Complaint Review: MBNA America - Maryland Bank National Association America

You are SO right, Jack!! At MBNA's invitation (I got at least 3 letters enticing me to consolidate before I finally did it), I combined a couple higher interest accounts to take advantage of their low 4.9 initial invitation rate. Once I did that, I never again used the card, and I usually paid double the minimum payment each month. So when my rates went from 7.9% (the invitation rate raised to 7.9% after the months of the 4.9 invitation expired) to 19.98%, I called and complained then simply paid off the balance, including their extortion for one month's interest at 19.98%, and closed the account for good. Unfortunately, not everyone has that option, and they are stuck paying this dishonest company for long-term. They have called and written several times to entice me back, but I have many other options and will never deal with them again. I wrote the company and asked to be removed from all mailing and calling lists, and I told them why! I hope you win your case and let us know the outcome. If this enticing and then gouging is not illegal, it certainly should be. Keep us informed.

Jim, your comments hold no weight. They are complete excuses for the gouging of Americans. There seems to be a common thread in MBNA's increases. It appears to happen right after a large payment is made like the initial gentleman stated. I made a $2000 payment last month to only have my rates increased by 10%. My debt ratio has been decreasing every month as I do not charge anything on credit cards and just have been making MORE than the minimum payments.

When MBNA saw that I could be fast tracking to pay off the account, they chose to try and get as much as possible in interest by raising my rate. I received the same song and dance that they sent me a letter in my bill but I never even received the bill! I have been automatically paying them directly from my bank account on a schedule in which I have NEVER been late and checking everything online.

They made a minimal gesture of reducing my rate down to 13% from the 17.98% that they raised it to. When I said to still close the account, they even revoked that offer!!! I am writing a letter to the billing department to give them one last chance to do what is right and reduce the rate back down to the promised 7.9.

If they do not take appropriate action, I have resources elsewhere to pay off the account and I will report them to the Better Business Bureau and file a small claims court case against them to just have them incur costs of having to defend both. They picked the wrong guy to jack with.

I wanted to commment on some of the things I see here at this website because some of the things here are just not true.

I work for a major credit card company mentioned in this site and I also was a specialist handling the calls coming in from angry consumers who have had their rates raised. Before I was trained on what the rate raises were based on I thought they were unjust as well, however, ninety percent of the time, consumers who have their rates raised are experiencing some sort financial difficulty, or have had some late payments on other accounts. Both can affect their rate with their present credit card company.

Think of it this way, late payments, even if they are not within the company that raised your rate, can indicate trouble, so they are valid. In taking these calls, I have found that consumers are increasingly less aware, or in denial of the shear volume of credit card debt they have out there. It takes a phone call and a credit bureau report pulled when the customer calls in to explain it to them.

The majority of what I see are customers who have big balances for years and charge more each month than the minimum payment, they are "maxed out." When asked how they plan to pay off their balances on this credit card they are calling about and others they either don't know, or they say they will simply continue make the minimum monthly payments. Believe it or not, the bank does eventually want you to pay off the debt and not revolve it for 25 years!

I have found that many consumers are in denial about their credit card debt. My best advice is to pay it off and have the discipline to use the credit cards for only the amount you can afford to pay off each month. Credit cards aren't supposed to be used as a personal loan to oneself for money you don't have.

If a customer is spinning their wheels and not making progress by only paying the minimum suggested each month, or if they are starting to make late payments it can signal financial trouble for them and any bank needs to protect its assets the same as any person would.

The reason you saw more finance charges is as follows and it makes perfect sence:

1) Previously you were not paying your bill off in full each month. Therefore the 30 grace perid would not apply. The 30 day grace period is ONLY if you pay in full each and every month.

2) The charges you recieved after you paid the $176 are called retail risidual finiance charges... here is the reason you were charge.
Lets say you put $1000 into a savings account on the 1st of the month and withdrew it on the 23rd you would want your intrest...

Same thing in your example because you previously were not paying the bill in full you had technaically borrowed the money and MBNA wanted their intrest it was calculated from the time that statement closed when you paid the $176 to the time your payment was recieved....now what happend was the next bill was all just intrest and there were no more finiance charges because all you had left to pay was intrest and they can't put intrest on intrest.....

Here is what some other companies do....If you pay the bill the intrest is already calculated for the full "30" days thats why there is no other charge once you send in the final payment, but that is not fair to you the customer if you really only had the money borrowed for 15 days.

"This is only to my understanding of the credit card world"

MBNA informed me that they had including a notice in my statement two months prior to the interest rate hike. If they did include it, I never saw it. If it was stuffed into the envelope along with the other junk I probably just threw it out. If you are going to triple someone's rate, I think it would be prudent to notify the person by mailing a separate letter stating the specific reasons for this. After searching this site I can see that MBNA makes this a common practice.

Same EXACT thing happened to me as happend to Roy in Tennessee. MBNA kept inticing me to "switch" (their offered interest rate was to be 6.9%) my higher interest rates on other accounts; finally, I did so (after reading all the fine print). I didn't use the card and I paid big payments to get the consolidated loans paid off faster. I paid it off in full last month (I paid what was on the "balance owing") and this month I got another MBNA bill stating that from the first of the month to the time I paid the bill, $176 had accrued in interest. How could this be? I thought I had a grace period to pay it off in full from the time it arrived until it was due before interest accrued. How could anyone EVERY get it paid off in full otherwise? And how could 7% interest be so high? I looked at my statement, and saw that interest rates had jumped to 19.98%. When I called MBNA, they said it was "because I had a high balance."



What?!! They ASKED (weekly promotions) me to have a high balance. If I transferred other accounts (at their invitation) how could it be otherwise? The service rep said they had sent me a letter regarding this raise (they CLAIM they sent it), but I never saw it. They said if I objected to the change, I should have responded to their letter. Hard to respond to something you didn't get (maybe it was buried in the other junk I get with my statements, but who would NOT respond to such an announcement?) To make a long story short, I canceled my card, paid the interest they CLAIM I owed and will NEVER do business with them again.



But I luckily had an out. Others do not. They are stuck with the "come-on" and then the high interest raise!



BEWARE OF MBNA!!! They are cut-throat deceivers and thieves!!!