Key Post MBNA are torturing me with phone calls over cc arrears

Bronte said:
There is nothing wrong with credit cards, it's the people who don't know how to use them that is the problem. Most people's problems are due to people spending money they didn't have on things they didn't need.
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That would be me then.:rolleyes:?!

Listen i started this thread to ask for advice on how to deal with this crowd.
Yes,im in the wrong for being in arrears,But thats the situation that has happened due to work etc,But at the end of the Day this company are very one-track.Sure as some posters are pointing out its justbecause i didnt stick to the T&C's But thats wasnt by choice,of course i want too but its just the Bad situation that has happened to me.
I never avoided them i always paid something & tried to talk with them,but the 6 to 8 phone calls a day is uncalled for.
Thats just my opinion.
 
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gembem said:
I don't have a credit card because I know how to live well within my means.
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I would argue that you should have a credit card if you know how to live within your means.

I was just saying it sounds like a lot of hassle to have one with MBNA
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Only if you don't stick to the terms and conditions.
 
demoivre said:
I would argue that you should have a credit card if you know how to live within your means.
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And what would be the basis of your arguement? I save money every week so if I want to buy something I take it out of my savings rather than relying on a credit card.
 
The reality is that 50% of people do not pay off their credit cards in full each month and so they incur interest. They are subsidising the 50% who do pay off their balance in full.

A certain percentage - I am guessing 10% - get into arrears. Of course they should not, but the reality is that they do. Presumably no one expects to go into arrears when they take out their cards.

The MBNA approach to people in arrears is disproportionate and amounts to bullying. When you take out your card, you don't know if you will be in arrears or not. So you should simply avoid MBNA.

Brendan
 
helens said:
Yes,im in the wrong for being in arrears,But thats the situation that has happened due to work etc,But at the end of the Day this company are very one-track.Sure as some posters are pointing out its justbecause i didnt stick to the T&C's But thats wasnt by choice,of course i want too but its just the Bad situation that has happened to me.
.
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Firstly my point about credit cards was not directed at you as I do not know why you are in arrears, you have not told us. But I am amazed at this
"Just because I didn't stick to the terms and conditions".
You make it sound like terms and conditions are irrelevant and that you being in arrears has nothing to do with you. Maybe I missed something?

Gembem, what is wrong with a credit card? Having a credit card does not mean one does not live within one's means?
 
Brendan said:
The MBNA approach to people in arrears is disproportionate and amounts to bullying. When you take out your card, you don't know if you will be in arrears or not. So you should simply avoid MBNA.
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I couldn't agree more.
 
bond-007 said:
I couldn't agree more.
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THey do seem to be very aggresive in their collections policy but found ulster bank to be just as bad. Had not used my card for over a year and the only charge on it was the gov stamp duty. As I had not used the card I didn't notice the bill (as always had been .10 in credit).

When they called me I explained the situation of not having used the card and it only being the duty etc..but they were very rude on the phone. I paid the duty ( and haggled and lost the argument over their late fees) I then cancelled my card and would never bank with them again after that experience. My problem is my mortgage is with first active so will have to be with them but would move except for the nice tracker ;)
 
Are MBNA not subjected to some code of practice in relation to how they deal with customers? I didn't realise they were so bad.

Is MBNA not the parent company of Mastercard the brand?
 
All financial services suppliers are obliged to comply with the Consumer Protection Code. So you should read this and make a complaint to the Financial Regulator if you feel that there is systematic non compliance. ( Unlikely that they will do anything)

if you have been personally a victim, you could ask them for compensation and then take them to the Financial Services Ombudsman. (Will promptly investigate your case and issue a ruling)
 
Bronte said:
Firstly my point about credit cards was not directed at you as I do not know why you are in arrears, you have not told us. But I am amazed at this
"Just because I didn't stick to the terms and conditions".
You make it sound like terms and conditions are irrelevant and that you being in arrears has nothing to do with you. Maybe I missed something?

Gembem, what is wrong with a credit card? Having a credit card does not mean one does not live within one's means?
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Bronte,what are you having a go at me for?i never said anything about T&c's being irrelevant,in fact i whole heartly admit im in the wrong.
And actually if you read my posts i have said about why this has happened to me.
And i have NEVER once said that the arrears has nothing to do with me ever so i dont know where you get this idea from
My Post was to try and get some advice on how to deal with this situation.

Just to Clarify,I am not on here to Look for a way of getting out of this Nor Did i ever ever say at any point that the arrears had nothing to do with me or that the T&c's didnt apply to me!!Thats not the kind of person i am so please dont say this
Just needed for Advice on how to deal with it

Thank you to everyone else that has given me good advice,i really appriciate it.
 
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Brendan said:
All financial services suppliers are obliged to comply with the Consumer Protection Code. So you should read this and make a complaint to the Financial Regulator if you feel that there is systematic non compliance. ( Unlikely that they will do anything)
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Do you mean it is unlikely that MBNA will do anything or the regulator? What can the regulator actually do to MBNA.

