Avant Card Late Fees

Jeden

Hi,

I wanted to post a situation I find myself in with Avant Card.

I was MBNA and paying monthly amount on card that I never used and in fact havn't actually had the card for a couple of years, it's deactivated and I just pay off the monthly amount.

Last summer I got a letter from MBNA to tell me account was changing to Avant. I normally don't get any letters as I agreed with MBNA that all communication would be paperless previously.

I moved out of my apartment in November 2012.

In March 2013 when I went to log in to MBNA I was simply told account was 'closed' no forwarding phone number, link to Avant or any information whatsoever.

I wasn't inclined to keep paying money online into the wild blue yonder on something I couldn't view and manage online so I stopped paying in the assumption Avant or whoever had taken on the debt would be on to setup new online account.

6 months passed with late fees and interest going on and I got a phone call recently from aggressive Avant employee with the usual threats of defaulting etc. I explained that I was happy to start resuming paying but I'm not prepared to pay late fees given I've had no communication from them until now. They said a letter would have gone to the old address which covers them (I didn't forward my mail as I do all my banking/bills online).

They can't set me up with an online account now because my card is deactivated. I asked why they didn't email me and they said they don't do emails! Started wondering if it was a wind up at this point but apparently not.

Long and short of it is that I can only get paper statements and account will go into default by end of Oct if I don't pay.

The attitude and tone of the 2 people I've dealt with thus far is pretty abysmal/condescending/aggressive/patronising and I am taking umbridge at their attempts to bully me (as I perceive it).

I wonder has anybody else been in this situation with Avant? It seems amazing that they would decide that 1 letter in the post is sufficient given the user experience when you I logged in MBNA. I find it amazing that they can't set me up with an online account to view the balance and all the charges I incur online. Given the many cases of over charging by banks I would have thought this would be a minimum requirement.

Anyway, any advice appreciated....I have no issue paying the principal back and the interest but not all the late fees/interest of the past 6 months.

Thanks!

Paulw

Firstly, it is your responsibility to ensure that they had your correct postal address.

When MBNA were being sold to Avant, there were numerous letters. I think I had 4. All were clear about what was happening.

Their new system requires an active card to register online.

You failed to keep up payments (even though the methods of payment never changed between MBNA and Avantcard).

It is your responsibility to pay your debt, which now include the late fees.

BuffyBot

There was much more than one letter posted, as pointed out - and ebilling or not, it is your job to keep any provider up to date with changes to your contact details. You being "inclined" or not is irrelevant. A little bit of self-research could have saved you a lot of heartache. Did you simply think that the debt had disappeared? Did it not occur to perhaps do some digging to find out what may have been going on?

I'm afraid the ground you're trying to stand on here is pretty shaky, and I doubt you'll make much headway. You may not like it, but this is one you might just have to mark up to experience.

wmpdd3

I got 4 letters covering the transfer from MBNA and a letter per month for each reduced payment I make, I'm sure you would have gotten 1 per month if you weren't paying at all.

Jeden

Thanks for the responses.

It's probably not a wise move but I think I'm going to allow the debt to default and then I'll pay whoever takes over the debt.

Avante are actually shouldering more of the responsibility than most of the comments above suggest as they've agreed to waive 3 months of the late fees. I'm holding out for all of the late fees to be waived, I suppose I'm just stubborn and I perceive that it's the fair thing for them to do given I'll be paying them many multiples of this back in interest (if they agree to these terms). The late fees only amount to around €120 or so.

I realise it's cutting off my nose to spite my face....but I will still gain some solace from the fact that Avante will probably be taking a whopper hair cut on the debt and their own stubbornness will cost them (as well as me, coz I'm sure I'll be paying more back to the debt collection company I'm referred to...plus the credit rating implications).

Fortunately I don't have any dependants, and no real need for credit, so I can make this decision without it having much of an impact on my life. (Future me might not be too happy though!).

