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Hello, I am sorry if this has already been covered somewhere else but I can´t find it.

 

I am British but now a Spanish Resident.

 

I have an outstanding debt with MBNA for 1,494.73 pounds. I today received a "Notice of Sums in Arrears" which is 205.25 pounds. In all the years that I have had this credit card I have never once missed a payment.

 

I am a loan parent with two children that attend school in Spain. My ex-husband and my father pay my mortgage. The only income that I receive is CTC, CB, IB and DLA (middle rate). To be totally honest with you I am not sure what income I put on the original form when applying for this card. I have not been able to work for the past 20 years due to Bipolar/anxiety disorder/clinical depression.

 

I have given MBNA my Spanish address, my contact number and my email address as I had no intention of not paying them. I have in fact on 2 occasions telephoned them and spoke to a Customer Services Rep. I believe that the "payment plan" office was closed. I left my contact number on both occasions and nobody telephoned me back. In fact the last time I telephoned was 10th January 2012 and an answerphone indicated that the offices were closed. It says on their headed paper that the office opening hours are Monday-Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-12pm. There was NOT an opportunity to leave a message.

 

My problem is that when I applied for the card it was one of the "Interest FREE for one year" offers, and was at a time when they were chucking the cards at anyone who asked. I have always been only able to pay the minimum amount, but unfortunately after the one year no interest was up I found that "I was treading water" as the interest was almost the same as the amount I was able to pay.

 

I was not ignoring this problem as I indicated above by telephoning them and giving them all my details in Spain. And I assume that MBNA will have a record of the telephone calls/dates on their computers.

 

Please can you tell me what will happen if I ignore them. Will they be able to take payments out direct from my benefits. I have CB and CTC going into my Nationwide account and my IB and DLA going into my Spanish account.

 

Also is it possible that a debt collector here in Spain will be able to take possessions from mine and my childrens home, or would it not come to that. Also, I believe that they may be able to take out a CCJ on me in the UK and if it went to court in the UK, obviously I would not be able to attend as I am unable to fly.

 

I was going to write them a letter offering to pay them 20.00 pounds a month, as long as they froze the interest indefinitely. As this is the only offer I can afford to make them.

 

Please can you advise what I should do before I send them any correspondence in writing.

 

Thank you for your help.

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Please can you tell me what will happen if I ignore them. Will they be able to take payments out direct from my benefits.
No they can't touch your benefits. It is possible for them to 'offset' from another a/c you hold with them but not from any other banking group.

Also is it possible that a debt collector here in Spain will be able to take possessions from mine and my childrens home
They would first need to obtain a court order which you have breached to be able to involve bailiffs, nobody can take anything or enter your property without a court order.

 

£1,494 in the grand scheme of things isn't a great deal and if you ceased payment the most they would do is send you a few threatening letters and make some intimidating 'phone calls. It's a shame you gave them those details, but no matter. There are reciprocal agreements in place between EU countries which enables creditors to take cross border action to recover monies, but this is designed really for debts much higher than yours.... it would be far too expensive & time consuming for them to pursue. After initial empty threats they would eventually sell the debt on to another debt collector who would then try to pursue for payment, but Spain is notoriously difficult for them (the legal system is very sloooooow & most things are manjana).

 

Have they added any unfair charges on this a/c over the years and was there any PPI?

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No they can't touch your benefits. It is possible for them to 'offset' from another a/c you hold with them but not from any other banking group.

They would first need to obtain a court order which you have breached to be able to involve bailiffs, nobody can take anything or enter your property without a court order.

 

£1,494 in the grand scheme of things isn't a great deal and if you ceased payment the most they would do is send you a few threatening letters and make some intimidating 'phone calls. It's a shame you gave them those details, but no matter. There are reciprocal agreements in place between EU countries which enables creditors to take cross border action to recover monies, but this is designed really for debts much higher than yours.... it would be far too expensive & time consuming for them to pursue. After initial empty threats they would eventually sell the debt on to another debt collector who would then try to pursue for payment, but Spain is notoriously difficult for them (the legal system is very sloooooow & most things are manjana).

 

Have they added any unfair charges on this a/c over the years and was there any PPI?

 

Hello cerberusalert, Thank you so much for your reply. In answer to your question I did not take out any PPI and I am not aware of any unfair charges. As I said I have always paid via D/D on time. Plus I don´t hold any other accounts with MBNA. What do you think are the chances that if I ignore this then it will be sent to an overseas debt collector bearing in mind that it is not a huge amount? Is this a common thing for banks in the UK to do when a customer has moved to another EU country. How much money do banks normally chase for overseas?, I know things take ages here in Spain to get done, but do you think it will eventually catch up with me and would the debt keep accruing interest and charges. Or shall I just try and not worry about it. Thank you once again for your help :???:

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MBNA are an American bank & well known on this site for their rather cavalier attitude to customers and debtors alike. IIRC they have sold many of their a/cs to a UK bank.

 

If you stop paying them completely the usual course of events is that they'll send you a cycle of their threat-o-gram letters along with several 'phone calls, eventually they'll pass it on to a debt collector which is in fact the next desk along to their own in-house collection arm. If you carry on ignoring them they will eventually sell the debt along with thousands of others to an outside debt collector & the cycle of letters & 'phone calls will begin again.

