ABBEY CREDIT CARD

gatita

This is trivial but annoying, or maybe I only have myself to blame?
I was contacted sometime ago by Abbey National offering me a 6 months interest free on balance transfers, I already have a visa one and always pay it off every month.
I had made a purchase for £300 so I thought I would take advantage of the 6 months respite!
After the first month I paid off £100 leaving £200 to pay. I then made a small purchase of £12.......... I then paid off £70......... but no matter how much I pay off, Abbey have the cheek to charge me interest on the £12 item!!!!!!!!! luckily I noticed it, and I certainly won't be putting anything else on this card, I shall pay it all off next month and cut the blasted thing up! ROGUES thats what I call them. Even the counter staff in the local branch agreed with me that it was strange....and even telephoned to ask about it............ there was no reasonable explanation. ???

Robert_Sterling_3

On this site we strongly , and politely, encourage people to read the terms and conditions of the credit card companies. Doubtless they say that any payments will be applied first to reduce the BTs etc etc.
Some of us have the cheek to take their money we should not mind to much when they try to take ours.

gatita

I agree it was probably my own fault but they certainly don't make it very clear! even the girl working for Abbey National couldn't figure it out, so what hope is there for me ::) In the future I will ASK here first before saying yes.
and as far as "having the cheek to take their money" I assure you I have never been able to do that! quite the contrary

smartsaver

Robert is absolutely right but we do all make mistakes when we start out.

My suggestion would be to transfer the whole balance to another 0% card - EGG would be a good one although any one not related to Abbey ie MBNA, Virgin, A&L etc. Please always read ur own T&C's as they can vary from person to person. ::)

With EGG if ther is any balance left over after you have paid off abbey you can Super Balance Transfer (read the thread if unsure what this means) into you current account online. From there you can stash it into a high interest account (INGS a goody) until the 0% deal runs out. 8)

This way you can start to make money from the cards ;D Good luck and remember to cancel your abbey card once the balance is clear..

Smitty

excellent advise from Smartsaver, but be careful when stashing the cash from Egg into a savings account. You have to be a certain type of person to make sure you don't blow the cash on goodies or miss the payment date for the interest free period.

Good luck

Robert_Sterling_3

In the future I will ASK here first before saying yes.
and as far as "having the cheek to take their money" I assure you I have never been able to do that! quite the contrary

It ain't arf good ear mum. [ Not quite as good as having £100 in the Northern Rock B.S. of course]
Stick around here for a bit and you might soon start taking money from the Credit Card Companies.

johnllew

remember to cancel your abbey card once the balance is clear..  ;)

Why? It's an MBNA card and the likelihood is they'll offer you another 0% promo in due course. Over the last 4 years, my wife and I have had more than a dozen different repeat promotions from MBNA cards, varying from 0% to 2.9%, the vast majority at 0%. We've made thousands of pounds out of them - why keep telling people to cancel decent cards?

smartsaver

why keep telling people to cancel decent cards?

Only I have done this once ??? I have also made money from MBNA repeat deals in the past but advice offered now :-

because MBNA charge shed loads of money to do SBT's.

As a newbie (ish) it will increase the credit rating

Gatita is obviously fed up with Abbey

You often get repeat deals when you phone up to cancel

I could probally concure up a few more reasons but am getting bored teaching grandmothers to suck EGGS :P ( saving my left handed typing for better posts ) Rt arm broken

johnllew

Only I have done this once  ???

I was speaking generally. It seems the general consensus around here is that cards should be cancelled immediately after the initial promotion period has ended. I have never subscribed to this view. Over the last 10 years, I've cancelled very few cards; in fact I can't recall one. At the moment my wife and I have 18 repeat offers running. A lot of cards are worth keeping.

because MBNA charge shed loads of money to do SBT's.

And from the look of things, they're likely to introduce charges for initial BTs as well. Keeping the card means you're likely to be able to steadily increase your credit limits, thus mitigating any BT fee.

As a newbie (ish) it will increase the credit rating

Arguable.

Gatita is obviously fed up with Abbey

Annoyance shouldn't be a bar to making money out of these people. If it's likely to be to gatita's advantage to keep the card, he/she should keep it regardless of how much they've irritated him/her.

You often get repeat deals when you phone up to cancel.

And you often just get your card cancelled - you then have to apply all over again with another credit search. With MBNA you don't need to do this to get repeat offers. I must admit though, to using this technique with Lloyds TSB recently; I had no intention of cancelling the card but asked what the procedure was and whether they had any special BT deals (hint, hint). I was told 6.9% was the best they could do. Two weeks later, out of the blue, they rang me with a 0% for 6 months deal. So there maybe something in this.

smartsaver

When and where have Abbey/MBNA said they will charge for new BT's?

When is it 'arguable' that a credit rating is not increased by cancelling a card ???

Cancelling an agreement with a company you at at loggerheads and who are making money out of you makes you feel better esp if you have a better deal with someone else

And cancelling a card sometimes does lead to a better deal

Robert_Sterling_3

When is it 'arguable' that a credit rating is not increased by cancelling a card ?

It is always arguable but the arguement may not always be justified.