I used to work at MBNA...

[jaystar2020]

Banker... and Caro,

Well, what a helpful chap he's turned out to be!

U/c noted, Banker...

 

BTW, I hope you as somewhat more trusted sources can help, I was after info re:

Can SAR and CCA be requested from a PO Box, (from last statement) signed for, or must a 'hard' physical address be used?

 

THNX

J2020

[caro]

I believe it has to be an address to ensure the correct person gets the information as anyone could set up a PO Box. It is a request under the Data Protection Act after all.

[jaystar2020]

Thanks -

I have tried searching the site, could you point to location of current MBNA addresses or persons to contact re. SAR and CCA delivery?

Or should I call 'em up and ask? lol

J2020

[caro]

If there's an address on your statement just send it there. Any registered office is fine.

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello Caro!

 

OP hasn't been on line since 1st September or posted since 31st August.

 

What about the Tr...er, I mean the Poster at Post #43?

 

 

Cheers,

BRW

[ExMBNAStaff]

As a matter of interest, why did you leave?

 

Regards.

 

Fred

 

Hi Fred,

 

I left because of the pay £14k a year, the hours shifts between 9am-9pm inc weekends and the fact that the job is mentally draining. Having to speak to people in genuine financial difficulty and being trained to tell them that before looking to offer any solutions MBNA would want them to put their house on the market (in this current climate:shock:) or sell their car is very disheartening after a while.

 

It's a game they play, you start off 30 days in arrears, ask for help, MBNA won't help, their stance is you should help yourself (list all your assets), 'Mr Customer you have a car worth more than £2k, that would pay your credit card off in full, why don't you sell it and we'll continue to add on late fees and send letters and make phone calls?'

 

You then go to 60 days in arrears, not much changes here, you just speak to more experienced Collectors. 90 day accounts, still no change 'Have you still got that car Mr. Customer? You could sell your house?' 120, still no change, other than more default fees being added and more letters and phone calls. Can you pay your oldest arrears Mr. Customer, then you are no longer my responsibility, as you go back to a 60 day account, and I hit my debit cards per hour target.

 

150/180 days 'P Andrews' cards are sent - these are handwritten postcards which are designed tomake you believe that someone has called at your house, but they are just mailed from Chester. This is the stage where they will consider short settlements, if you ask at any point before this and you are offering any less than 90%, there's a good chance they will reject it until you get to this stage, which is just before the account is 'charged off' and sold to a DCA. This is where they want to get some money out of you, becuse if they don't MBNA only get about 12p in the £1 for selling your account on and the closer to the end of the month you get the more chance you have of being able to offer a lower settlement figure

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hello ExMBNAStaff you are very welcome

 

I have a feeling you may get many replies to your post so please don't get overwhelmed. There are alot of people on this site who are trying to deal with desperate and distressing situations so any advice you can offer would be very much appreciated.

 

My own situation is that my Mother, who is 81 and suffers from dementia and a heart condition, forgot about her account a couple of years ago. It continued to be paid by direct debit until 7 months ago, when the money ran out (she had also forgotton about this bank account) She now has only her pension to live on.

 

Her account is at the stage where it is to be 'terminated' today, 24 Nov. MBNA have only been able to supply an illegible copy of the front of her application form from 1994 and have admitted they cannot supply the original T/C's.

 

What happens after today ? Is my mothers CCA enforceble ? What action should I/will they take ?

 

Thankyou very much for any help or insights you can offer.

 

Hi moonwhich7 when you say her account is at the stage where it is to be 'terminated', do you mean 'charged off'? how have they communicate this to you, did they send a letter or was it on the phone, what exactly has been said?

[ExMBNAStaff]

Banker... and Caro,

Well, what a helpful chap he's turned out to be!

U/c noted, Banker...

 

BTW, I hope you as somewhat more trusted sources can help, I was after info re:

Can S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and CCA be requested from a PO Box, (from last statement) signed for, or must a 'hard' physical address be used?

 

THNX

J2020

 

Hi Jaystar2020

 

You need to request the SAR in writing from the Customer Advocates Office, MBNA use 2 adresses, but the post all goes to the same post room. I would recommend writing to Customer Advocates Office PO Box 1004, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9WW

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hi exmbnastaff

 

Are MBNA overwhelmed with 'help' requests from people due to the current financial crisis?

