MBNA Credit Card - "Late Fees" and Interest Calculation...

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Perhaps someone can shed some light on this - I switched to the Ryanair MBNA to take advantage of those free flights... handy so far, but at what cost I wonder now. I used to have the standard Bank of Ireland Gold Advantage (Visa). No major issues with it... I would ALWAYS pay the bill on time to prevent even the smallest interest being charged. My fees were always kept to a minimum... anyone who willingly pays 17 or 18% on credit is a fool in my opinion but that's another conversation ;-)

However since signing with MBNA around December, I have found it impossible to avoid both the "late fee" and interest charged... absolute horsesh1t if you ask me. I often check the balance online, and would often pay off the outstanding balance at the beginning of each month before ever receiving the printed statement. I normally receive a credit card statement around 20th or so of each month, which normally states that I have a late fee accruing from a late payment of the previous month. As a test of this, I tried prepaying the card so it was in credit before I went on holidays... no joy... there was still some other wierd fee just before interest charged for late payment! I called them about it, and they tell me that the late fee was a result of payment in the wrong period. Rather than get excited on the phone, I just said thanks for the info. I tried to get her to explain how the late fee was incurred last month for example... I ended up in a daze... I have reapplied for a Visa with BOI and will cancel the MBNA one as soon as the new one arrives.

The MBNA late fees have been anything from 5 to 20 euro. Interest was typically 10 to 30 euro. So basically, as Eddie Hobbs would put it, I was being screwed.

Have people encountered similar funny charges with MBNA? Are they notoriously more expensive than other CC issuers?

BuffyBot

Are they notoriously more expensive than other CC issuers?

Notorious for late fees, at least.

kc66

I have an MBNA cc also. I always pay it on time but usually have interest of around €4. Need to get all the info together and ask whats going on.

Sangre

MBNA are quite bad for interest/fees. People tolerate them as they're very handy for those who travel or move around alot afaik.

jahalpin

I never thought that I would be defending MBNA, but here goes.

The payment date is based on when the account was opened and you get around 3 weeks from the date of the statement to make a payment, after which a late fee is applied.

(I knew I wouldn't be able to defend them for too long!!!!)

MBNA Europe Bank Ireland is a branch of a MBNA UK which is regulated by the UK regulator. All UK banks have had to repay unfair and excessive charges to their customers, it would probably be worth a try to get all the late fees back from them as unfair seems to mean more than the banks cost of enforcing the penalty in MBNA's case they don't send out letters so the cost to them would be zero.