mbna refusing my reasonable payment offer-charges continue

[willing]

Hi all, first post and apologies for the length!

 

i have a 4 year old account with mbna and it was in order until they wanted to hike my interest for the second time in 12 months

 

i chose the option to refuse it and keep the original charges, knowing no new activity on the card was possible.

 

was paying them the minimum fee for a while before xmas as family finances were tight.

 

long story short,

i stopped paying them when i got into trouble with payday loans eating up my entire disposable income and then some so i missed a few payments.

 

meantime i incured the expect charges - no problem there.

 

after 2 months i finally made a payment of £50 knowing this wouldnt clear my arrears but would reduce the debt.

 

contacted them asking to freeze late payment fees if i continue to make payments -they refused.

 

having 3 payday loans and 4 other credit cards i decided enough was enough

- i needed to get control of my finances again.

 

i produced income/expenditure and sent it to everyone and they all accepted my offer of repayment except MBNA.

 

all i was asking them to do was reset the account so i could resume the original £30 pm i was paying but they refused

 

again saying that i can afford more but i should pay the £30 anyway to stop the debt getting worse until my financial position improves in 6 months!

 

meanwhile the 30 just about covers their interest and late payment fee each month.

 

i told them to take me to court if they wont accept my offer and i will discuss it with a judge (i know...) as they were the only co being unreasonable.

 

however, another 3 months have passed, they are still charging me 30 pm charges (with interest)

and my debt is now very close to the original limit (which still shows on my statements)

and so if nothing is done soon i will be incurring late and overlimit fees.

 

so..please what are my rights here?

 

I havent paid them any more simply because it would be all eaten in charges and fully expected solicitors letter by now

(when at least the debt amount should be frozen until it goes to court)

 

advice please

[citizenB]

On what basis do they consider that you can afford more?

 

Has your offer been correctly based on pro rata payments.. eg percentage of disposable income?

 

I have found that if you ask National Debtline to help you produce a Common Financial Statement (I&E) then you are more likely to get your repayment plan accepted. In fact, the OFT say that they should not refuse.

 

Nat Debt use the same type of format that is acceptable in court - so MBNA would be foolish to refuse

 

I have posted a draft letter for you below. It is almost certain that they will sell the account on to someone like Lowell or Arrow Global. In which case you could make your offer again. The fact that it is they who are refusing to accept an offer will certainly not look good for them.

 

 

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Acc/Ref No XXXXXXXXX

 

I am in receipt of your letter dated xx/xxxx/xxxx. I am very disappointed that we have been unable to reach a satisfactory compromise in this case.

 

As I have already explained, I can only afford £xx per month at the present time, and I feel that it is pointless paying this amount to you only to see the debt increase due the addition of interest and charges. I therefore invite you to sue me for the debt, when I will have the opportunity of offering £xx per month through the courts. In addition, once judgment is granted it is understood that further interest will be suspended in any event.

 

It seems that I can only achieve a reasonable outcome to this matter by allowing the courts to decide, although this will involve us both in extra expense and time wasted with court proceedings.

 

The offer of £xx per month, on the condition that interest and charges are suspended, is of course still open for you to accept.

 

Yours faithfully

 

PRINT OR SIGN YOUR NAME DIGITALLY

 

 

 

[citizenB]

If there are already charges on this account, you could make an attempt to reclaim them ?

 

Do you have all your statements, if not, send a Subject Access request to MBNA once you have them, we can provide you with a spread sheet.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Good evening Wiling, Welcome to CAG.

 

I suggest the following letter to:

The Director of Compliance

MBNA.

 

Sir/Madam,

 

Ref: MBNA Account No. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

I refer to recent communications between myself and MBNA in regard to my ability to make the required payments on this account.

 

I have provided MBNA with a financial statement and requested that charges and interest should be suspended to allow me to bring

the account back into normal status this reasonable request has been refused.

I have offered and can reasonably afford to pay £30.00 pcm towards the account t which at present barely meets the charges and interest imposed making it impossible for me to reduce the debt.