 

Is there a solid address to use for written correspondence that will definitely get through?

 

Cheers, look forward to your nuggets of wisdom

 

 

Hi Jaystar,

 

From my experience this current financial situation has driven a lot of calls into Customer Assistance, unfortunately not a lot is being done to help these people. It is not really until your account falls into serious arrears and that they have hounded you at work, home, mobile and sent you numerous letters warning you about your credit file (which is probably shot anyway) that they will look at offering any sort of solid help.

 

As mentioned in my previous post, any letters you send must be addressed to the Customer Advocates Office for them to be dealt with the quickest at the PO Box 1004 address. I have spoken to so many customers who have sent letters to the payment processing address in Bolton (these letters will never get answered)

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hi

 

In your experience, have MBNA ever sent out a complete set of statements rather than a list of charges following a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)? I personally prefer copies of statements.....

 

Hi Columbo,

 

If you are requesting copies of statements, they will charge you 4.95 for each one that is more than a month old, the SAR is slightly different so they dont charge as much. If you speak to someone on the phone they will try and charge you the 4.95 per statment, and will not be able to waive the fee, so you need to send your request for statements (make it very specific with which statements you want) to the Customer Advocates Office, PO Box 1004, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9WW. The Customer Advocates office does not take telephone calls, but they have to deal with every letter they receive.

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hello Caro!

 

 

 

What about the Tr...er, I mean the Poster at Post #43?

 

 

Cheers,

BRW

 

Sorry Banker, have I done something wrong?

[jaystar2020]

Hi exmbnatstaff

Thanks for the info...

Hey, why have mbna decided to annoy, and potentially default, a lot of people by whacking up their minimum payments beyond the old 5% level?

 

Also, are you implying that it might be useful to get beyond 90 days, in order to make a settlement offer at a reduced 'f and f settlement' figure?

 

Many thanks

J2020

[banker_rhymes_with]

Hello ExMBNAStaff!

 

Sorry Banker, have I done something wrong?

 

Not yet, just alerting people to the fact that we have seen many people on CAG claiming to be an ex-employee, when in reality they are nothing of the kind.

 

If you are genuine, excellent, welcome to CAG. However, you'll have to forgive my suspicions because of the games that we have seen played in the past.

 

One comment:

 

I'd caution against sending important documents to any bank unless you send them straight to their Registered Office.

 

Barclays, for example, have recently managed to get out of a Court Claim by saying an important Letter was not addressed correctly, i.e. it went to a Barclays Department and not to their Registered Office.

 

So, my advice is to send anything important to The Company Secretary, at the Registered Office as listed on Companies House:

 

Companies House

 

For example, MBNA Europe Bank Limited would be as follows:

 

Name & Registered Office:

 

MBNA EUROPE BANK LIMITED

STANSFIELD HOUSE

CHESTER BUSINESS PARK

CHESTER CHESHIRE

CH4 9QQ

 

Company No. 02783251

 

So, address any Letters to:

 

The Company Secretary

MBNA Europe Bank Limited

Stansfield House

Chester Business Park

CHESTER

Cheshire

CH4 9QQ

 

Let the MBNA route the Letter from there, even if it means a slight delay getting a response.

 

However, do make sure you check the Company details carefully, and check the Company Number on any Letterheads matches the Company you think you are dealing with.

 

Some banks use many different Company Names, i.e. variations of their main name, so do make sure you are writing to the correct Company.

 

It can make or break a Claim or Counter-Claim if the bank's Company Name is mis-stated. Likewise, it can also make or break your case if the bank denies getting an important Letter if it was not sent to their primary location for the Service of Documents.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[jaystar2020]

Hi ExMBNAStaff

 

another q. -

 

what was your policy regarding people who had gone overseas to live, such as to Australia or Canada, owing MBNA?

 

Thanks

J2020

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hi exmbnatstaff

Thanks for the info...

Hey, why have mbna decided to annoy, and potentially default, a lot of people by whacking up their minimum payments beyond the old 5% level?

 

Also, are you implying that it might be useful to get beyond 90 days, in order to make a settlement offer at a reduced 'f and f settlement' figure?

