A few months ago a forgotten DD was rejected by IF as there was a £0 balance in one particular account. The fined me £30 and I didn't really complain too much. Then a few weeks ago I tried to send a BACS payment. There was enough to cover it, albeit from the overdraft, but I couldn't see anything about not using the OD for a BACS payment. Again they charged me £30. I sent a 'secure message' to customer services saying that while I could see why their 'logic' to the first charge, I thought the second was out of order. The message detailed both fees, dates, circumstances. The customer service person who emailed me a response must have misunderstood as they advised that the £30 was for an unpaid DD. (this was the 1st, and I was asking about the 2nd) but "as this was my first time, as goodwill gesture" they refunded the £30. I was not surprised that they had the details wrong (sigh) but very surprised that they refunded the fee so quickly. Does anyone think this may be related to PR more than anything? I ask thinking of easily found sites such as CAG and the banks being concerned about how easily negative information is found about them.

Oh, I forgot to mention that they recently called me and politely demanded a payment which I said that I would be paying in a few days once my wages had cleared. The woman accepted my response after I pointed out that I had been making full monthly payments. She did warn that if I didn't pay then I'd be getting harassing calls within days. Then she asked me a very surprising question, given that the card is currently suspended: "Would you be interested in an MBNA personal loan? :eek:

Point(s) taken. Thanks. Put bluntly like that, then I definitely won't go for a settlement without F&F. While I'm waiting for their 'response' I'll research the wording for my "please refund all the charges" letter. BTW, I appreciate the help as it's quite a challenge to catchup on years legal decisions, legislative changes etc

Thanks for that DX, I know it was a chore to read. OK, I got all that. Your last comment was interesting: I'm sure that I took PPI for a while some years back with MBNA, but I would like to look at the SAR history first. What actually defines "unlawful charges"? Surely not all late penalties?, or is it the compound interest based on those charges? If I understand correctly, why pay and get a 6 year partial payment / negative history when I can have one for free?

Oops. It didn't seem so long in wordpad. Sorry.

Hi all. After days reading the plethora of info here, I have a few questions of my own. So here is some background first: About 2006 I left a nice well paid job at a bank (in the technology dept. honest!) and bought a franchise which failed partly due to my lack of business experience and part the economy. It was connected to real estate BTW. For the last few years I've been trying to get back on my feet after a stress, overdrafts, divorce, debts, unemployment etc. Over this time I struggled to meet all my obligations but (stupidly) never asked MBNA or others for a payment plan, to freeze interest etc, largely as I didn't know it was possible. Whilst I frequently missed MBNA payments for several months at a time, I've always attempted to make payments. After missing many months of payments and lots of harassing letters, phone calls, emails etc in 2007 I received an unexpected email advising that they would accept a reduced payout of around £2500, approx 50% of the balance. If I'd had it I probably would have paid it. Recently I have been working and things are finally looking up so I contacted MBNA and asked about a reduced early payment of the outstanding balance, to which they said they don't do this. So I forwarded the 2007 email. They responded with "Ok, we do sometimes, but it will be on your record for six years" etc Last month I paid the previous two months payments, so while I am not in 'default' I wondered if it was a better time to try negotiating an early settlement with them. The thing is that I don't want to poke the nasty big dog with a stick and get bitten if I don't need to. So: - Using a template from CAG, I have written a SAR letter (which includes a request for the CCA) and will use Postal orders for payment. - I've never been on a payment plan etc but I have been late on about 40% of payments over the last few years. - I have ordered a £2 credit report from Equifax. - I’ve copied my passport, but put some lines through the signature. Don’t know if that was pointless or not. So my questions are: - Do I need to do a CCA request when the SAR letter requests it anyway? i.e. Will MBNA ignore it in the SAR unless a separate CCA letter is requested? - Is a signature (copy of passport etc) really necessary for creditors to comply with an SAR, CCA etc? Does anyone have a link to OFT stating so? - Can a debt be sold while not in default/dispute? - What are the pros and cons of the SAR and early settlement conversation with an account that is being paid, even if inconsistently? BTW, I did try to find the answers for myself, but there is so much info here that it is a little like drinking from a fire hose. For example, searching for "signature" found about 8 million 'signguard' results Not a complaint, just an explanation as to why I'm asking questions that have no doubt bee answered before. Just in case it helps anyone I thought I’d mention this; I’ve provided a YAC phone number to MBNA which records the message and emails me an .mp3 recording. This avoids unpleasant calls at inconvenient times. There is a paid version of YAC, but I use the version that is free to me, but costs callers 42ppm Yac - Inbound call services I hope this is useful to someone. Thanks Magpie99