Jackie-b V's MBNA

[Jackie-b]

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve had an MBNA credit card for about 10 yrs now. About 8yrs ago when I was 22 I got in loads of debt (as many of us do) …MBNA was a big problem and I ended up paying them back something like £30 per month for about 3 yrs …I nearly got it paid off with one of their collections agencies and then they gave me back the card …and increased my credit limit!!! …so of course, I ended up spending once again.

 

I’m pregnant now and decided it’s time to get rid of this card and start being super sensible.

 

Current Credit Limit 1500

Current Balance 1760

 

…I’m forever getting charged late payment fees and overlimit fees, I’m sure that over the years I’ve paid thousands to this card and I don’t use it. I recently got 12 months worth of statments and I’ve paid about £630 to MBNA in the past year and have been charged about £650 …so the balance only gets worse …and I haven’t used it once.

 

Anyway, decided to make a claim …I’m a bit scared so I thought I’d start a thread and keep using this site to make sure I’m doing things properly.

 

I sent the data protection letter on 7th July and on 14th July received standard letter telling me to phone Gareth Tunnicliffe if I needed to contact them and the letter was electronically signed for by Rachel Claridge.

 

Tonight I got a phone call from some debt collections company asking for £260 to bring the account back within its limits. I told them that I was waiting for a response to a letter I had sent MBNA.

 

I then phoned MBNA to tell them I’d had this call and to check that my letter was being dealt with and I got a lecture from some lad who told me that I shouldn’t have been paying the minimum payment as this was “not designed to pay off the balance”!! …he also insists that MBNA will charge me £2.50 per statement (£150 for 5 yrs worth)….anyhow, I’m just going to ignore him and wait for the response from Mr Tunicliffes department.

 

One question if anyone can help …..do you think I should pay £260 to bring the account back within its limits? …or should I pay nothing and just continue with the claim?

 

 

….I’ll update as soon as I get a response from MBNA in relation to the charges and their amounts.

 

Good luck to everyone who’s doing the same.

 

 

 

Jackie

 

 

 

[clayts]

Do not pay the balance at this stage - advise the debt collections agency (have they written to you ?) that the account is in dispute and they should send the debt back to MBNA

[kfdh1962]

Hi Jackie,

i had a similar situation too with the MBNA a few years ago, eventually arranged a repayment arrangement, £6 per month with all interest frozen.

As the others say dont pay them anything yet and advise them the acount is in dispute.

I recently sent them the DPA sar letter, they sent the info back with my £10 cheque uncashed, all the info i requested, and a letter stating that there charges are fair and lawful etc...but here is a £100 refund as a gesture of goodwill. Goodwill my A*!E. I will press on now for the full amount, over £800 pound in charges!!

Keep on going for it. The contact name i have is Steve Bailey, Head of customer Advocates Office if thats of any use.

[Jackie-b]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

I've had several phone calls so far from one of the debt collection companies trying to make me pay up ...they're very persistent. They've not sent anything in writing yet, so I just keep telling them that the account is in dispute and that they should contact MBNA as I am waiting to hear from them.

 

In the meantime, ...it's now over 28 days since I received the promise from MBNA that they would send me a full written response. I've emailed Gareth Tunicliffe, cc'd Rachel Claridge and referred them to my original letter and to remind them that I am waiting for a comprehensive list of charges etc etc. and I have now given them until w/e 25th August (This gives them 40 days since they wrote to me - this is because I know for sure that they were in receipt of my letter then)

 

...so for now, I'll keep waiting.

[kfdh1962]

Hi Jackie,

all the correspondence i have received has come from Steve Bailey, head of customer advocate office, po box 1004, chester business park, chester, CH4 9WW. Might be worth dropping him a letter.

[Jackie-b]

Hi everyone,

 

Would anyone beable to help with my next step as I'm a but confused and also have no idea how the interest works.

 

This morning I received a response from Rachel Claridge. I have got a list of charges (over limit + late fees) that total £1179.

 

The covering letter says that they have enclosed copies of my statement information ...."if there have been any transactions on your account as a result of manual intervention, they will be included". On this occasion, they have given me this information free of charge and If this information is not sufficient and I wish to make a full data subject access request then I have to return the enclosed form with £10 cheque. (I didn't send them a cheque with the first letter).

 

What does manual intervention mean? I assume these are all the charges that have been made on the account ...is it possible there could be anymore? ..or is there anymore information I would need from them?

 

If anyone could help me with what to do next, I'd be really grateful.

 

Thanks very much

Jackie

[towelie]

Looks liek you have all the information you need. Your next step is to send the prelim letter asking for a refund of your charges.

 

First you need to fill in the spreadsheet, just put in each charge and the date and it works the interest out for you. You need to send a copy of the spreadsheet when sending your prelim, however, you need to hide the column for the interest as you cannot claim this until you file a court claim.

 

Hope this helps.

[kfdh1962]

Hi Jackie,

MBNA did the same with me. From what i could see all of the information was present so i went ahead using the info they provided FOC.

After prelim letter they gave me a £100 good will payment (goodwill yeah right!). I told them i accepted this but still required the rest of the charges refunding, £734.

