MBNA won't accept written correspondence only...

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello Lexis200!

 

Further to the good advice above, I'd suggest that you start to keep a Log of any Calls that you do receive. Keep an accurate Clock near the Phone (Wrirst Watch is fine if Accurate), and get into the habit of noting down all Calls.

 

If you do happen to get caught out on the Phone, as this can happen, get into the habit of always saying:

 

"Hello, who is calling please?"

 

This is good advice generally, as it's never wise to say your name and number to a complete stranger. The old days of answering with your name are now gone, the only appropriate time to use name/number is when taking a Business Call.

 

OK, if it's a banker, then all you need to get from them on the Phone is their name.

 

Why?

 

Because the Police will not Prosecute for Harassment unless they have names, as they won't Prosecute a Company.

 

So, if caught on the Phone, just tease out their name, and then hang up. How you do that is up to you, but my own suggestion is to kill them with Sugar Lumps and Kindness until you get that vital snippet of information, then end the Call. For example:

 

"OK, I'll answer your Security Questions if you tell me your Full Name, as I like to know who I'm talking to. Please also let me know the Full Name of the Manager there who asked you to Call, just so that I can cross-reference that with my Letters."

 

Once you get that then, when they say:

 

"am I talking to Mrs Lexis200?"

 

You reply:

 

"Sorry, I cannot tell you, as we never discuss anything like that on the Telephone. Goodbye, and have a nice Day."

 

The Police will Prosecute a Manager/Director/CEO, even if they have not Called you. All they need is evidence that a number of his/her Staff called you. That stops the Manager/Director/CEO from saying it was just one rogue Employee.

 

The key is, don't tell them who you are, and make sure any information goes only your way and not theirs. Ensure you become like a Telephone Information Black Hole as far as the MBNA or any banker is concerned.

 

Ideally, try to find a way to Record any Calls, as then you will be in a position to record anything they do say, and also any abuse or silly Threats they make...not to mention any tasty Data Protection Act 1998 gaffs they elect to perform for you!

 

Once you have a small series of Logged Harassment Calls with Full Names to go with them, then get in touch with the Police, who will then step in to help. My local Police were quite happy to Call any bank that was bothering me, but I have asked them to hold fire until I have sufficient evidence in terms of names (I have over 1,000 Calls Logged so far, next stage is to get as many names as I can before shoving this all up a banker).

 

The above is your First Line of Defence against the Black Arts of the MBNA.

 

Your Second Line of Defence is, as Fred and Hopeful1 have pointed out, Section 78(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1874. Send them a suitable Letter, such as the Letter N already mentioned.

 

Obviously, don't include your Telephone Number on the Letter, and don't Sign it...just Print your Name. This is just to make sure you do not hand them a nice crisp example of your Signature. Don't want it re-appearing on an Agreement you have never seen before!

 

Same reason why you only send a £1 Postal Order, as that does not need your Signature either, and has no bank account details they can log and use against you in some way.

 

Your Third Line of Defence is CAG! Once you have the MBNA under control via Telephone and s78 CCA Request, just keep coming back to here with anything they Write to you, as I can assure you there will be a long queue of people here more than willing to help you.

 

No matter what they send, it is never as dark or as bad as it first seemed once we have all had a good look and put things back into perspective for you.

 

Stand by for a flood of silly Letters, Postcards, Threats, and lurid Pink Pig Letters (you'll know what that is when you see one)!

 

Good luck with your battle.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello Lexis!

 

Further to Hopeful1's further good advice, another self-help issue that I do think does help, is to sit down with all of your Statements and see if you can outline to yourself what this alleged Debt is actually made up of.

 

A Spreadsheet is handy, or something like Microsoft Money.

 

Go back through your Statements, and start from Day One. Re-Categorise all Charges, Interest and Payments you made, expenditure is less important, so all your own spending can just be called Spending.

 

Every time they added Interest, make a note what that Interest Rate was. Split out Charges into anything Valid, like, say, an Annual Fee, and also split out all the others, especially the Unlawful ones like Over-Limit or Late Penalty Charges. These are all Important, so slot them into their own Sections.

 

That done, this is something I said to someone else on CAG:

 

Have a good look at your Card Statements, and start to add up the big numbers:

 

A = Total Purchases (not including Interest, Penalty Charges and Fees).

 

B = Total Interest.

 

C = Total Penalties.

 

D = Total Fees and other Charges like Credit Card Cheque Handling Fees.

 

E = Total Repayments.

 

Take a look at A and E. I bet you have Paid them more than you have Spent. If so, then they have their Money back already.

 

Now add up B+C+D. Add that to A, and then take away E. The figure is the outstanding Debt on your Card.

 

In most people's case, that Debt is made up almost totally of charges.

 

If you now look at all the Interest Charges, see if you can see when the Rate was Changed, and see if that relates to a new Limit? Many people have seen these bankers raise a Card's Interest Rate, and then a Month or so later, Raise the Card's Limit! Why increase the Rate suggesting you are a bad risk, then give you more money to spend?

 

I would hazard a guess that they raised your Limit a few times?

 

I also bet they raised your Interest Rates a few times?

 

By now you should have a clearer picture of this alleged Debt, and you may be feeling a little annoyed by now to see how they have manipulated the way this Debt has built up.

 

If you have had the Card for a long time, then whilst you may have spent a lot of money, you will now see that you have also Paid back at least as much. Very often, the "Spent" is less than the "Paid Back", thus the Debt you are now faced with may be just the grand total of all of that Interest and all of those Charges.

 

IF they have an Enforceable Agreement, then you will be forced to re-pay those Charges.

 

But, what if they don't?

 

What if, despite their Teams of Lawyers, they were someone too greedy and too arrogant to actually comply with the Law?

 

If they don't have an Agreement, then do you really want to climb into their Debt Hamster Wheel and go back to Paying them lots and lots of Money to top up their Profits?

 

My point is that you must be sure there is a Debt worth Paying. You may find that the Debt you thought you owed, is actually a Debt they have encouraged you to create. It may not be a Debt all of your own making.

 

Once you have looked at the breakdown of the alleged Debt, I suspect that you will find it much easier to deal with these bankers and fight for your Rights.

 

If they have to write off the remaining alleged Debt, no tears will be lost for them, as all they have lost is the charges and interest they had no Right to charge without creating an Enforceable Agreement at the very outset. That was all they had to do right, and the Consumer Cedit Act 1974 was there to remind them what needed to be done, and they had Teams of Lawyers on tap to make sure they got it right.

 

You, on the other hand, did not. It was their Agreement, it was not one you created.

 

The sadly ironic thing is, IF they end up writing off the Debt, they will just set that off againt Tax! It's more or less a Win-Win situation for them, so pity for a banker is seldom ever due.

 

The main point of doing this, is when some banker, DCA, bank-lawyer or hostile Judge says:

 

"Well, do you deny this Debt?...you spent it, so you owe it."

 

You can come back with:

 

"Well, actually, that's not quite the true picture, here are my detailed figures, so let me explain the actual position..."

 

I hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[banker_rhymes_with]

Have to go now as my 5 year old has decided he has some very important colouring I need to help with

 

He already sounds far more capable than a DCA...

 

...DCAs usually chew their Crayons rather than colour or write with them, but I have heard some DCAs can concentrate long enough to sign their own name. Some can even use joined up writing, so long as they are allowed to colour in the spaces!

 

Cheers,

BRW