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MBNA Complaint - 3 Months Interest On One Late Payment! - MBNA Credit Card
MBNA Credit Card - Complaint
I held my credit card with the Bank of Scotland for around nine years with no problems at all until the company was taken over last year by MBNA. Until recently I paid off the full amount every month but while busy caring for my dying mother I made two payments that were a few days late. I accepted the fault was my own and expected to be charged interest on these amounts, which I immediately paid.
However, today I received another statement with interest charged. When I phoned to query this I was told that MBNA charge interest and CONTINUE TO CHARGE INTEREST until an account has been 'in the clear' for a further TWO MONTHS after the original late payment! I have so far been charged £59 for having sent in full payment a week late.
When I then asked to have a full statement sent to me so that I could close my account I was told that a) this was 'impossible' to do until the statement's normal due date, and b) this statement would show a further interest charge as I was to be penalized for yet another month for the same late payment.
MBNA insist that what they are doing is absolutely legal and not 'dishonest' because customers are warned of this. Not on their statements, they aren't! It's quite possible that this may be mentioned on some other list of 'rules' sent out separately and only once, but I think it very unlikely that people who make a habit of paying off their card every month feel the need to dig out the rules as bedtime reading on a regular basis. In fact, if this practice is legal, it is certainly not moral and amounts to charging an interest rate that far exceeds the one they advertise.
I really would recommend that anyone who normally pays their card in full every month be made aware of this as it only takes the merest slip to send a single late payment and then find you are being penalized with 3 months' interest instead of one.
However, today I received another statement with interest charged. When I phoned to query this I was told that MBNA charge interest and CONTINUE TO CHARGE INTEREST until an account has been 'in the clear' for a further TWO MONTHS after the original late payment! I have so far been charged £59 for having sent in full payment a week late.
When I then asked to have a full statement sent to me so that I could close my account I was told that a) this was 'impossible' to do until the statement's normal due date, and b) this statement would show a further interest charge as I was to be penalized for yet another month for the same late payment.
MBNA insist that what they are doing is absolutely legal and not 'dishonest' because customers are warned of this. Not on their statements, they aren't! It's quite possible that this may be mentioned on some other list of 'rules' sent out separately and only once, but I think it very unlikely that people who make a habit of paying off their card every month feel the need to dig out the rules as bedtime reading on a regular basis. In fact, if this practice is legal, it is certainly not moral and amounts to charging an interest rate that far exceeds the one they advertise.
I really would recommend that anyone who normally pays their card in full every month be made aware of this as it only takes the merest slip to send a single late payment and then find you are being penalized with 3 months' interest instead of one.
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