MBNA or Egg Money?

CannyJock

nightwatchman wrote: »

My case is getting from bad to worst.
I opened today what I thought to be junk mail and I discover that it was demands for unpaid debts belonging to two different tenants living here not so long ago (my house used to a be multiple occupancy).
From what I manage to figure out they left behind approximately £15,000 debt.
Now I worry that soon debt collectors will start knocking my door.

Bit of debate about things like this happening on the credit card main forum. Important thing to remember is that you "should be" assessed as an individual at that address.

Your credit report will have confirmed that the debts are not in your name and it's crystal clear that you won't be liable for them. Great thread from JimboJet on dealing with debt collection agencies: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=696345

From the sounds of it, it could be affecting your chances of getting debt, but from what I understand it shouldn't be.

The postcode thing you mentioned sounds like an Acorn report, but I wouldn't but too much stock in what it tells you. I went to their website and put in my own postcode and it told me that my area is predominantly low income elderly.

nightwatchman

At last!
Two days ago I was accepted by Abbey. No idea regarding my credit limit yet. It is a very good chance that it will be very low, so as soon as the card arrives I am intending to use it for the first two weeks to do some supermarket shopping so as to get a bit of the 4% cash-back (most likely I will gain more from cash-back if my limit is low as £1500). If I am right the maximum cash-back is £40 per year, is this correct?
After milking some of the cash-back I am indenting to pay the balance in full and ask for a balance transfer to my current account.
However I had a look on the T&C and I did not see any mention on how to balance transfer on my Abbey current account.
If any of you have used this card to balance transfer directly on your current account, instead of Egg Money, can you give me some advice on how to ask about it?
Thanks for any advice.

nightwatchman

Finally my Abbey card arrived on 1st of May. My credit limit is only £1,000 which although low is better than nothing.
The 5% cash-back on supermarket spending will be handy as it will yield £50.
However I had a look on the stoozing.com and the ability to balance transfer on your current account for 13 months is not there anymore.
Instead there is a new card (Abbey Zero) that offers six months no fee balance transfer. Unfortunately this one is not flagged as a card with SBT ability.
As I don’t have an Egg Money card it looks like I lost the opportunity to make some extra £33.68 from stoozing.
Does anyone have any idea what’s the story with Abbey?

CannyJock

Worth phoning Abbey CS and asking them if they will match the BT to current account facility that they've now moved to the Abbey Zero card.

Definitely worth getting the Egg Money card.

YorkshireBoy

CannyJock wrote: »

...they've now moved to the Abbey Zero card.

I'm not sure they've abandoned the old 13 month card yet. Although you can't now apply for the 13 month card online, it still features alongside the 'Zero' card in branch literature. Maybe it's a branch only application now?

nightwatchman

Regarding their cash-back offer of 5% on supermarket shopping I was wonder if the Tesco Direct was qualifying for it.

I am not sure if they offer is for groceries only which (Tesco.com or Tesco in store shopping) or they will offer cash back on household items from Tesco Direct online or in store.

CannyJock

nightwatchman wrote: »

Regarding their cash-back offer of 5% on supermarket shopping I was wonder if the Tesco Direct was qualifying for it.

I am not sure if they offer is for groceries only which (Tesco.com or Tesco in store shopping) or they will offer cash back on household items from Tesco Direct online or in store.

There's a transaction code that goes through to identify the retailer, is part of their merchant ID setup from vague memory of a project a few years back.

I think that's what the CC provider sees.

Now, what makes that interesting is where you decide to buy along with your ordinary shopping, mobile phone top-ups, gift vouchers etc. Is that reported back as a single transaction, single merchant ID and all qualifies for cashback?

Would be worth a tester to try it out, buy something not too expensive but slightly out of the ordinary and a banana (or other fruit of your choice). Does it appear on the next statement for cashback?

I suspect it will, but curious to hear from anyone else who's tried this.

nightwatchman

Sadly no cash-back given from Tesco Direct spending:mad:
I received my Abbey CC statement today.
Unfortunately I have received cash-back only from the grocery spending with Tesco. More specific only for the items that I paid in the ordinary checkout till.
I have also use the Tesco Direct (catalogue) to buy an expensive household item and I did not get any cash-back out of it although it was twice more expensive than all the rest of my monthly shopping.

nightwatchman

Another problem with my Abbey Card.
As soon as I received it I call the CS and ask them to arrange a DD from my Abbey account for the minimum payment.
The first statement arrived and the date for the DD was clearly stated on the card, I thought nothing of it and I carry on as normal.
The second statement arrived last week and the DD has not gone through, and they also charged me £12.00 for late payment.:mad:
I call the CS and I ask why that happened.
They replied that the DD it takes one month to go through and I should have made a manual first payment (were they joking?).:rolleyes:
However as a gesture of good will they will refund the £12.00 late payment fee.
I can not complain with that, however I worry that my credit report may show default for this incident.
Also I am not sure if this will invalidate the 0% offer on purchases. Does anyone have any experience on that?
The last CC I used was well over six years ago and my credit rating is very frail at the moment.
Under the current economical environment I am concerned that this default it will make it hard to get credit in the near future.
I think that is good advice for all Abbey CC customers to arrange for a manual first payment as well as a direct debit.
Hopefully Abbey will short it out and my rating will no show default however if not then is it worth my trouble to write to the various credit agencies and ask them to put it right?

Thanks

CannyJock

nightwatchman wrote: »

Another problem with my Abbey Card.
As soon as I received it I call the CS and ask them to arrange a DD from my Abbey account for the minimum payment.
The first statement arrived and the date for the DD was clearly stated on the card, I thought nothing of it and I carry on as normal.
The second statement arrived last week and the DD has not gone through, and they also charged me £12.00 for late payment.:mad:
I call the CS and I ask why that happened.
They replied that the DD it takes one month to go through and I should have made a manual first payment (were they joking?).:rolleyes:
However as a gesture of good will they will refund the £12.00 late payment fee.
I can not complain with that, however I worry that my credit report may show default for this incident.
Also I am not sure if this will invalidate the 0% offer on purchases. Does anyone have any experience on that?
The last CC I used was well over six years ago and my credit rating is very frail at the moment.
Under the current economical environment I am concerned that this default it will make it hard to get credit in the near future.
I think that is good advice for all Abbey CC customers to arrange for a manual first payment as well as a direct debit.
Hopefully Abbey will short it out and my rating will no show default however if not then is it worth my trouble to write to the various credit agencies and ask them to put it right?

Thanks

Do you mean that your credit rating is frail because of your stoozing activities (which it can appear to be from the lenders point of view because they can't see and frankly aren't interested in your savings)? Or do you mean that it's just not that good in general?

If you're likely to need actual credit, like a remortage or long term loan, in the near future then standard recommendation is to shut down your stoozing activity.