They did the same on my alliance and leicetser (MBNA in disguise), so you can probably expect the same approach.

I have now sent LBA letters for the remainder of the charges

[Jackie-b]

Hi everyone,

 

...update

 

I received a response from MBNA ...surprise surprise ...identical to the first standard letter they sent me. So, I'm sending them a letter now pointing out that if they do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim for the full amount plus interest plus a claim under ss.7 and 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 plus my costs and without further notice. blah blah blah.

 

:O)

 

hehe ....the library is great for cutting pasting and tailoring ....I love reading the letters back to myself when I've added my own touch ...makes me feel more confident and like I really mean business. (...which of course I do)

 

 

 

 

[cantsay]

Hi Jackie,

Check out Greatwonders thread, looks like it could be worth making a phone call. Ive just received the first letter from them saying they will send me the charges shortly and saying sorry that ive had to complain ( I havent,just asked for the charges!) and as soon as they send them to me I will phone up straight away and ask for them back! If they say no then I will proceed with the LBA etc but it does look like from some of the threads Ive been reading that MBNA may well be one of the easier to get your money back from.

Best of luck.

[Jackie-b]

Hi

 

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to give them a call this week but first will drop an email to them. I like to put things in writing because I'm scared I'll trip myself up on the phone or give in to their evil threats.

 

Anyway, I received a letter from Steve Bailey ......

 

He goes on about the charges and how they have always set these out precisely in their agreement ...blah blah blah ....if a customer goes over their credit limit, they are using the card in a way that is not allowed. (That's a joke isn't it ...they love letting you go just enough over your limit to mess you up)

 

...they think the charges are fair.

 

They do value my custom and offer a goodwill gesture of £600!!!!!!

 

Please note this doesn't affect payments on my account which is currently in arrears etc etc, If I can't afford the payments I should contact their debt management team.

 

MBNA disagrees with the OFT's interpretation of the law.

 

I like this last bit .......

 

"We expect you to honour the revised terms of your agreement with us. If you do not do so, we will have no alternative but to cancel your card and to formally terminate your credit agreement." .....if only!!!!!! I've asked them to do this I don't know how many times they just keep on sending out cards and increasing credit limits.

 

 

 

 

 

So, .....next step.

 

In my LBA, I gave them 14 days from 13.09.06 to comply fully before court action commences. They have now offered £600 goodwill. So, I'm emailing Steve Bailey in the morning accepting the £600 as part payment and telling them that basically they have this week to sort it out fully. (the full 14 days would take them to Wednesday ....I might let them have 'til Thursday / Friday). I end the letter saying that I expect to hear from them at the earliest oppoirtunity this week.

 

 

So, I figured if I haven't heard by Thursday, I'll phone them.

 

 

If anyone is reading this who knows the process inside out, please let me know if you think I should be handling this in a different way ...or if what I'm doing sounds fine. I also want (if I can get) this compound interest ....I'm requesting £1179 up to end July 2006 + any charges that have been made on the account since this date, ....should I just also ask them to include the compound interest???

 

...thanks for your help everyone ....I feel like this could be coming to a happy ending.

 

 

Jackie

[Jackie-b]

...update.

 

Phoned MBNA on Friday morning. Spoke to someone called Colin and asked to speak to Steve Bailey.

 

Steve Bailey was on lunch, explained what my call was about and that I was going to put in a money claim at the end of the day and was giving them the opportunity to settle before I did the claim.

 

Gareth Tunnicliffe phoned me back.

 

Very apologetic ...extremely nice and helpful, he told me how MBNA disagree with the OFT etc etc .....I didn't say a word and just let him speak. When he had finished he then said however we would like to settle this today.

 

He told me he would double check the amount I was asking for and would call me back. I asked him to add on any additional charges since end of July ....and also asked for the compound interest. He agreed ...phoned me back a little bit later and said it would all be credited to my account. This leaves me with a tiny little balance but I said I would send a cheque for that and he agreed he would close the account at my request.

 

RESULT!!!

 

I've not had anything in writing yet (I have asked him to confirm it all in writing) ...so I'm just waiting for confirmation. My daily telephone calls from Globalvantedge have stopped ...I'm missing them so much, I'm tempted to phone to tell them I miss them and ask why they've suddenly stopped phoning me. hehe

 

:O)

 

Thanks everyone ....and especially the whole site for all the guidance.

 

This still leaves me skint but as soon as pay day arrives, I'll make a donation.

 

Jackie

[kfdh1962]

Hi Jackie,

thats brilliant news..well done. When i had a similar conversation with them in respect to my claim i too asked for it in writing and received the letter within a couple of days...still protesting of course they are in the right and this is all purely a gesture of good will!!!

The credits to the account happened the following month, and if it is above £500 it will appear as number of credits.

 

 

Again well done.. !!!

[IRISHCHICK]

Hi there could you give me an email address for Rachel Claridge as she had sent me a letter offering me a further 400 in full settlement of my account but I havent heard from her since and that was nearly 6 weeks ago. Each time i ring noone seems to know who she is or can put me in contact with her. Grateful if you have any means of contact.

 

thanks!!!!!!!