 

I am aware of the OFT Guidance 2003/2012 and section 3.7 (j) ''Failing to allow alternative. affordable, repayment amounts when a reasonable proposal is made by a debtor.

I believe subsections (k) & (m) also apply to my situation.

 

I would ask MBNA to reconsider my reasonable request to suspend all charges and interest and accept my payment offer.

 

Send by recorded/signed for delivery and check receipt.

[willing]

wow three responses already - you guys are good!..

 

i havent considered the charge refund because i thought that i would have no chance as they are all £12. however, from the moment i notified them of financial difficulties , would i have any claim for additional penalty charges from that moment on?

 

BTW i wasnt even asking for interest to be frozen/reduced just the LPCs so i was being really fair. i havent done an SAR but recon that 3/4 of the debt (just under £1000) is charges and interest.

[filrobbo]

Have you got any ppi on the loans

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

wow three responses already - you guys are good!..

 

i havent considered the charge refund because i thought that i would have no chance as they are all £12. however, from the moment i notified them of financial difficulties , would i have any claim for additional penalty charges from that moment on?

 

BTW i wasnt even asking for interest to be frozen/reduced just the LPCs so i was being really fair. i havent done an SAR but recon that 3/4 of the debt (just under £1000) is charges and interest.

 

MBNA should freeze all charges and interest for you in this situation.

[dx100uk]

NO PENALTY charge are fair, they are all UNLAWFUL

 

get reclaiming.

 

 

dx

[willing]

hi all,sorry for the amount of detail below.

 

Ive just had a "final response" from MBNA despite this being their first contact! and they are not budging.

 

Regarding penalty charges this was their response

 

quote (edited)

On review of your account

six late default sums have been applied to your account over the past 12 months, totalling 72.00. .

 

As the late default sums have been applied to your account in accordance with your terms and conditions,

I regret that we are unable to complete any refunds. (end quote)

 

I susbsequently phoned them to say that despite me feeling i have a genuine case,

I would increase my offer to £50pm, which was considerably more than the monthly minimum if my account were in order.

 

Their response was to tell me to pay the £50 and then they would submit a request to their lending team to consider the revised offer.

 

Considering i have twice had offers refused, i wrote back refusing to pay them a penny without a formal arrangement.

 

I have concluded that if i make the payment without an arrangement then this will be to my detriment as they will continue to charge me £26 pm in charges and interest.

 

On this basis it would take a further 7 months to clear my arrears and i would incur a further £84 in LPCs alone.

 

Additionally, my main concern is that all the time they dont pass on this debt to external collections,

the balance is increasing at £26pm and by September will be up to the old limit, at which point additional overlimit fees would be added.

 

I have seen comments about refunds of charges but since Im not paying them-the amount owed is just accumulating, I dont know how this would work.

 

I'm not in a position to make a full and final and so cant explorer that option.

 

Should i just leave it till it goes external debt collection now and refuse to speak to them?

 

Should i make a £1 token payment as some have done (dont know what the reasoning behind others doing that is)

 

Thanks for our time reading my diatribe....

[dx100uk]

they always send that letter just to make people give up.

 

do you make a spread sheet at THEIR int rate?

 

dx

[citizenB]

 

Should i make a £1 token payment as some have done (dont know what the

reasoning behind others doing that is)

 

People do this to show they are not attempting to evade payment, but are offering the token payment, as a gesture of goodwill if you like. Then when their financial situation improves (if) then they can offer more.

 

MBNA and Capital One are both American outfits and think the UK rules don't apply to them. I also understand that MBNA is making moves to leave the UK credit card market, so they probably want as much as they can.

[Lilly_Monroe]

I have been through this with MBNA (still am).

I owe £800 at first they allowed me to pay £10 a month, countless letters later they have refused that.

They are apparently in the process of selling my debt or taking me to court.

They suggested I keep paying the £10 payment (then stopped me access to my online account) which was how I paid them.