 

Many thanks

J2020

 

The minimum payment change has come about as a result of the current financial situation. Banks are getting very twitchy about the amount of money they have lent out and are trying to recoup at a faster rate than before. With the mortgage rate increase, a lot of customers are struggling to meet all of their repayments to all lenders, and of course the first one that any customer will pay is the mortgage before credit cards. Therefore, minimum payments have increased, interest rates have been increased on a lot of accounts - people ask the question 'do they want to lose my business?' and the answer to that is 'yes' - customers that dont make the bank any money (full balance payers) are not profitable, so why should they want to keep their business? keep driving the interest rate up, so it hurts, and the customer moves elsewhere

[jaystar2020]

Thanks Banker_

Nailing that down much appreciated!

J2020

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hi ExMBNAStaff

 

another q. -

 

what was your policy regarding people who had gone overseas to live, such as to Australia or Canada, owing MBNA?

 

Thanks

J2020

 

There was not a lot we could do about them really jaystar. Threaten them with chasing the debt, but if we can't track them down, it's easier to sell the debt on to a DCA and settle for the 12p in the £1. Not sure how the DCA would persue, once we'd sold it on, there are a number of them that we would use.

[ExMBNAStaff]

Hello ExMBNAStaff!

 

 

 

Not yet, just alerting people to the fact that we have seen many people on CAG claiming to be an ex-employee, when in reality they are nothing of the kind.

 

If you are genuine, excellent, welcome to CAG. However, you'll have to forgive my suspicions because of the games that we have seen played in the past.

 

One comment:

 

I'd caution against sending important documents to any bank unless you send them straight to their Registered Office.

 

Barclays, for example, have recently managed to get out of a Court Claim by saying an important Letter was not addressed correctly, i.e. it went to a Barclays Department and not to their Registered Office.

 

So, my advice is to send anything important to The Company Secretary, at the Registered Office as listed on Companies House:

 

Companies House

 

For example, MBNA Europe Bank Limited would be as follows:

 

 

 

So, address any Letters to:

 

The Company Secretary

MBNA Europe Bank Limited

Stansfield House

Chester Business Park

CHESTER

Cheshire

CH4 9QQ

 

Let the MBNA route the Letter from there, even if it means a slight delay getting a response.

 

However, do make sure you check the Company details carefully, and check the Company Number on any Letterheads matches the Company you think you are dealing with.

 

Some banks use many different Company Names, i.e. variations of their main name, so do make sure you are writing to the correct Company.

 

It can make or break a Claim or Counter-Claim if the bank's Company Name is mis-stated. Likewise, it can also make or break your case if the bank denies getting an important Letter if it was not sent to their primary location for the Service of Documents.

 

Cheers,

BRW

 

Post to that address goes to the same post room as the Customer Advocate Office, specific requests for SAR and copy statments to avoid delay should be sent to the Customer Advocate Office PO Box 1004 address (they will be dealt with quicker)

 

I do agree with Banker though, send anything important to The Company Secretary at the Stansfield House address (avoids any legal loopholes later on)

[moonwhich7]

Hi ExMBNAStaff

 

Thanks very much for replying.

 

Here is a link to my thread with a copy of the last letter my Mum received.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/show-post/post-1807570.html

 

I hope it works for you, not tried this before.

 

Moon

 

Ahh, I see it hasn't worked as well as I hoped. The post number for the letter is #105. Had hoped to take you straight there. Sorry

Edited November 25, 2008 by moonwhich7

[pudsters14]

Hiya EXMBNA STAFF!Just a couple of questions for me and a friend....1. Why do MBNA send Virgin card accounts straight to a solicitor (Restons) as opposed to a DCA?.............................................................................................. 2. When MBNA default you/terminate the account, do they send a default notice as well as recording a default on your file? I had a default put on my credit file, however never rcvd a hard copy of the actual default from MBNA?!?!?!? ......Thanx......Pudst x x x x x

[fleeced_by_rbos]

About a year ago I left MBNA having worked there for 3 years.

 

I was a debt collector there and after reading all these threads I felt I should give some information that might be useful (and might have already been posted)

 

First off, account managers (like I was was) are based in a big call centre and usually start at 120 days of delinquency up to 180 days. When I was there there was also an area called 'Debt Clear' which had a fake routed phone number and address but was actually next to 180 days and some people actually sat next to each from these different companies!