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve had an MBNA credit card for about 10 yrs now. About 8yrs ago when I was 22 I got in loads of debt (as many of us do) …MBNA was a big problem and I ended up paying them back something like £30 per month for about 3 yrs …I nearly got it paid off with one of their collections agencies and then they gave me back the card …and increased my credit limit!!! …so of course, I ended up spending once again.

 

I’m pregnant now and decided it’s time to get rid of this card and start being super sensible.

 

Current Credit Limit 1500

Current Balance 1760

 

…I’m forever getting charged late payment fees and overlimit fees, I’m sure that over the years I’ve paid thousands to this card and I don’t use it. I recently got 12 months worth of statments and I’ve paid about £630 to MBNA in the past year and have been charged about £650 …so the balance only gets worse …and I haven’t used it once.

 

Anyway, decided to make a claim …I’m a bit scared so I thought I’d start a thread and keep using this site to make sure I’m doing things properly.

 

I sent the data protection letter on 7th July and on 14th July received standard letter telling me to phone Gareth Tunnicliffe if I needed to contact them and the letter was electronically signed for by Rachel Claridge.

 

Tonight I got a phone call from some debt collections company asking for £260 to bring the account back within its limits. I told them that I was waiting for a response to a letter I had sent MBNA.

 

I then phoned MBNA to tell them I’d had this call and to check that my letter was being dealt with and I got a lecture from some lad who told me that I shouldn’t have been paying the minimum payment as this was “not designed to pay off the balance”!! …he also insists that MBNA will charge me £2.50 per statement (£150 for 5 yrs worth)….anyhow, I’m just going to ignore him and wait for the response from Mr Tunicliffes department.

 

One question if anyone can help …..do you think I should pay £260 to bring the account back within its limits? …or should I pay nothing and just continue with the claim?

 

 

….I’ll update as soon as I get a response from MBNA in relation to the charges and their amounts.

 

Good luck to everyone who’s doing the same.

 

 

 

Jackie

 

 

 

[Jackie-b]

Hi

 

I've just had a look but can't find it ....sorry.

I think originally I did find it in the forum somewhere. It was something like Rachel.Claridge@mbna ...something. LOL.

 

I'll have a look in the forum for you in a mo and see if I can find it. I think you're better off dealing with Gareth Tunicliffe though. I've got a feeling that Rachel is an assistant. ...I could be wrong but I seem to remember she dealt with my claim early on and then when they came to pay out, it was Gareth that I dealt with. ....it was so easy!! In the end I just phoned and told them I wanted the money credited back to the account straight away and he did it there and then.

 

...I'll try to find an address for you now.

[standingupformyself]

emails to Rachel seem to bounce back... try [email protected] other people have (including myself) and it has been pretty effective..

[IRISHCHICK]

Hi there thank you so much for replying to me - have you had any luck finding the address. I have still not got the hang of using this yet!!

Hi everyone,

 

I’ve had an MBNA credit card for about 10 yrs now. About 8yrs ago when I was 22 I got in loads of debt (as many of us do) …MBNA was a big problem and I ended up paying them back something like £30 per month for about 3 yrs …I nearly got it paid off with one of their collections agencies and then they gave me back the card …and increased my credit limit!!! …so of course, I ended up spending once again.

 

I’m pregnant now and decided it’s time to get rid of this card and start being super sensible.

 

Current Credit Limit 1500

Current Balance 1760

 

…I’m forever getting charged late payment fees and overlimit fees, I’m sure that over the years I’ve paid thousands to this card and I don’t use it. I recently got 12 months worth of statments and I’ve paid about £630 to MBNA in the past year and have been charged about £650 …so the balance only gets worse …and I haven’t used it once.

 

Anyway, decided to make a claim …I’m a bit scared so I thought I’d start a thread and keep using this site to make sure I’m doing things properly.

 

I sent the data protection letter on 7th July and on 14th July received standard letter telling me to phone Gareth Tunnicliffe if I needed to contact them and the letter was electronically signed for by Rachel Claridge.

 

Tonight I got a phone call from some debt collections company asking for £260 to bring the account back within its limits. I told them that I was waiting for a response to a letter I had sent MBNA.

 

I then phoned MBNA to tell them I’d had this call and to check that my letter was being dealt with and I got a lecture from some lad who told me that I shouldn’t have been paying the minimum payment as this was “not designed to pay off the balance”!! …he also insists that MBNA will charge me £2.50 per statement (£150 for 5 yrs worth)….anyhow, I’m just going to ignore him and wait for the response from Mr Tunicliffes department.

 

One question if anyone can help …..do you think I should pay £260 to bring the account back within its limits? …or should I pay nothing and just continue with the claim?

 

 

….I’ll update as soon as I get a response from MBNA in relation to the charges and their amounts.

 

Good luck to everyone who’s doing the same.

 

 

 

Jackie

 

 

 

[standingupformyself]

all MBNA email addresses are [email protected] but any to Rachel seem to bounce back, but having said that, give it a try

[standingupformyself]

IrishChick? Open up your own thread in the MBNA forum...

I have had a thought. You need to CCA them as your account is so old. It will (in my opinion) speed the process up