***LATEST***Is the MBNA party over?

peterbaker

I am currently in the middle of a telephone call requested urgently by MBNA.

I think it would be right to say that I am one of the UK's more prolific credit card "stoozers", although MBNA said I was not unusual and even that they were offended when I suggested that they might have a name like that for customers like me!

Anyway, the long and the short of it was that they got me to call because they had reviewed my account following my latest application and realised that they had already lent me unsecured money way over reasonable limits compared to my income. "Excessively" so they said!

OK I said, the latest 0% deal you gave me ends in about a month so what's the plan?

"We are not offering any more promotional rates to you Mr Baker and we shall be restricting use of the facility".

What does that mean? Will I be able to use my card normally?

"No. We shall be withdrawing the facility."

So I told them I am what I think they might recognise as a "credit card tart" and that I don't spend the money I borrow so I have the means to pay off the borrowings immediately as the money is on deposit right now. I told them I would take a proper note of their planned action and that they might like to speak with the manager about what it because I would be posting details immediately on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com.

I waited a few minutes on the line and learned that "On this occasion we will not be restricting your facility".

But I was warned that it was likely that my facility would be reviewed again and that my credit limit would be reduced in line with my income.

It appears that a recent additional MBNA application has sparked off this special attention on my account, but I cannot help thinking that recent headlines aka yesterday's Daily Mail reflect new politics behind the scenes.

Whilst MBNA were at pains to tell me they are a responsible lender and have been reviewing accounts in this way for 10 years or more, I was left with the impression that big changes are afoot!

So, watch out! Dont make any more multiple applications if you already hold and manage very large credit lines. Don't draw any more attention to yourselves if you want to keep your existing lines. Especially do not borrow beyond your means

As we know, the T&Cs on the cards are basically written so that the credit line can be restricted immediately and then withdrawn at the drop of the hat when you have repaid it. MBNA did not deny this but they did say that they wouldn't pull the rug from under customers in difficulty. I tried to draw MBNA into a conversation about what kid of help they offered non-stoozers who spent the money and couldn't pay but not surprisingly they wouldn't play ball ::)

But the kind people at MBNA did imply that if a customer can't repay normally then an "arrangement" at a special rate would probably be made (call them on 0800 0289170 if this applies to you), but bear in mind that such arrangements will show as bad news on your credit file (worse than multiple applications I was told ;D )

Nurse_Bambi

whats the Daily mail story?

smartsaver

whats the Daily mail story?

Read the 'new card tarts' thread.  

dthyer

Thanks for the 'heads up' peterbaker.
Out of interest, would you be willing to say what your current ratio of lending from MBNA to your income is?
Of course I understand that you probably don't want to broadcast the numbers themselves, but if you were willing to say the ratio that would be interesting.
Also did MBNA give an indication of what they thought that ratio should be, that is, what they meant by 'reasonable limits compared to your income'?

Thanks for any more information you are willing to share,

DT

peterbaker

Hi DT

My ratio with them is about 1:1 ! But they were looking at my Experian report as they talked to me and they evidently didn't like it much!

Nope they would not say what they would reduce my limit to (I asked). So more on it when I get it (the chop that is ;D )

I will report back here after mid November which is when my balance will have dropped to zero with them.

Interestingly, whilst they made reference to adverse effects on credit-scoring of multiple applications / credit searches they referred to their system as a "judgemental" system as opposed to a credit scoring system.

dthyer

Thanks for the reply.
1:1 is pretty impressive
Hopefully the 'chop' won't be too painful!
I think credit 'scores' are a myth. I guess the judgment is about whether they think you are going to turn into one of the kind of cases in the Daily Mail story, so as a stoozer you're no risk. But maybe multiple searches also imply they're not going to make much profit either?

Cheers,

DT

creditman

A few months ago I applied for my 3rd MBNA card. I was refused and they reduced the limit on my unused card from £5500 to £500. When I spoke to them they indicated that they did not like me borrowing more than my annual salary. I had about 1.5 times annual salary borrowed from various credit card companies earning me interest at the time . I told them to close the £500 limit card. It will be interesting to see if I get a repeat offer on my remaining card when I pay it off in the new year.

peterbaker

Ha!  Well it'll be interesting to see how they administer my particular chop because I still have 80,000 AOL/MBNA Reward points to use up which is 20 months worth of free AOL Broadband at present rates and which requires that I continue to use my MBNA card to guarantee my broadband account!

I bet their Ts&Cs hadn't taken that into account!

If they muck up my AOL then how am I going to afford to keep posting what MBNA do on here?  Ooops... :-X(....removes other foot from mouth also!)

deemy2004

I think instead of stop applying we need to drink up the 0% rates asap ! The alternative is using credit cards for what they were meant to be used for ;D ;D ;D ;D

Tr@cker

I had an MBNA account (RAC version) Used up all the 0% and promptly closed it, 8 months ago.
With the big promotion re: the Virgin 0% i applied for this card ooh, 3 weeks ago-it's all gone quiet!
I agree, gobble up all the 0% while you can because i can see some unfavourable changes in the offing for punters.
However, it's to our advantage that they're all still cutting one anothers throats to get business-it'll be interesting to see who makes the first move to stop stoozers (of which i am not one)
Wonder if they read the posts on here ?

Reaper

I read on another thread that First Direct and LLoydsTSB do not submit your credit card details to the credit reference agencies unless you miss payments.

If MBNA (and perhaps others) are going to start being stricter about total credit limits in comparison to income these cards should be part of every stoozers collection.