within the limit) and referred to check my Experian report - which shows nothing amiss. It's frustrating as the sole purpose of having this MBNA card was to switch these balances over, and it's incredibly frustrating that they've declined to do so without providing a solid reason (which I know they don't have to provide) even though it's well within my limits to do so.

Current cards:

Marbles - £4,000 limit with ~£20 spent monthly, paid in full
Tesco - £4,400 limit with ~£200 spent monthly, now paid in full, end of promotional period
Amex - £13,000 limit with ~£400 spent monthly, paid in full
Virgin - £3,300 limit with a £3,000 balance, minimum paid monthly due to 0% period
MBNA - £6,900 limit with a £2,900 balance (transferred from Tesco), minimum paid monthly due to 0% period

I've never missed a payment, never done a cash advance, no CCJ's, no loans, no mortgages, etc.

I just find it astounding that despite being approved for the £6,900 for MBNA around 6 weeks ago that I'm not longer worthy to use more of my limit towards another balance transfer. Nothing else has changed in my actual credit usage and my Experian 'score' has dropped solely due to being approved for the MBNA card while having the same circumstances as above. Their only resolution was for me to "put in a complaint" which isn't going to achieve anything.

I have the funds set aside to clear off any 0% balances in full if/when necessary, so that isn't a problem, and I only obtained a BT card to maintain the cash in my bank as opposed to paying it off without necessity.

I have no interest in obtaining any credit in the near future and am curious to what the experts think I should do moving forward?

I'd considered asking MBNA to reduce my credit limit to reduce my overall credit exposure, as I have no usage for an extra £4,000 exposure at a 20%+ rate. I'd also considered canning the Marbles card, however as it's my oldest card I understand it helps to keep the average age of my accounts in a higher standing.

My long term goal is to improve my credit to build a very healthy history to obtain a mortgage in the next few years.

Thanks for your advice/opinions.

Dave

CakeCrusader

"Editor's notes: The introductory rate for balance transfers and money transfers only applies to transactions made within 60 days of the account opening date. As the Virgin Credit Card is issued by MBNA you can't transfer a balance from another credit card issued by them." Type 'MBNA Virgin Balance Transfer' into Google and this is what pops up at the top. I hope it helps!

davedelaney

CakeCrusader wrote: »

"Editor's notes: The introductory rate for balance transfers and money transfers only applies to transactions made within 60 days of the account opening date. As the Virgin Credit Card is issued by MBNA you can't transfer a balance from another credit card issued by them." Type 'MBNA Virgin Balance Transfer' into Google and this is what pops up at the top. I hope it helps!

Well there's the answer. :beer:

Silly me for not realizing, as I should have done some more researching prior to having a moan.

Thanks for the reply.

ETA: Although after some reading I'm not so sure, as I believe MBNA no longer owned the Virgin Money brand when my Virgin card was issued in 2018; rather Lloyds.

CakeCrusader

No problem at all. What you could do is transfer the balance from the Virgin one onto a different card, and then transfer the balance onto the MBNA. Watch out for any fees and interest though.

Ben8282

I assume you are referring to this
https://www.balancetransferexpert.co.uk/mbna-virgin/

We know that the Virgin Atlantic airline credit cards were issued by MBNA until Virgin Money started issuing them in late 2017. I think that until around 2015 Virgin Money cards were issued by MBNA but my Virgin Money credit card, issued after that date but well before the OP obtained his card, has certainly always been issued by Virgin Money and not MBNA. Virgin Atlantic. an airline, and Virgin Money, a provider of financial services, are two different entities.

davedelaney wrote: »

ETA: Although after some reading I'm not so sure, as I believe MBNA no longer owned the Virgin Money brand when my Virgin card was issued in 2018; rather Lloyds.

Virgin Money credit cards were issued by MBNA until around 2015. In addition, MBNA used to issue a credit card which was branded a Virgin Atlantic card which gave Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer points. In late 2017 the airline Virgin Atlantic decided to no longer use MNBA and gave their business to Virgin Money who now issue a card which gives Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer points. Also, Lloyds have never owned Virgin Money. Lloyds have purchased and now own MBNA. Virgin Money have been taken over by Yorkshire Bank.

What I do find interesting though is that the OP obtained his very first credit card, a Marbles card, in 2017 and since then has managed to obtain good 0% cards, an Amex credit card with a £13,000 limit and a total available credit of £31,600. Very well done! Do NOT reduce the credit limit on the MBNA card and don't worry about 'credit exposure'. Don't cancel the Marbles card either as your average credit account age must be extremely low. You say that your long term goal is to improve your credit to build a very healthy history. I would say that you have done that already by what you have achieved in less than 3 years. However, I have an awful feeling that you may have ruined things - see below.

One thing in the OP concerns me. The OP has stated
I obtained a balance transfer offer card with MBNA which doesn't require any payment until 2022.

Now what exactly do you mean by this. ALL cards require you to make a minimum payment each month. There is NO balance transfer card issued by any lender which doesn't require any monthly minimum payment. OP please confirm that you have made the necessary minimum payment to MBNA. If you have not then this obviously will explain why they have declined a further balance transfer and have told you to check your credit files so that you can see that you have missed a payment although it seems rather off that they did not tell you this themselves. If this is the case you will also have lost the 0% offer on the first balance transfer as well.

