MBNA pays out on closed account.

g0tbr

Hello all,
This is an unusual one I think.

I closed my credit card account with MBNA on the 12th of January 2008
I also have a letter from them stating that they had closed the account at my request. Dated 4th March 2008.

However Today I received a statement from them for £41.00 for a particular club
membership which was taken out 3 years ago and came up for renewal on April 2nd.2008

I telephoned MBNA this morning asking why they had paid my membership from a closed account .To which I was informed that it is up to me to tell the Caravan club that the account was closed and not to draw down from this account,and that they were legally bound to make the Payment.
To which I replied they had no rights to make payments from a closed account and also how can I make a payment to a non existing account.
I also stated that they should have declined the request for payment and returned the request to the Caravan club who would have contacted me for the Payment .
But MBNA are not having any of it.

ANY helpful replies would be appreciated

regards

G0TBR

YorkshireBoy

g0tbr wrote: »

I closed my credit card account with MBNA on the 12th of January 2008.

Did the MBNA operative, who took your closure call, ask you to make sure any continuous payment authorities were cancelled?

I also have a letter from them stating that they had closed the account at my request. Dated 4th March 2008.

Does the the letter you received remind you to do the same?

bengal-stripe

You obviously have set up a “Continuous Payment Authority”, giving your card-number for a periodically occurring payment.

Even in a closed account, the CC has to honour this agreement. It can only be stopped by the payment receiver. You should have advised them of a change of card, or your desire to cancel the agreement.

Your CC has done nothing wrong, they cannot behave any other way. The fault lies with you.

Never, ever give any company your credit card for continuous payments (particular for companies/services out of the country). You might not be able to get out of the arrangement.

g0tbr

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Did the MBNA operative, who took your closure call, ask you to make sure any continuous payment authorities were cancelled?Does the the letter you received remind you to do the same?

Thanks for your reply and in answer to your question re: did the operative ask me to make sure I canceled any cpa , that was back in January and so I can't honestly answer that one, however with reference to the letter from MBNA they did not make any reference to stopping cpa,s. Infact I was £3.62 pence in credit and said they would forward this to me , and I have received this payment from them.and also stating the account was now closed. I might also add that on the statement sent to me it states I can still use upto £16000 of credit.How can this be if the account is OFFICIALY closed

Regards


G0TBR

MPH80

Well - that's rather the point - it's never quite officially closed. You have to ensure all CPAs are stopped first.

epsilondraconis

bengal-stripe wrote: »

You obviously have set up a “Continuous Payment Authority”, giving your card-number for a periodically occurring payment.

Even in a closed account, the CC has to honour this agreement. It can only be stopped by the payment receiver. You should have advised them of a change of card, or your desire to cancel the agreement.

Your CC has done nothing wrong, they cannot behave any other way. The fault lies with you.

Never, ever give any company your credit card for continuous payments (particular for companies/services out of the country). You might not be able to get out of the arrangement.

I never knew that - you learn something new everyday. I don't have any continuous payments; however I'll be wary of that in future.

Initially I felt sorry for the OP; however that was before I took on board the fact that they had decided to join the Caravan Club! :rotfl:

Only joking - I think

YorkshireBoy

epsilondraconis wrote: »

I never knew that - you learn something new everyday. I don't have any continuous payments; however I'll be wary of that in future.

The classic one is motor insurance. If you pay by credit card (0% on purchases as many people do), then when the renewal notice comes through 11 months later it will say...

"if you wish to renew your policy no further action is necessary. Your card no xxxx xxxx xxxx 1234 will be debited with the amount shown."

...but of course the only thing many people look at is the premium. If it appears excessive, the renewal notice gets binned and a new search begins...and meanwhile the provider renews the policy - and charges the card.

The best approach is to pay by (0% on purchases) credit card, but make it absolutely clear to the provider that this is a one-off transaction...NOT a continuous payment authority. Personally, I then ring back a few weeks later to check they no longer have my card details on the account.

g0tbr

bengal-stripe wrote: »

You obviously have set up a “Continuous Payment Authority”, giving your card-number for a periodically occurring payment.

Even in a closed account, the CC has to honour this agreement. It can only be stopped by the payment receiver. You should have advised them of a change of card, or your desire to cancel the agreement.

Your CC has done nothing wrong, they cannot behave any other way. The fault lies with you.

Never, ever give any company your credit card for continuous payments (particular for companies/services out of the country). You might not be able to get out of the arrangement.

Thank you for your reply and your point is some what taken,however these credit card companies bend over backwards to explain how super duper they are in
soughting out customer complaints.MBNA as a supposedly responsible company surely should have informed me of any oustanding cpa's . so that I could have contacted those concerned to cancel my cpa. They have everything listed on their data base .They are operating on customer INERTIA and this is totally wrong for an International company.

g0tbr

epsilondraconis wrote: »

I never knew that - you learn something new everyday. I don't have any continuous payments; however I'll be wary of that in future.

Initially I felt sorry for the OP; however that was before I took on board the fact that they had decided to join the Caravan Club! :rotfl:

Only joking - I think

Saucy Saucy

we all have our crosses to bear

YorkshireBoy

g0tbr wrote: »

MBNA as a supposedly responsible company surely should have informed me of any oustanding cpa's . so that I could have contacted those concerned to cancel my cpa. They have everything listed on their data base .

No they don't. All they have is historic data...they can't second guess what's to come.

CPA's are not like direct debits on current accounts.

Direct debits are covered by the direct debit guarantee, whereas CPA's have no such protection. The only people who can cancel the CPA are the companies themselves...obviously after you request them to.

Direct debit instructions held by your bank also 'lapse' after 13 months/400 days if not 'called'. CPA's never lapse.

Another classic is the card protection schemes where you pay to 'insure' the loss of your cards, passports etc...you know, the 'one call sorts all' type policies run by Sentinel and the like. They'll do you a policy for £20 for a year, but offer you a 3 year policy for £50...a saving of £10.

You take the 3 year policy, and pay for it on your credit card. You then close the credit card after 12 months (when your 0% introductory period ends), and a full two years later...bang, another £50 (or whatever the going rate then is) is taken and the provider HAS to re-open your account to accept the transaction because YOU gave the company permisssion to do so 3 years ago!!! Worse...if you've moved house in the meantime, the account will eventually be placed in default and passed to a debt collection agency...with disastrous consequences for your credit file.

All this (and more) is explained in the link I gave you in post #2.