Hi
I had a football club affinity card with MBNA. The club has recently ended the deal.
I'm trying to keep this brief, but there is a bit of history. I have another credit card with them and a loan. All have a perfect payment record (even if it is the minimum).
My guess is that MBNA appear in here quite a bit because their APR policy appears to be scatty to say the least. Anyway so far as this card is concerned it was at 19.9% which was OK, I guess (beggars can't be choosers). Then I got a letter increasing it to 29.9% and doubling the minimum payment to cover the interest increase.
I rang up and unbelievably they came back, after very little prompting, with a rate of 14.9%!!!! I accepted very quickly as you can imagine.
A few months later I got a letter increasing it to 29.9%! This time when I rang the best they would do is 23.9%. I was so upset that I actually didn't accept it, having intended to take it further in writing. I completely forgot, so the higher rate was charged. My error, clearly.
A few days later I received communication from the football club, and then MBNA, stating that the card was being withdrawn and that while I could pay the balance off in the usual way no credit would be available (obviously!). It suddenly dawned on me - hike up the rate just before the card became defunct - good plan on their part.
On Friday I received a further letter increasing the rate to 34.9%:embarasse . This is on an account where I have absolutely no facilities to borrow and the debt is historic. The letter says, in the usual MBNA fashion...
'You can shop with confidence on the high street and online as you are covered against fraudulent transactions':rotfl:
Well, not really!
Apart from the random element of their rate changes it is clear that they don't even know the fact that the card is no longer operational. I originally thought it was an increase on my other card, but no, the account number definitely relates to the affinity card.
I haven't rung them because I got upset last time and didn't do myself justice. I also didn't think of this forum.
The question is...what is 'reasonable' in terms of an interest rate? Where does it stop becoming risk related and simply become extortion? What if they increase it to 40%, 50%? At what point can I actually involve external organisations (say the OFT or the banking ombudsman, always allowing for the fact that I would have to go through the bank's own procedures first?).
Mandelson last week was going on about CC companies cutting the rates and not imposing major increases on people. As I understand it the pressure is on from the UK government although MBNA is American IIRC so it may not be possible to use this as a lever.
Any help or guidance from those on here who have the experience and expertise would be appreciated:j
I had a football club affinity card with MBNA. The club has recently ended the deal.
I'm trying to keep this brief, but there is a bit of history. I have another credit card with them and a loan. All have a perfect payment record (even if it is the minimum).
My guess is that MBNA appear in here quite a bit because their APR policy appears to be scatty to say the least. Anyway so far as this card is concerned it was at 19.9% which was OK, I guess (beggars can't be choosers). Then I got a letter increasing it to 29.9% and doubling the minimum payment to cover the interest increase.
I rang up and unbelievably they came back, after very little prompting, with a rate of 14.9%!!!! I accepted very quickly as you can imagine.
A few months later I got a letter increasing it to 29.9%! This time when I rang the best they would do is 23.9%. I was so upset that I actually didn't accept it, having intended to take it further in writing. I completely forgot, so the higher rate was charged. My error, clearly.
A few days later I received communication from the football club, and then MBNA, stating that the card was being withdrawn and that while I could pay the balance off in the usual way no credit would be available (obviously!). It suddenly dawned on me - hike up the rate just before the card became defunct - good plan on their part.
On Friday I received a further letter increasing the rate to 34.9%:embarasse . This is on an account where I have absolutely no facilities to borrow and the debt is historic. The letter says, in the usual MBNA fashion...
'You can shop with confidence on the high street and online as you are covered against fraudulent transactions':rotfl:
Well, not really!
Apart from the random element of their rate changes it is clear that they don't even know the fact that the card is no longer operational. I originally thought it was an increase on my other card, but no, the account number definitely relates to the affinity card.
I haven't rung them because I got upset last time and didn't do myself justice. I also didn't think of this forum.
The question is...what is 'reasonable' in terms of an interest rate? Where does it stop becoming risk related and simply become extortion? What if they increase it to 40%, 50%? At what point can I actually involve external organisations (say the OFT or the banking ombudsman, always allowing for the fact that I would have to go through the bank's own procedures first?).
Mandelson last week was going on about CC companies cutting the rates and not imposing major increases on people. As I understand it the pressure is on from the UK government although MBNA is American IIRC so it may not be possible to use this as a lever.
Any help or guidance from those on here who have the experience and expertise would be appreciated:j
