Ironside v MBNA

[ironside]

I wonder if anyone has some advice about what I should do about MBNA. I requested just over £2000 in charges to be paid back and received a letter from Stuart Johnson (Assistant VP) this morning. It contained the usual pap about saying their charges are fair etc. and then said that they would credit a goodwill payment of £850 to my account for full and final settlement of the complaint.

 

I've noticed that there does not seem to be too much in the way of success stories for MBNA on this site.

 

Soooo.... Deal or No Deal?

 

Any ideas? I have half a mind to push it, but I'm not sure.

[ironside]

Has anyone refused a partial payment from MBNA and received the full amount instead? I have been told they are crediting my account with £850, out of the £2000 I requested.

 

I have no idea how this figure was arrived at, but I am wondering whether I should send in a letter accepting it as part payment and requesting the rest?

 

There is a bit of an ominous paragraph at the end of the letter I received, which is why I am hesitating...

 

"You may know that the Office of Fair Trading issued guidelines in April 2006 for the level of credit card default charges. MBNA disagrees with the OFT's interpretation of the law and continues to maintain that its default charges have always been fair, legal and transparent. However, we decided to reduce our default charges to £12 with effect from 28 June for late payments and returned payments, and 28 July for overlimit fees. You will have received notification of the changes to the Terms and Conditions, which we expect you to honour. If you do not do so, we will have no alternative but to cancel your card and to formally terminate your credit agreement". I don't fancy having to pay back the outstanding balance at this point. Are they just telling me that I have to accept these charges in future, or that if I don't accept their offer they will terminate? It's a little ambiguous.

[lazybones]

Hi Ironside

 

It might be an idea to read "Mbna Properly Executed Agreements" by Cornuccopia. It's a long thread but very informative

[Rhia]

Refuse it or say you'll accept it as part payment and send a letter before action to recover the rest. They'll send it all to you if you keep pressing them. Have you claimed contractual interest?

[ironside]

Thanks for the advice. I read the thread you mentioned Lazybones, but I'm not certain how it relates to me exactly. I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to this kind of thing Are you saying they should have sent me my original application back?

 

The items I received from them were the letter with the goodwill offer on it, a data protection act request slip and lots of pages of printed transactions. They didn't send the application or copies of my statements. On the letter it says "we have enclosed details of your statement information. On this occasion we have provided the information to you free of charge, as we have not treated your request as a formal data subject access request under sction 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Please find enclosed your £10 cheque payment. Should this information be insufficient for your purposes, and you wish to make a full data subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998, please complete and return the attached form."

 

I don't know why they just didn't send my statements like I originally asked. The good thing was that I had kept them all, so I was able to calculate my charges anyway.

 

It looks like the best thing to do is accept as part payment and request the rest. Do you agree?

[ironside]

I haven't added contractual interest, as I thought that was something I was supposed to do when making the court claim?

[dpick]

Thanks for the advice. I read the thread you mentioned Lazybones, but I'm not certain how it relates to me exactly. I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to this kind of thing Are you saying they should have sent me my original application back?

 

The items I received from them were the letter with the goodwill offer on it, a data protection act request slip and lots of pages of printed transactions. They didn't send the application or copies of my statements. On the letter it says "we have enclosed details of your statement information. On this occasion we have provided the information to you free of charge, as we have not treated your request as a formal data subject access request under sction 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Please find enclosed your £10 cheque payment. Should this information be insufficient for your purposes, and you wish to make a full data subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998, please complete and return the attached form."

 

I don't know why they just didn't send my statements like I originally asked. The good thing was that I had kept them all, so I was able to calculate my charges anyway.

 

It looks like the best thing to do is accept as part payment and request the rest. Do you agree?

 

Hi ironside they cannot say thet are not treating as SAR it is a legal requirement to comply with request, You say you have all statement you require but I would push for full SAR, also send CCA (it will give them more of a headace and they have to produce) if they dont then take them to court there are examples on forums of people doing this.