Thanks again for your responses which I'm sure are well-intentioned.

wmpdd3

In my experience if you show ability to pay from your financial statement they will not budge on the amount payable.

If you have no hope of meeting the repayment within 5 years them you'll be ok.

Jeden

Thanks wmpdd3 but to clarify, I can pay back the debt and interest, I'm just not prepared to pay the 6 months late fees, but I will pay the much larger 6 months interest charges that have accrued - I am taking that as fair penalty for my own apathy in chasing down this Avant crowd.

The amount in question for late fees is €120 or so, derisory enough, but it's the principle.

It seems like I'm in the minority but I think the lack of an ability to view my statement and the lack of any contact from them for 6 months warrants them meeting me halfway. If I had logged in to MBNA and been told I need to go to Avant now with a link then I would have happily done that. If somebody had called me to explain who this new company were and that payments continue the same way I would have done that. If had received an email explaining......well you get the picture.....

It's unfortunate they happened to choose post and that I moved at just the time they sent notice, but it seems a pretty shaky policy by them in the modern era to rely on post alone. If I am head of Avant and taking over significant debts I wouldn't presume that this is a robust and water tight form of communication, so I think it's a weak takeover communication strategy on their side.

Why was there no legacy page on MBNA for the month after they closed accounts? 100% of my administration of the account with them was online. Surely for those people who were online only they should have segmented them and given a courtesy call to explain - I am a customer of there's after all.

This is an aside and not really relevant, but I'm surprised at how low a profile they have kept since taking over MBNA Ireland a/c's, I have never heard of Avant and still havn't seen any kind of advertising or awareness of who they are.....it's a pointless gripe but again I think it smacks of a company trying to do everything on the cheap.

I'd be very keen to hear if anybody else is in a similar position to me....I can't be the only one.

BuffyBot

The takeover was in the news for a multitude of reasons, so again I don't think your reasoning is solid.

No matter who you deal with, you always need to have up to date physical address information for. There will be somethings which just cannot be done online.

For such a small amount, is it really worth messing up your credit record (further, possibly?) for?

Jeden

Thanks Buffy - but not 100% sure what you're saying in parts above....

In terms of your question about credit rating...taken in isolation, then the clinical answer is 'no', it's not worth destroying credit rating for such a small amount (particularly given I will almost certainly end up having to pay more interest to debt collection agency).

However, if everybody always caves in to corporate machines, then they will continue to squeeze us all ever tighter.

Like I say, I can afford to be pragmatic, no kids, mortgage or need/desire to acquire either of those things in the short term....my job pays me enough to live comfortably so I can afford to take a stand and live with the consequences.

Even if they do waive the late fees, it's a very small victory and this whole episode will still have cost me plenty in terms of interest and credit rating hits.....that's mostly my fault though, so not quibbling about either of those.

Paulw

Hold on .. this was all YOUR fault.

There were notices in the newspapers, multiple letters, statement on the MBNA website all prior to the change giving details and stating the exact date when the cutover would take place.

It is your obligation to ensure they have your correct postal address.

Jeden

Thanks Paul - sound advice no doubt, but they have agreed that waiving the late fees was a fair compromise given the over-reliance on post and the fact that they aren't able to set me up so that I can view my account online.

Not seeing this as any kind of 'victory' at all by the way, I still have to pay the much larger 6 months interest (which I never disputed) and absorb the credit rating implications.

If I had my time again I would have pro-actively chased them when I got the 'account closed' message from MBNA. I did Google them at the time but ironically was directed to a post on Boards.ie from other bemused people wondering what would happen to their debt reconciliation now that this new crowd was in place.

It's with a mildly raised eyebrow that I consume the tone of some of the comments on this thread...."Welcome to Ireland, ally of your local international friendly corporate banker".....sure what have the banks ever done to us.....

Jeden

Happy Ending to this, I paid the final amount to settle the account in full and closed the account today. Getting very close to being completely debt free for the first time in my adult life! Happy days.