MBNA credit card minimum monthly payment

Suzycoll

hello . Hope someone can help
I recently took out a % interest credit card with MBNA & transferred my balance from my old card. I THOUGHT  ( I read in T& c's) that the minim payments was 5% of the balance which would be approx £45 per month. When I had my first statement it was £101. 
I rang MBNA & the operator said that the minimum payment is high in the first 6 months just to check I could pay it ! odd ! He did say that if I was struggling they may be able to lower it but I declined at the time. I was just wondering if I was to ask to lower the payments would  it affect my credit score at all ?

daivid

So is your minimum payment over 10% of your balance? Seems high, I have an MBNA card and the minimum payment is 2.5%. As for asking them to lower it if it genuinely is the correct minimum then I think you would lose the 0% deal if they agreed and potentially end up on some kind of repayment plan which would be bad for your credit history.

grumbler

10% for a balance transfer card is far too much IMO. If the T&C really say 5% I'd demand 5%.

eskbanker

Suzycoll said:

I recently took out a % interest credit card with MBNA & transferred my balance from my old card. I THOUGHT  ( I read in T& c's) that the minim payments was 5% of the balance which would be approx £45 per month. When I had my first statement it was £101. 
I rang MBNA & the operator said that the minimum payment is high in the first 6 months just to check I could pay it ! odd !

If you meant to say a "0% interest" card and 5% of the balance was £45 then your £900 balance would be over two-thirds paid off after six months at £101!  Worth establishing what the contractual minimum is and if they're recommending exceeding it, rather than insisting....

BDeluxe

I had something similar with a much higher balance, the minimum payment was double the card I transferred from and now I'm in financial difficulty.

I'm too scared to call them in case I end up on a plan that screws my credit score as I'm going to need to refinance somehow.

Suzycoll

I got my figures wrong. It's actually 2.5% of the balance . It's on back of my first statement. The advisor on the phone said to call back if I was struggling. However guessing I will lose the 0% deal ? ,🤔

MalMonroe

Hi, I think you need to phone again and speak to an advisor who knows what they are talking about. A similar thing happened to me when I tried to get some sense out of one of the advisors at Tesco bank in connection with my credit card recently. He didn't seem to understand what I was asking and wasn't able to help me, really frustrating.

Next day I phoned again and spoke to someone who knew exactly what they were talking about and was able to help me. They're not all quite au fait with their job, sadly. I mentioned to the second advisor that I understand that sometimes they are in training and aren't quite up to date but he said that the person I spoke to originally wasn't in training, he could see from the computer records who I'd been speaking to. I told him I was concerned and he said he'd pass my message on to his supervisor. Hope he did so. (But not so sure!)

I don't see why you should lose the 0% deal? Just speak to someone at MBNA and ask if they can help you to sort it out. What can affect your credit report is if you are using 30% or more of your available credit. See info in this link -

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/how-much-available-credit-should-i-have/

MalMonroe

BDeluxe said:

I had something similar with a much higher balance, the minimum payment was double the card I transferred from and now I'm in financial difficulty.

I'm too scared to call them in case I end up on a plan that screws my credit score as I'm going to need to refinance somehow.

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that but having been in very similar circumstances myself, I'd advise you to do something sooner rather than later.

Try not to be scared, it's something many of us on this forum have experienced.

You could actually contact one of the free debt help agencies first if you feel it would help (I contacted Stepchange and they helped me so much. They're very kind, knowledgeable and most importantly, very non-judgemental.)  Link below -

https://www.stepchange.org/

They can help you at a time when you feel that your mind is all over the place.

Your credit score, as you may have heard before, means nothing as nobody but you can ever see it. Your credit report is a different matter though. 

If you can get things sorted out before they get any worse, even if it is reflected on your credit report, once you are back on your financial feet again, it will be a better credit report. I know this because I've done it.

Good luck. But please do try Stepchange first, it's a free call and they are lovely. Just make a note of your income and expenditure before the call and they will talk through everything with you - very calmly and sensibly. 

born_again

MalMonroe said:I told him I was concerned and he said he'd pass my message on to his supervisor. Hope he did so. (But not so sure!)

They will have. Nothing worse than taking a call from a customer & finding out that they have spoken to someone else giving the wrong advice.

From a business perspective. That is one call not required. From a rep perspective. It is making you life even harder with wrong advice or just a rep plain shirking their responsibility.

Suzycoll

MalMonroe said:

BDeluxe said:

I had something similar with a much higher balance, the minimum payment was double the card I transferred from and now I'm in financial difficulty.

I'm too scared to call them in case I end up on a plan that screws my credit score as I'm going to need to refinance somehow.

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that but having been in very similar circumstances myself, I'd advise you to do something sooner rather than later.

Try not to be scared, it's something many of us on this forum have experienced.

You could actually contact one of the free debt help agencies first if you feel it would help (I contacted Stepchange and they helped me so much. They're very kind, knowledgeable and most importantly, very non-judgemental.)  Link below -

https://www.stepchange.org/

They can help you at a time when you feel that your mind is all over the place.

Your credit score, as you may have heard before, means nothing as nobody but you can ever see it. Your credit report is a different matter though. 

If you can get things sorted out before they get any worse, even if it is reflected on your credit report, once you are back on your financial feet again, it will be a better credit report. I know this because I've done it.

Good luck. But please do try Stepchange first, it's a free call and they are lovely. Just make a note of your income and expenditure before the call and they will talk through everything with you - very calmly and sensibly. 

Thanks for this info. Re  stepchange & I personally can have help with 'breathing space' ? From what I understand if I apply for this will go through to creditors & insolvency? This is not what I want ! Didn't find Stepchange helpful sorry but haven't spoke to them just online. 

[Deleted User]

Suzycoll said:

MalMonroe said:

BDeluxe said:

I had something similar with a much higher balance, the minimum payment was double the card I transferred from and now I'm in financial difficulty.

I'm too scared to call them in case I end up on a plan that screws my credit score as I'm going to need to refinance somehow.

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that but having been in very similar circumstances myself, I'd advise you to do something sooner rather than later.

Try not to be scared, it's something many of us on this forum have experienced.

You could actually contact one of the free debt help agencies first if you feel it would help (I contacted Stepchange and they helped me so much. They're very kind, knowledgeable and most importantly, very non-judgemental.)  Link below -

https://www.stepchange.org/

They can help you at a time when you feel that your mind is all over the place.

Your credit score, as you may have heard before, means nothing as nobody but you can ever see it. Your credit report is a different matter though. 

If you can get things sorted out before they get any worse, even if it is reflected on your credit report, once you are back on your financial feet again, it will be a better credit report. I know this because I've done it.

Good luck. But please do try Stepchange first, it's a free call and they are lovely. Just make a note of your income and expenditure before the call and they will talk through everything with you - very calmly and sensibly. 

Thanks for this info. Re  stepchange & I personally can have help with 'breathing space' ? From what I understand if I apply for this will go through to creditors & insolvency? This is not what I want ! Didn't find Stepchange helpful sorry but haven't spoke to them just online. 

A formal debt management plan would go to your creditors yes

If you are struggling to pay anyway, then lenders aren't going to give you more credit as it sets them up for irresponsible lending charges. Your gimmick "score" is never used in lending. You could have 999 on Experian and lenders wouldn't give you squat if your credit record shows you have massive debt that you can't afford to pay back.