 

dpick:shock:

[ladybird17]

Ironside - definitely, as dpick says, request a copy of your original executed agreement. (they must send it 12 days + 2 for posting)It costs £1, and you should tell them that the £1 is for the copy of the agreement and is not to be used for any other reason. (i.e. credit to your account). When (and if) you receive it, come back on here and tell us -for MBNA seem to have a problem locating original agreements, and may send you an application form - which is NOT what you want.

Do a partial acceptance as well - there are loads of us battling with MBNA here, and WE'RE NOT GIVING UP!

[dpick]

Ironside - definitely, as dpick says, request a copy of your original executed agreement. (they must send it 12 days + 2 for posting)It costs £1, and you should tell them that the £1 is for the copy of the agreement and is not to be used for any other reason. (i.e. credit to your account). When (and if) you receive it, come back on here and tell us -for MBNA seem to have a problem locating original agreements, and may send you an application form - which is NOT what you want.

Do a partial acceptance as well - there are loads of us battling with MBNA here, and WE'RE NOT GIVING UP!

 

 

Hi ladybird17 MBNA have done to me as you describe above with my CCA request. When I rang customer line was told you are in arrears so we can take any monies received off your account. I said that CCA request is a legal request you have to comply with and she put phone down on me. So I emailed [email protected] with details as above reminding them of my timescale.

 

Ironside watch MBNA they will try anything to delay, intimidate you just keep going and you will get paid.

 

all the best with your claim dpick:razz:

[ironside]

Thanks for the advice!

 

I have asked them for everything they have on me now; in particular the original application & actual statements. I've given them 7 days to sort it out, so hopefully I'll hear something by the end of the week

[ladybird17]

Ironside - the CCA request (£1) and the SAR (£10) are two different things. And as far as the SAR is concerned, they are not obligated to send you statements. The are obligated to send you details of your transactions & charges, but this can be a list, a schedule or a print-out. Some banks choose to send you statements but they don't have to. If you read the SAR letter, it takes account of this.

[ironside]

Well, that's weird! I received a letter from MBNA today. I had asked for everything they had on me, including the original application and actual statements. I already had the statements that I had kept for accounting purposes, so I wasn't so bothered about those.

 

However, the letter that came today said ... "you have been charged fees totalling £1809 in the past six years, of which £25 has previously been refunded. Therefore, as we would like to resolve this matter, we have arranged a further goodwill payment of £934 to be sent credited to your account. This is in addition to the previous goodwill payment of £860... blah blah"

 

There are two odd things about this:

 

1. I didn't ask for the extra payment. I just asked for all the info to be sent to me so I could check it over.

2. They have caved in completely.

 

In the letter, they have attached the same copies of transaction lists (not statements) that they sent last time, and my £10 cheque back... No application copy.

 

Do you think this total collapse is something to do with that? I'm very happy they have paid up in full, but I feel like asking for the application copy again (just to be annoying!)

[Rhia]

Ask for it. They have something to hide. I bet your agreement is just teh application form which opens you up to asking them to refund a lot more. Yes accept the money but get that form and all the SAR info. Return the £10 SAR request cheque as I think if you bank it they will use it to say well he accepted the refund and therefore didn't want the SAR. This is amazing stuff. I think they are in a mess.

[ladybird17]

They are in a mess - much against my better judgment - I called them just now - mainly because my account has been in dispute since end Jan. and they are now out of time with my CCA request, but not only have they ignored me, but they have continued to send letters threatening default and today I got letter to sat they are about to start legal proceedings - so whilst I always advocate keeping everything in writing - I had to pent my wrath!

 

The guy I spoke to was actually quite helpful, but he didn't understand about the CCA & kept putting me on hold, then he said he'd try to get the agreement out to me - I said don't bother - you're out of time. He then asked me how much I was claiming back - great - I'm not claiming back anything (yet!) just wanted my agreement!

 

Told him all I had called for was to ensure they stop the threatening letters, as it is they that are in default not me - after 20mns. of holding and him coming back and asking another irrelevant question, I hung up - and as my home phone number has been changed - they won't be calling ME!!!

 

Did point out to him that as they have breached the CCA their threatening letters are not going to look good for them in court.