 

You will be threatened with just about everything from having a doorstep visit, which will never happen unless one of their employees is on holiday... besides they'll b too busy sampling the sangria.... to having your first born kidnapped. Carry on ignoring them and eventually it will be passed on to another DCA further down the food chain who'll then try their luck.

 

You have to bear in mind that when the debt is sold it will only be for a fraction of its face value, usually between 7 & 20%, so if a DCA pays say £250 for it do you expect that they spend too much time, money and energy trying to collect it? The answer is no, they'll pass it on again for even less and concentrate on the a/cs where they are more likely to get paid. ;)

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MBNA are an American bank & well known on this site for their rather cavalier attitude to customers and debtors alike. IIRC they have sold many of their a/cs to a UK bank.

 

If you stop paying them completely the usual course of events is that they'll send you a cycle of their threat-o-gram letters along with several 'phone calls, eventually they'll pass it on to a debt collector which is in fact the next desk along to their own in-house collection arm. If you carry on ignoring them they will eventually sell the debt along with thousands of others to an outside debt collector & the cycle of letters & 'phone calls will begin again.

 

You will be threatened with just about everything from having a doorstep visit, which will never happen unless one of their employees is on holiday... besides they'll b too busy sampling the sangria.... to having your first born kidnapped. Carry on ignoring them and eventually it will be passed on to another DCA further down the food chain who'll then try their luck.

 

You have to bear in mind that when the debt is sold it will only be for a fraction of its face value, usually between 7 & 20%, so if a DCA pays say £250 for it do you expect that they spend too much time, money and energy trying to collect it? The answer is no, they'll pass it on again for even less and concentrate on the a/cs where they are more likely to get paid. ;)

 

Thank you so so much for your quick reply. You did make me laugh, I can just imagine one of their employees drunk as a skunk turning up on my doorstep asking for some money and then asking for a bucket to puke into. I´m just going to ignore this. Do you advise that I open any letters that I receive from them? I have never even received one email or a phone call from them, just letters.

 

Thanks again for being there x

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They'll always worth keeping if not for the comedy value but to hang in the dunny for emergencies. :lol:

 

:crazy: I guess I could always plead insanity and blame my misgivings on my BiPolar. Seriously though, thank you for the advice and the laugh. I feel much better now :-D

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  • 4 months later...

Update - just received a letter from Mbna telling me my debt of £1,600 has now been passed to a debt collector in the uk. Just to make sure can someone tell me if this debt can be passed to a Spanish debt collector agency.

 

Thank you

Chloe

 

Ps I had some really nasty replies from another do called forum

Edited by chloe01
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Update - just received a letter from Mbna telling me my debt of £1,600 has now been passed to a debt collector in the uk. Just to make sure can someone tell me if this debt can be passed to a Spanish debt collector agency.

 

Thank you

Chloe

 

Ps I had some really nasty replies from another do called forum

 

Sorry to be such a dim-wit but for some reason I can't see the post I sent in the "new posts" section. An I looking in the wrong place? Thanks

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Ps I had some really nasty replies from another do called forum

This forum?

can someone tell me if this debt can be passed to a Spanish debt collector agency.

They could do but a Spanish DCA can't do anything.

Sorry to be such a dim-wit but for some reason I can't see the post I sent in the "new posts" section. An I looking in the wrong place? Thanks

I can't see any new posts other than the two above. What was the title?

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This forum?

 

They could do but a Spanish DCA can't do anything.

 

I can't see any new posts other than the two above. What was the title?

 

 

Hiya, at last a friendly name. Been having some very nasty comments on another forum. No it's ok, just the two posts you replied too. I could not see them on new posts but you have found them clever clogs lol

 

So tell me please will I not have anyone knocking at my door. 100 sure? Now that I have received this new letter saying debt has been passed to debt collector I just needed to know if my debt can be passed onto a Spanish debt collector due to bring in the EEU etc

 

Thanks :)

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What forum am I posting in are they divided into categories. I can't remember now, maybe that's why I can't see my new posts. Or could it be because I am posting in my/this original thread that it dosent show up. Did you see my two posts on the "new posts" because if you did I need glasses lol

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As I said it is possible that they could pass it to a Spanish DCA but unlikely. Even if they did there is nothing a Spanish DCA can do except ask for payment. For a debt of £1500 they aren't going to spend to much time, money or energy pursuing it.

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I'm afraid certain posters on MSE get away with making posts that would not be tolerated on CAGlink31.gif.

 

Had to laugh at the person who thinks that if everyone paid their debts, banks would pass on the savings to customers:lol:

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Your username on MSE is lisa1967 & your thread is http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3976093 ?

 

I'm afraid certain posters on MSE get away with making posts that would not be tolerated on Cag.

 

Thanks I'm happy you found it, it did upset me quite a bit. Some people are so judgemental and make people's stress worse. I shan't be visiting there anymore x

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Had to laugh at the person who thinks that if everyone paid their debts, banks would pass on the savings to customers:lol:

 

I compare their advice to a "chocolate fire-guard"

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