MBNA won't help me

Klingon Hamlet

Hi Boardsie bit of a weird one.

Was recently made jobless. Decided to grab the bull by the horns, ring the credit card company, and tell them I foresee major problems paying off the minimum payments whilst receiving jobseekers.

They put me on hold, then came back and said my account is fine, that there's nothing they could do. I said, what aobut looking at freezing interest whilst I'm jobseeking---freezing the whole card, too.

They said, the customer payments team could only look at it if I started missing payments.

I asked, could I speak to the team now, in advance, so that they don't have to come chasing after me---so that they know now I see problems. They said they couldn't put me through, there's nothing they ca do.

So now, I've told MBNA I'll probably miss payments, that I'm out of a job, and that I'd like to come to a repayment agreement. And they've point-blank refused.

Seems they'd rather I accumulate a bad credit history, and have their customer service team chase me, than agree like adults. I'm very disappointed and bemused by their lack of professionalism, especially when they claim in the media that they have to chase debtors every day.

Anyone have any suggestions what to do next? Should I let the payments go?

djk1000

I'd write them an email or letter confirming what was said in that phonecall, CC the financial regulator, the consumer association, the banking ombudsman and if you feel like it, a newspaper too.

That will get the message escalated to someone in MBNA that can make decisions rather than the scripted call centre types.

Davy

Sorry to hear that. I would contact Mabs.ie and get them to apply the pressure on them and force them to an agreement. They should be able to sort if out for you. The whole idea of a 'budgeting' service is to plan before you get into trouble

edellc

I had the same problem with BOI credit card rang them as soon as i know i was out of work and couldnt make min payments they too ignored me until i missed quite a few payments then kept ringing and ringing me and no matter how many times i told the person on the other end of the phone what had happened and how many times i had made contact with them regarding the matter they dismissed it...i had written them a letter and they ignored this too and eventually i wrote another letter telling them how angry i was that they had ignored my phone calls and letter regarding a settlement figure they did get back to me to agree an amount to be paid weekly which tbh was still way too much was told that the manager of the branch would ring me back and we could come to some arrangement that was in april still havent hear anything
so now i pay what i can when i can
but thank you djk1000 will now be writing to financial regulator regarding this

Klingon Hamlet

Davy wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. I would contact Mabs.ie and get them to apply the pressure on them and force them to an agreement. They should be able to sort if out for you. The whole idea of a 'budgeting' service is to plan before you get into trouble

Emailed MABS there---hopefully they can shed some light.

JDxtra

I dont know, dont shoot me down but I can see it from another angle. The CC company want the debt paid so by not offering you an early payment holiday they are putting pressure on you to pay up because you dont want a bad credit history.

You could also be lucky and get a job in next month or two - meaning you will be able to pay and setting this up in advance would have been a waste of time.

Klingon Hamlet

JDxtra wrote: »

I dont know, dont shoot me down but I can see it from another angle. The CC company want the debt paid so by not offering you an early payment holiday they are putting pressure on you to pay up because you dont want a bad credit history.

You could also be lucky and get a job in next month or two - meaning you will be able to pay and setting this up was a waste of time.

They coul have at the very least made a one-month agreement with me, to be reviewed. Instead, they said basically, default on payments and then they'll look into it. I thought being responsible would mean they would be happy to agree on something.

matt70iu

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Hi Boardsie bit of a weird one.

Was recently made jobless. Decided to grab the bull by the horns, ring the credit card company, and tell them I foresee major problems paying off the minimum payments whilst receiving jobseekers.

They put me on hold, then came back and said my account is fine, that there's nothing they could do. I said, what aobut looking at freezing interest whilst I'm jobseeking---freezing the whole card, too.

They said, the customer payments team could only look at it if I started missing payments.

I asked, could I speak to the team now, in advance, so that they don't have to come chasing after me---so that they know now I see problems. They said they couldn't put me through, there's nothing they ca do.

So now, I've told MBNA I'll probably miss payments, that I'm out of a job, and that I'd like to come to a repayment agreement. And they've point-blank refused.

Seems they'd rather I accumulate a bad credit history, and have their customer service team chase me, than agree like adults. I'm very disappointed and bemused by their lack of professionalism, especially when they claim in the media that they have to chase debtors every day.

Anyone have any suggestions what to do next? Should I let the payments go?

Hi,

Had a very similar experience to you last year. Told BOI and MBNA I would have trouble making payments and they didn't want to know. The inevitable happened and I started to miss payments. MBNA started ringing me literally 20 times a day looking for money. I just ignored them after a while until one of them decided to ring me from a mobile phone!!

She asked me could I "borrow money" as my account was seriously in arrears. A joke when you consider that, like yourself, I had tried to warn them I would be in trouble.

A couple of months later, I got a job and MBNA finally agreed to freeze the interest and make an agreement. This was with over 500e more in interest and charges and with the account over 5 payments in arrears.

Only a couple of weeks ago, they sent me a letter saying they have brought the account up to date as a "gesture of good will"!! They are very difficult to deal with when your in trouble as they keep ringing you. I hope you manage to get something sorted soon:)

BuffyBot

The problem is if they start making arrangements like that for you OP, what's to stop everyone from making similar claims without basis?

While it's undoubtedly annoying, there is a legitimate reason that they want to see something troubling on the account before taking action. Otherwise many others might start to get proactive..and then the legitimate cases would find it even tougher to get help when they eventually crack down on such abuses.

Klingon Hamlet

BuffyBot wrote: »

The problem is if they start making arrangements like that for you OP, what's to stop everyone from making similar claims without basis?

While it's undoubtedly annoying, there is a legitimate reason that they want to see something troubling on the account before taking action. Otherwise many others might start to get proactive..and then the legitimate cases would find it even tougher to get help when they eventually crack down on such abuses.

To avoid them being taken advantage of with illegitimate claims of inability to cover repayments, they could've simply requested I provide them with proof of my unemployment, plus bank statements showing my other debts. Then they know my case is genuine and could even have me sign a waiver allowing them to verify the information with my banking provider.

Instead, they won't help me unless I default. Makes no sense.