I've gone quickly through that booklet and it's basically about how selling a product is regulated. Financial service providers etc can it seems contact anyone between 9 to 9 Mon to Sat but if you tell them not to contact you then they must not do so, so I guess Helens has done that and she can now complain to the Financial regulator about their contact calling.
The code mentions nothing about harrassment or bullying and how would you prove that in any case.
 
The code mentions nothing about harrassment or bullying and how would you prove that in any case.
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It would be very easy to prove they were calling a person 20 times a day.
 
gembem said:
And what would be the basis of your arguement? I save money every week so if I want to buy something I take it out of my savings rather than relying on a credit card.
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Convenience most obviously. Say I fancy spending €3000 on a TV - It's too much for LASER, too much to withdraw & walk around with & I don't have a cheque book. Besides, you're really limiting your online purchasing ability by not having a Credit Card; VISA Debit isn't accepted everywhere.
 
TSThomas said:
Convenience most obviously. Say I fancy spending €3000 on a TV - It's too much for LASER, too much to withdraw & walk around with & I don't have a cheque book. Besides, you're really limiting your online purchasing ability by not having a Credit Card; VISA Debit isn't accepted everywhere.
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I don't think you can book flights without a credit card either.
 
Identify and write to the Head of Credit in MBNA. Confirm your situation and that you are in fact trying to come to terms with the arrears; however ask them to identify why they feel that is acceptable to harass you (give exacting accounts of number and nature of calls with names if possible). Keep a copy of this correspondence and their reply. Also, have they called you oustide of the hours of 9am or 9pm, at work ar spoken to your partner? If they have without your consent, they have not accted in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act 1995 (s. 46). Irrespective of whether they have pursued this debt in accordance with the Act, their tactics are over the top and it would appear as if you are on a conveyor belt between all of the debt collectors computers and they are not updating their files. Confirm to the Head of Credit if your correspondence is not answered or if the answer is unacceptable re the number of calls and attitudes etc. that you will refer the matter to the ombudsman. As you have said, you are in debt; however this does not mean that the lender should not treat you with dignity and respect in their dealings with you.
 
Debtors against MBNA credit Cards

I opened this thread to find out if others, who like me have Mbna debts and have experienced harassment by them in their attempts to get debt repaid, by the means of multiple telephone calls each day, constant reference to debt collectors, Increased late fees, increased interest rates, some as high as 32% by there own admission,my own is 25.9% and constant mis-direction and mis-information when asking about your debt. From my own experiences with mbna i have twice been tricked into paying arrears on the promise of having my interest reduced and a payment plan being agreed. I am unemplolyed for one year and have told mbna i cannot keep up with these payments, have borrowed to pay arrears but now find myself three months in arrears again. At 25.9% I in no way can hope to pay minimun payments demanded, so i will have to just make small payment and face the debt collectors in four months.

After 7 months in arrears your debt will be sold to a debt collection agency. To any of mbna employees or other vested interestes who may post on this tread, i do know that i took on the debt, spent the debt ,and it is my responsibily to repay the debt.(Bankers once followed this code) Once blacklisted after my debt is sold on, things change,then the only way ill pay is with a court order. So if you are in a similar situation please post your problems and experiances
 
Perhaps some of the fault must go to credit card companies, who use a computer program named Mosaic in order to figure out the "best" people to get a credit card; that is, those they know will not pay off the full amount every month and therefore people they can earn money as interest from.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jul/16/creditcards.debt

The Cullens, it turns out, belong to Mosaic's Group B 11: "Happy Families: Families Making Good." These are "older people on middle incomes ... not high fliers up career ladders of large conglomerates". Neighbourhoods like this are "hardly centres of intellectual or aesthetic style". Happy Families are "likely to be interested in adverts for financial products". "This is a culture," concludes Mosaic, "that is keen to take advantage of easy credit."
I later discover that a fledgling incarnation of Mosaic called Acorn, which is also used by some credit card companies, says of Richard Cullen's postcode: "The interest in current affairs is low. They are educated to a low degree." (Acorn was invented by the creator of Mosaic, but it is owned and operated by a company called CACI, not by Experian).
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Lord Griffiths, the man mainly responsible of the democratication of credit, now says:

"The dynamism," he says. "The innovation." I've never heard these words uttered with such sadness. "I don't think anyone would have foreseen how innovative and aggressive and competitive the financial services would become in their techniques," he says. "The whole lot of them are to blame." He pauses. "I'm not advocating a return to the status quo. But the pendulum has swung much too far."
Now Lord Griffiths has just published a new report - What Price Credit? - which has this somewhat apocalyptic conclusion: "The sheer scale of consumer debt [£1 trillion] has made millions of households extremely vulnerable to shocks to the economy ... such as oil price rises, acts of terrorism and wars ... Debt is a time-bomb for the 15 million people who struggle with repayments."
I tell Lord Griffiths about Richard Cullen's suicide, and he sighs. "I had a friend," he replies. "A clergyman. I met him for dinner one night. He was suffering from cancer. He broke down over dinner and confessed to me that he had 32 credit cards. He said he was using each card to pay off the charges on the others. He told me about the shame he felt. You could just sense the emotional pressure. I'm no doctor ... " Lord Griffiths pauses, then says, "He died soon afterwards."
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