 

Debt Clear could basically get away with a lot more abuse on the phone often using their own phones to send texts to customers saying there would be baliffs if they didn't make a payment by the end of the day.

 

Very high paid floor managers would ask account managers to be more aggresive in their collecting over the phone and with letters etc at the end of the month due to huge pressures from investors. I've seen managers (often earning less than me after bonuses etc) come out of meeting crying after talks with THEIR managers (we all answer to someone don't we?) because their 'team' hadn't collected enough money.

 

We would be given £5 notes (surely this is illegal and a tax issue?!) on the spot for getting debit card payments to stop an account from being charged off and sold to a debt collection agency (often sold for 10p of every £1) We would be given beers and bottles of wine for collecting money at the end of the month when figures had to be hit.

 

Now, we would often do short settlements before charge off as long as we were making more than selling it to a debt collection agency.

 

If we couldn't contact customers we had a list of every number they had called from and call them trying to trick the person we were speaking to that we were their friend. We would call neighbours but were never allowed to say where we were calling from or ask to pass on a message. Instead we were told to try and stay on the phone saying we really needed to contact them until they OFFERED.

 

It's funny because I recognise a lot of the names on the letters people have posted on here and love their new fancy titles with their template letters and feel sorry that they haven't moved out of their tiny cubicle despite being 'promoted'.

 

Like a lot of credit card companies, MBNA makes a lot of money which like always goes to the head honchos (one guy even got driven to work in a Bentley from Chester to the business park) who make a lot of money when their job is to bully those in positions lower than them to get more money and make them feel worthless if they couldn't do it. In the meantime, there are hundreds of thousands of customers struggling, worrying, thinking of suicide (we'd have to be careful when calling these) and developing medical conditions due to stress (we had a team of people who called people we weren't really allowed to call and had to be tactful) while these charges add up by the day and gain interest.

 

If there's anything anyone wants to know please leave a question and I'll try to remember. I'm about to start my own little war with my credit card companies.

 

Hi Joe, thanks for the inside look!

 

If everyone was to ignore the phone calls and insist on all communication being in writing, then where would that leave these call centres. As the song says "You keep on knocking but you can't come in", well if they keep phoning and can't get through, that will make their call centre less than useful.

 

My mobile and landline automatically block unknown/witheld numbers and numbers of my choosing such as all those I have recorded belonging to MBNA. The calls are still logged, however, so I can get an accurate record of the hassle.

[caro]

This Requires Original Lucid Language

And Lighthearted Enlightened Rhetorical Thinking

 

Cheers,

BRW

 

Hello Caro!

 

 

 

What about the Tr...er, I mean the Poster at Post #43?

 

 

Cheers,

BRW

 

Sorry, I was looking at the OP of this thread and missed this new poster. I didn't see anything to worry about and still haven't.

 

Sorry Banker, have I done something wrong?

 

Nothing at all. From time to time we get people here who are less than helpful, but any insight to the way institutions work is very helpful, so thank you for your help so far, and welcome to CAG.

[AA99]

Hello ExMBNAStaff! Welcome to CAG and all it's desperate MBNA subscribers. Boy, what an outfit they are. Very glad you are here to reveal all and well done you!

 

We have ended up with 3 accounts with MBNA and are in dire straits with them, please feel free to pop in to any of my threads and comment away: they all start AA99 v MBNA ......

 

Thanks

[Arwen]

Thanks very much for your replys so far. I have found a letter on this site asking for both the suggested info above. So I will get that off immediatly as I am running out of time.

 

I also wondered the legality of an over the phone financial statement as they are saying that now they have that, they can take my mother to court. When I said they have nothing signed he said it doesn't make any difference. Is THIS true?

 

I have noticed when browsing the site alot of people say the CCA doesn't really make a difference and that MBNA just pooh pooh the unforcebility of it and time scale of producing it. Just wondering if it really is legally binding if there are descepancies.

 

 

Just seen this

 

This may be helpful for you

 

Money Advice Trust - Debt and Mental Health Resources

[lexis200]

Hi ExMBNAstaff:)

 

I'm just wondering what the stance was on accepting reduced payments?

 

We've sent in a truthful I/E form (actually we've offered them more than we can afford), but to date they're flat refusing. We're about 4/5 months on now and no further. Are they ever likely to accept?

 

Cheers

 

Lexis:)