What the hell is going on with Virgin credit card?

shoperholicnot

mcrfan wrote: »

I'm not very good at being rude on the phone...I really don't think they will budge with me. Should I try the asking for the manager tactic? Or a snotty letter - I'm better at those!!

it wasn't me who was rude...it was the MBNA girl!
basically told me to like it or lump it and I could always get a store card for the better interest rate.
i would ring back and ask to speak to a manager, you dont have to be rude, but you do have to be firm, i only got my interest rate lowered after I asked to speak to manager FOUR times.
everytime i asked, her hearing seemed to briefly pack up.

shoperholicnot

mcrfan wrote: »

Well after stressing all week I decided to try and ring again and they have lowered it to 26.9%. Still crap but better than 34.9!
They said that they review it quarterly so to call them back in a few months and hopefully they can lower it? Hopefully by then I will be able to get a new card/loan and get rid of them!!!

sorry did not see your post,
well done
it is a lot better than 34.9

mcrfan

Got my letter today confirming my haggled (but still crap) rate of 26.9% from a lovely chap called Thomas Rebel Director of Customer Loyalty. What do you think would happen if I called and asked to speak to him personally?!

The letter says "why not transfer the balances from other more expensive credit or store cards to your MBNA account"

Erm......at 26.9% I have no other more expensive cards than you MBNA you fools!

oscar52

You have more chance of speaking to Lord Lucan than Thomas Rebel - hes a prat anyway in my opinion (and he is essentially my BIG boss)

boredofbeingathome

I got rid of the virgin card- they out my rate up about 3x in 6 months-never missed a payment, so paid off and closed the account down. OH has an mbna card is a bad payer and they only put his rate up to 24.9% paid that off and they offered him a 0% deal- go figure that one because i can't.

Actiongirl_2

Gemmzie wrote: »

It's ironic really - they put the interest rates up to make more money but surely the amount of people that actually end up being pushed into DMP/IVA/bankruptcy situations means they lose more overall?

No, they are more likely to get back more overall via debt management or get it back with more certainty, and within this years balance sheet which at the moment is important for a lot of companies.

They also reduce the number of customers at the low end of their 'book' thus making the book more attractive, higher quality and allowing them to do more innovative activity with the 'better' credit risk customers.

I know this from working in middle management in a credit card company and these sorts of discussions take place on a regular basis...

lauren_1

Does anyone know if the rate rise affects BT's? We are at 0% for 9 months

Verbatim

lauren_1 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the rate rise affects BT's? We are at 0% for 9 months

No, the BTs are a special deal fixed for the time agreed, 9 months in your case. Watch out for the interest after that time tho'.