A (very) small victory against MBNA

[Dr Brickwerx]

Having finally decided to take action, after a couple of years of "being to busy" to get round to it I have prepared my letter of request for my CCA, the problem is I dont know whether you can send registered post to a PO box and the only MBNA addresses I can find are PO box addresses.

 

I would be very thankful to anybody who can either provide a current, known successful address or confirm whether PO boxes take registered post/recorded delivery.

 

 

 

The thread title is no longer appropriate to the subject further down but I didnt want to start another thread to clog the board with so please read on if you think you can offer advice. Thank you.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Jez Rose
Hoped to edit thread title but doesnt seem to be possible

[supasnooper]

I would aadvise that any written communication be made to the companys Registered Office.

 

In this case for MBNA it would be -

 

MBNA Europe Limited

Stansfield House

Chester Business Park

Wrexham Road

Chester

CH4 9QQ

[Dr Brickwerx]

Thank you, I'll no doubt be back looking for advice for the next stages, I've paid well in excess of £15,000 off this card over the last 5 years and never missed a payment yet the balance stays jammed at over £10,000, I just cant afford to pay it any more and MBNA have variously ignored/refused my requests for a settlement or deal, so I'm taking the matter into my own hands... ,

[supasnooper]

Please do return.

 

I'm sure you'll get some great advice here.

[Dr Brickwerx]

Quick update..

 

MBNA have not replied to my CCA request so have now sent my Account in Dispute letter.

 

Despite explaining to Global Vantedge that I will not speak to them they persist in phoning/texting me several times a day and writing at least once a week, ignoring them does little dampen their enthusiasm.

 

Having looked closer at my statements it appears I have been paying for PPI also that I was unaware of, sometimes as much as £100 per month, I absolutely would not have agreed to this voluntarily on principle so I am wondering whether an MBNA employee unlawfully ticked the box without my permission, does this happen???

 

Could I make a case against them??

[supasnooper]

If you are sure that you did not ask for PPI then request they refund the extra payments.

[Dr Brickwerx]

Ok, an update to proceedings..

MBNA eventually responded to my Section 78 CCA request although well outside the time limit, I have a small copy of the signature form that has been cut from the rest of the page one one sheet of paper and a copy Financial & Related Conditions on another page. Its obvious that it is my signature and date, however I am quite heavy handed when i write and consequently the inkline of my signature and the date are thick, the signature form is struck through with a much finer pen line and the tick in the PPI box is also in this hand, I wish to request MBNA make the original form available for forensic examination as I know it wasnt me who ticked the box, I wasnt even asked if i wanted it, I always assumed it was something I had to have. If they cannot provide the original form, where does that leave me?? I am contemplating instructing my solicitor to take legal action to force them to produce it. Anybody tried this before?? Is there anything else I should be considering? Can I put the account into dispute based on this in the meantime to check any action they may be considering??

[supasnooper]

If MBNA have supplied a response to your s78 request and it is enforceable, then you cannot put the account "into dispute"

 

You can ask for inspection of the original CCA under CPR31.16

This cagger won against Goldfish - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/165349-smt37-morgan-stanley-goldfish.html

 

....and did it themselves.

 

Have a look around the site for threads on reclaiming PPI - search for posts by alanalana. He's pretty clued up on this.

[Dr Brickwerx]

Thanks supasnooper, I am setting about establishing whether or not the agreement they have sent is enforcable, maybe you can help, I have looked at many of the forms shown on the site but none are an exact match although one is very close, mine is an AOL platinum mastercard agreement, application made online.

 

I have recieved from MBNA a copy of a signature form, signed and dated clearly, financial and related conditions (though there is a tiny code at the edge of the page which shows the document was created in september 2009) and a printout of the details i submitted to the webpage where I applied originally in 2000.

 

I have scrutinised them and one thing is missing from everything, nowhere on either the application, signature form or terms/conditions does it show the credit limit of the card, or how any limit will be determined, is this the unenforcibility issue I need?

 

Another maybe incidental issue is the timestamp of the online application form puts the date at 12th november 2000 but the MBNA signature date on that form is only one day before I signed the actual signature form and the post just doesnt work that fast, neither do I for that matter, but it does look like MBNA have been manipulating things a bit.

 

Does the credit limit need to be present?? It seems to be on some of the other signature forms I have looked at.

 

Happy New Year Caggers!!

[Dr Brickwerx]

To refine my above question about the credit limit slightly:

 

Does the credit limit at the time of application need to be shown somewhere on either the signature form or financial & related conditions??

