Bad treatment from MBNA

kemosabeimalone

Any advice gratefully received. I feel like MBNA have done a complete number on me and think I should complain to the Ombudsman? Last month I did a check on my credit cards and noticed the interest rate on my Barclaycard was very high (26%APR) so applied to MBNA for a 26 month interest free balance transfer deal.  I already have an MBNA card with a small amount on so I applied to transfer this along with my Barclaycard balance to a new mbna card with the deal.  I was accepted by email and then received my card a few days later-  All well and good.  My interest rates for balance transfer was shown as 0% on the accompanying letter.  I went online to activate the card to do my Barclaycard transfer but to my surprise it did not go through although it clearly said that there were ample funds to cover this including the balance transfer fee ‘available’ within the 0% balance transfer deal.  I tried again same thing happened. I rang customer support and was told that they were having technical difficulties and that I should try again later. Tried again, this time asking an operator to do the transfer for me.  This time they became very sheepish and said the transfer deal was no longer available to me and that something adverse had been picked up on my credit file subsequent to the offer being made and that the balance transfer was no longer available to me. 

I have since checked my file and there’s nothing I can see that has changed since they approved me - my credit rating is not excellent but it’s fair.  To make matters worse the small amount that had been transferred from my previous mbna card is  on a high interest rate now it was previously on 0% till November 20) so I’m actually worse off by applying.  I had assumed it would be transferred at 0% as part balance transfer deal.  At the time of being told this  I registered a complaint with MBNA but was a bit gob smacked and maybe didn’t make it clear enough that I find / found their behaviour to be absolutely horrendous and deceptive.  They kept spouting that offers are subject to terms and conditions but at no time after my application was accepted, my card received or my balance transfer offer made on the website did it state it was provisional.  I have screen shots of all the t&c’s and documentation to send to the ombudsman - they all detail the personal offer to me at 0%. Mbna also told me that they were not planning to send me anything to tell me they had withdrawn the offer - I had to find out in a frankly humiliating way on the phone!  I’m hoping to at least get my 0% rate back.  Am I right in thinking mbna have behaved really badly here? I’m 8 months pregnant and it’s really stressing me out! 

kemosabeimalone

Also presumably their actions will adversely effect my credit rating? 

jazzyja

Usually when I get a balance transfer I read you cannot get a 0% transfer with someone you already have a card with? So I have a barclays one....they wouldn't let me have a 0% transfer as I already have a card with them. So I went to m&s instead. This was said to me before I applied though. Is that not the reason?? 

kemosabeimalone

Thank you for replying to my post. Maybe that’s it but if so they rejected me after approving me iyswim which I think was very misleading of them. 

jazzyja

kemosabeimalone said:

Thank you for replying to my post. Maybe that’s it but if so they rejected me after approving me iyswim which I think was very misleading of them. 

Maybe they just failed to see you already had a card with them, which isn't good no. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can't get a 0% when you already have a card with them 

jonesMUFCforever

You can get  a 0% second card if your credit rating is good enough - but you cannot transfer monies from card 1 to new card if they are the same lender.

kemosabeimalone

Thanks everyone - I wonder how the !!!!!! up occurred? 

So 1) do you think I have a good case to get my 0% rate restored (at least on the amount that has been transferred between mbna accounts.   And 2) should I wait a week or so to see how mbna handle the complaint I made on the telephone or go straight to the ombudsman? 

jonesMUFCforever

Straight to the Ombudsman - are you having a laugh??

kemosabeimalone

Well I think they have been pretty terrible in the way they have handled all
this. 1) they are revoking an agreement they made online with me with no explanation - I had to find out for myself that the offer had been withdrawn and it was then dealt with badly by customer service. Nothing received by email or post to let me know they had changed their mind. No apologies for them accepting me in error.
2) they are using weasel words on their acceptance letter and website like  ‘your  card application was successful’ ‘balance available to you’ without clear signposting that they can withdraw this offer at a whipstitch or that it is conditional.  The literature they sent me after applying is effectively stating the agreement is done and dusted. 
3). They have effectively conned me out of my 0% interest rate for the next 6 months.  So much for responsible lending!  They are not happy to let me do a balance transfer that would have saved me £££‘a in interest but are more than happy to put my interest rate up! 

4) the rejected balance transfer will presumably have a negative impact on my credit card - I probably won’t be able to reapply for another card for a few months now as it’s too many applications within a limited period. 

mcpitman

kemosabeimalone said:

Well I think they have been pretty terrible in the way they have handled all
this. 1) they are revoking an agreement they made online with me with no explanation - I had to find out for myself that the offer had been withdrawn and it was then dealt with badly by customer service. Nothing received by email or post to let me know they had changed their mind. No apologies for them accepting me in error.
You will probably find the agreement on line was on condition of a number of things being in place/agreeable. (T's & C's)
2) they are using weasel words on their acceptance letter and website like  ‘your  card application was successful’ ‘balance available to you’ without clear signposting that they can withdraw this offer at a whipstitch or that it is conditional.  The literature they sent me after applying is effectively stating the agreement is done and dusted. 
That's not weasel it's plain English, again there will have been a caveat somewhere to say the offer can be withdrawn at any time etc.
It will have been made clear in the T&C's that you thoroughly read before clicking "ok" that you cannot transfer to MBNA cards from any of a certain number of banks and building societies more than likely within the same group
3). They have effectively conned me out of my 0% interest rate for the next 6 months.  So much for responsible lending!  They are not happy to let me do a balance transfer that would have saved me £££‘a in interest but are more than happy to put my interest rate up! 
You did that to yourself by not reading the T's & C's or understanding the product you selected wasn't fit for the purpose you intended.
You do understand banks need to make money don't you? If they are jacking your rate, you would be best to move away from MBNA and BT to a better card.

4) the rejected balance transfer will presumably have a negative impact on my credit card - I probably won’t be able to reapply for another card for a few months now as it’s too many applications within a limited period. 
No it won't affect your credit score because a BT failed. How many applications for credit have you made recently? 

Get the frustration, but annotated above.

You did this to yourself, largely.

Fighter1986

Unfortunately lenders have a right to withdraw any offers at any time, they make this clear in the contract.

What they can't do is withdraw something mid offer if you haven't broken the terms.

So if your old MBNA card had time remaining on the offer, and you've kept that account within limit and always paid on time, they can't withdraw the 0% mid deal. That's worthy of a complaint.

Approving you for a card and later withdrawing the offer after further checks are made, before you've done a balance transfer however, is unfortunately totally allowable within the prescribed terms and conditions, so you wouldn't have a case with the complaint there.

In either way there's no such thing as "going straight to the ombudsman". The ombudsman only gets involved in cases where a lender has been given eight weeks to resolve the complaint by the borrower, but hasn't done so.

You might wish to see if you can get a BT deal from elsewhere, although if your Barclaycard is sat at 26% APR it suggests that your credit profile might have some risk signals on it? Perhaps you use your overdraft regularly? Or run your credit cards close to their limits? Maybe you've opened another line of credit in the last 12 months or applied for a few credit scored facilities in the last year?