If this is not the case then I really can't see any valid reason for what has happened. I assume you are not trying to transfer a total amount in excess of the maximum amount allowed which is not your full credit limit. Balance transfers are usually limited to 95% of the credit limit..The MNBA/Virgin thing mentioned previously is definitely not applicable. Something must have spooked MBNA badly and from the information provided I have no idea what.

davedelaney

Ben8282 wrote: »

What I do find interesting though is that the OP obtained his very first credit card, a Marbles card, in 2017 and since then has managed to obtain good 0% cards, an Amex credit card with a £13,000 limit and a total available credit of £31,600. Very well done! Do NOT reduce the credit limit on the MBNA card and don't worry about 'credit exposure'. Don't cancel the Marbles card either as your average credit account age must be extremely low. You say that your long term goal is to improve your credit to build a very healthy history. I would say that you have done that already by what you have achieved in less than 3 years.

Hi Ben, thanks very much. I've done my best to do what I can to ensure the optimum overall result.

Thanks for the advice and I'll continue as per the above.

Ben8282 wrote: »

One thing in the OP concerns me. The OP has stated
I obtained a balance transfer offer card with MBNA which doesn't require any payment until 2022.

Now what exactly do you mean by this. ALL cards require you to make a minimum payment each month. There is NO balance transfer card issued by any lender which doesn't require any monthly minimum payment. OP please confirm that you have made the necessary minimum payment to MBNA. If you have not then this obviously will explain why they have declined a further balance transfer and have told you to check your credit files so that you can see that you have missed a payment although it seems rather off that they did not tell you this themselves. If this is the case you will also have lost the 0% offer on the first balance transfer as well.

If this is not the case then I really can't see any valid reason for what has happened. I assume you are not trying to transfer a total amount in excess of the maximum amount allowed which is not your full credit limit. Balance transfers are usually limited to 95% of the credit limit..The MNBA/Virgin thing mentioned previously is definitely not applicable. Something must have spooked MBNA badly and from the information provided I have no idea what.

Apologies, I should have clarified.

It's a 1% BT fee, 26 months 0% offer, first 60 days to transfer, with minimum payment still applicable. I've paid this minimum payment on time and will continue to do so.

My goal was to switch over both the Tesco balance for £2,900 (done last month) and most recently the Virgin card (£3,000 - which was declined) to total £5,900 which is below the £6,900 overall credit limit and within the amount I'm allowed to transfer, so I find it very strange. They can't divulge any specific reason as they claim they can't see themselves, just that "Experian has blocked their ability to do the transfer" which is of course nonsense, as Experian isn't providing the credit in the first place.

Thanks again.

davedelaney

Just to provide an update that I've escalated the complaint further and spoke with a complaints manager today.

Unfortunately as per expectation, he was unable to divulge any further information besides stating that their algorithms have perhaps changed. Also unable to clarify as to why I could potentially spent my limit in full (more than the available balance transfer availability amount, with a high APR, of course) without any restriction. He was also unable to transfer me to any other manager or department that would be able to handle my claim any further.

I intend to take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman as I feel this is clearly a bait-and-switch situation. I signed the agreement with the intention of obtaining a 0% balance transfer of which I'm suddenly found unworthy, however they'd be happy to lend me more than the proposed amount at an extortionate APR without any checks required.

It has theoretically damaged my credit file by me obtaining extra credit on their false pretenses, as the only reason I have selected MBNA is to complete the balance transfer that was agreed and offered to me prior to signing the credit agreement; so I now have credit obtained which I don't need. Luckily I'm not in a situation where not being able to transfer the balance is actually costing me money in interest, otherwise it would incur further damage to the file by having to obtain another BT card with a different provider to someone in a different position. For reference, my latest Experian report shows a utilization of 11%, with not a single untoward mark, ever, so their 'algorithm' is nonsense.

I cannot imagine how much they are raking in from individuals in worse positions with this scheme. Even though this won't affect me at all financially, it has angered me greatly, and I intend to pursue this as far as it will go.

MBNA is an absolute omnishambles of a company.

[Deleted User]

I'm not following why a complaint was put in here?

davedelaney

!!! wrote: »

I'm not following why a complaint was put in here?

I used MBNA's soft checker to find a suitable balance transfer card and found one which was a 1% BT fee, 0% for 26 months, balance transfer card. Soft checker gave me a credit limit of £6,900, of which ~£6,200 could be applied towards balance transfers. Allowed for more than one balance transfer.

I passed their hard check in October, obtained the credit card with the above offer.

I immediately transferred one balance transfer to the amount of £2,900 which was approved. At the beginning of November I wanted to further transfer a balance of around the same amount from a different card, while this offer (valid until 30th November) was still valid.

I was declined. Unable to provide a reason, despite the amount of credit still being available and the offer being valid. No changes to my circumstances at all. Still happy to allow me to use my available balance at their APR of 20.9%, if I should so require.

I spoke to a member of their balance transfer team who advised me the only way to perhaps rectify this was to raise a complaint, which I did upon their advice.

[Deleted User]

But isn't the issue becuase you're trying to transfer in a balance from a Virgin Card, supplied by MBNA, and you cannot BT between the same providers?

davedelaney

!!! wrote: »

But isn't the issue becuase you're trying to transfer in a balance from a Virgin Card, supplied by MBNA, and you cannot BT between the same providers?

No; the first person to reply to the thread suggested this, however upon checking, my Virgin card was issued well after the changeover of the supplier of Virgin branded cards, so no issue there. MBNA hasn't issued Virgin cards in at least a couple of years.

Their only suggestion has been to check my Experian file, which has had absolutely no change in circumstance whatsoever between opening my MBNA card and now (besides of course, opening the MBNA card itself, and clearing the initial balance on the card I used the original balance transfer for), and has updated within the last couple of days.

I'm heavy on checking all reporting providers to ensure my information is always current and correct. My circumstances genuinely haven't changed in the slightest, nor have any mistakes been made, which is why this has frustrated me so much.