 

Also.. On the signature form (cca) under a heading important - data protection, attention is drawn to Condition 11 in the terms and conditions provided and purportedly relates to my giving MBNA permission for the use, recording and disclosure of personal information. However, section 11 of the financial and related conditions supplied does not relate to personal information, it is about interest rates, and section 11 of the "up to date" T&C's MBNA sent me also does not refer to personal information, it refers to future possible changes to terms and conditions.

 

This leads me to believe that the signature form and the T&C's are not the same document, does this appear to be the case to anybody with more understanding of these things?? Time is of the essence now if I am to act on this as MBNA are on the brink of passing my debt on so I would appreciate a second opinion.

[Dr Brickwerx]

I have (had is perhaps the right word) a credit card with MBNA that had a balance of £10'000+ of purchases which I had diligently paid the minimum payment for over 6 years, by which time I had paid back almost £14'000.

 

I was struggling to maintain more important payments so having written twice to MBNA to ask for some reduced settlement arrangement and twice being ignored I cancelled the direct debit, which unsurprisingly caught their attention, I refused to pay anything further and asked again for a one off settlement payment but got the usual blurb.

 

I then sent a S.78, which a couple of months after the 12+2 days turned up through my letterbox, close scrutiny revealed there were several faults with the original agreement, such as no credit limit shown anywhere on the application which meant the agreement had been improperly executed, there were also inconsistencies between pages which clearly showed the terms and conditions etc were not part of the same document as the signature form. Crucially it also showed that the pen that ticked the box requesting PPI was evidently ticked with a different pen to my signature and this other pen was consistent with further writing that could only have been done by the employee who processed the application.

 

I wrote again to put the account into dispute, requested all payments towards PPI be refunded immediately in the form of a pound for pound reduction of the balance and threatened legal action to force them to produce the original for forensic examination if no reduction was offered, I also offered to pay a minority percentage of the balance of the card once PPI payments were deducted.

 

I kept getting the usual letters and telephone calls and at first they refused but I stuck to my guns and reiterated my threats of legal action over the phone to every person I spoke to.

 

I then recieved a letter saying the account was due to default and be passed to a collection agency so I rang them and reminded them of their obligations under S.77 when an account is in dispute. I was then asked to make a settlement "offer" for consideration, I offered £2'500 for full and final.

 

They said that was only 19% of the balance but if i could stretch to 21% they would accept that as full and final payment in partial settlement of the outstanding balance (which they currently had at £13'100+) I asked for a signed document stating they would accept 21% and make no further claim, nor would any third party persue me for anything further in the future and upon reciept of that I settled.

 

Of course now I am thinking I should perhaps have dug in further and exploited the improperly executed agreement and the fraudulent behaviour of the employee who ticked my PPI box to get off without paying a penny more but if I am honest I'm just glad to have them off my back at £2'800.00.

 

I now feel I have paid for my purchases in full, paid MBNA a fair and reasonable amount in interest for their services and been refunded my PPI, so like I say, it feels like a small victory after the last 6 months of dispute, I would like to say thanks to everybody who posts here as although I recieved very little in the way of direct advice what I learned from reading other posts gave me the courage and information to take MBNA on.

 

THANKS EVERYBODY:-)

[Guest wino]

Well done Jez Rose. It's a great feeling when things go your way for a change isn't it:)

[Dr Brickwerx]

Yes, it is, it feels like I have taken some control back over my life, and strengthens my resolve to not be dictated to and governed by blood sucking institutions like banks ever again, they no longer hold all the power, thats a good feeling.

[Dotty50]

Glad to hear this, well done!

Edited February 2, 2010 by Dotty50
Got the wrong glasses on!

[redsue]

what about your credit file - did you ask them about this?

[Dr Brickwerx]

I didnt ask them about it particularly, although they said it would look more favourable if it showed a settlement, even partial than, if I continued to avoid making any further payments, I guess they would have defaulted it and sold it regardless, even though I had legitimate cause to claim invalidity of the agreement and put it in dispute.

[Philip23]

Well done!

[Dr Brickwerx]

At this point I am resolved to never borrow money again unless it is another mortgage, I have a very good reliable car, paid for, I dont need anything else in my life and I can earn a decent amount of money in my self employment, so I'm paying up front or doing without for the time being. By the time my car needs replacing I hope to have saved enough to pay for a new er one... I'm trying to learn from this mistake, to hell with my credit file for the time being, it'll repair itself in due course:)