To Hell With MBNA Credit Cards

Many years ago I visited the Builth Well Motorcycle Show and while there was approached by a couple of women selling credit cards for The Bank of Scotland. The cards were designed in such a way that for every transaction they would donate a small percentage to the Motorcycle Union, they also had a neat picture of a motorcycle on the front. Not having a credit card at the time I signed up. For many years I enjoyed a very good and friendly service from them and was very happy. Then one day I was informed that as they were closing down their credit card services they would be transferring all credit card accounts to MBNA which would be automatic unless I didn't want it. As I had trusted their judgement all those years I went with it, then the troubles started.

I started getting direct marketing phone calls from MBNA at the most inconvenient and annoying times trying to persuade me to buy services I didn't want. Time and time again I told them I didn't want these marketing calls, but, they ignored me. After the first few I went to my bank and opened a credit card account there determined to use that one as my main one and keep the MBNA one for emergencies only. The calls from MBNA kept coming, they ignored my wishes for no direct marketing and it was not until I very strongly asked them why were they ignoring my wishes and that I would close my account if they didn't stop that they stopped. I then started receiving marketing emails from them which I had to go through the hoops to stop.

This week I received a letter from them informing me of changes to their credit cards. Looking through the fine print I found that any interest on my card would be rounded up to the nearest pound even if it were a fraction of a penny over a pound. This I didn't like very much.

Today I received another letter from them telling me that they were withdrawing facilities for me to make direct debit transfers from my bank account to pay my credit card bills. The reason cited was because I had not used that facility for a year. I had not used it for a year due to not using my credit card for a year so there was nothing to pay. To add insult to injury they informed me that if I had used my credit card in the last month I would receive a bill which I would have to pay by check or other ways that didn't include DD from my bank account. I was outraged. If this letter had arrived while I was on an extended trip abroad (which often happens) I would not have known about it and upon my return would have found no bills paid and would have been subject to very large charges.

That was the last straw. I mailed them and told them how disgusted I was with their policy and would be closing my account. The mail was bounced. Going to their site and signing into my account I find that there seems to be no way to communicate with them by mail unlike my online bank account. A feedback form had so few categories it was impossible to send any true feedback. Attempting to close my account online I find there is no way to do so, again unlike other online banking.

I certainly would never recommend MBNA to anyone. I keep wondering whether they will at some time instigate charging a base charge to have one of their credit cards and still give no way to close ones account online. I suppose I could do it by phoning them, but, from my experience they tend to not act upon instructions by phone.

So, the title of this blog says it all.