I have emailed them twice asking how they suggest I make those payments - so far NO reply.

Dealing with these people is impossible.

Their letters are abrupt; and make no allowances for your financial position or your health.

 

I have SAR them and see what if any thing I can claim back.

As a woman on her own with mental health issues, I find them very intimidating.

 

Good Luck!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Forget e-mails you can never be sure that they don't go into a large recycle bin as soon as someone sees that action is needed,

 

RM recorded/signed for post, check when delivered and follow up.

[Lilly_Monroe]

Forget e-mails you can never be sure that they don't go into a large recycle bin as soon as someone sees that action is needed,

 

RM recorded/signed for post, check when delivered and follow up.

 

But they send out an automated reply to say they received it with a time etc.

I am fed up of sending recorded plus I have a 5 mile each way journey to the PO it costs me, which on ESA is money I cannot spare.

[filrobbo]

Yes it is dear but you have to stile with it this is what they hope you give up and give in I would just send then a check or postal order for what you can afford if it goes to court you can show you have been making payments to what you can afford.

[willing]

interesting call this morning from mbna.

..long and short is they still maintain that i can afford the minimum payments and wont help.

 

however, the implication was if i started paying the £50pm then that would probably be enough for them to stop taking further action!

 

Yes of course it would be because they would still be raking back over half that in interest

and LPCs until i caught up in 7 months!!..

 

Surely this is good evidence now to get it in front of a court?

 

If they can accept £50 whilst charging LPCs then they can certainly accept £50 without further LPCs-already screwed me for 6 in the last 12 months?

 

They have also said the account is going to default this month. HOORAH!! (I Think) - Want my day in court now...

[willing]

Hi All, just a little update and advice request please..

 

.Seems they were lying about defaulting me in August but i got a letter on 3rd Sept saying it would default in 30 days (today!).

 

Actually got my first ever chaser for the debt at the end of last week - guess thats the first £12 then they are genuinly entitle to claim represents their costs

 

would like advice on what exactly this means once its defaulted.

 

Can they still keep adding interest and late payment charges for example?

 

Also once they add this month charge it will push me over the £1000 limit (which i consider completely irrelevnt anyway - how can a cancelled card still have a limit?)

so from now on the debt would be increasing at £38pm instead of £26.

 

I Know i need to hold my nerve and be prepared to go to court but the amount is rapidly increasing.

 

Debt was around £700 when the dispute started.

[dx100uk]

so you have the default notice under section 87?

 

if not they'll have to go through that first

giving you 14 days to rectify before they default you.

 

now these PENALY charges

 

did you fill in a spreadsheet?

dx

[willing]

sorry for delay in response.

 

No i havent done the spreadsheet yet.

 

I know though that even allowing for refund of fees and interest i would still owe them money.

 

But these guys are nothing short of clowns..

.Yes i got the default notice in September and yet as of yesterday

they STILL haven't defaulted the account

-default letter just says they will default it sometime after 28 days of the date of the letter.

 

Its now 8 months in arrears due to my refusal to pay and only now are they starting to phone me for payment.

 

Suddenly they are willing to accept the offer of £50 per month

but not before a total of £300 been added in interest and charges since this started.

 

At this stage i would request clarity one point.

 

The account was effectively cancelled in March 2012 after i declined their interest rate increase

and under the terms of the increase i could continue to pay the debt

but no new transactions would be permitted.

 

At this point i consider that this is now just a debt with them.

 

However, last month after the 5 months it was with their concierge(!) team before getting a flat NO

and this was their final statement,

 

the account went over its old limit and i have been getting late payment and overlimit fees.

 

What the legal position here?

 

If i cant make new transactions then surely there is no limit - its just a debt attracting interest?

 

Should i open up a case with the FOS?

 

What if (when) they eventually close it and pass to DCA (which last caller said is what they would do) ,

can i just tell the DCA to go fish as i am in dispute?

 

Please advise..Thanks

[dx100uk]

so with all the new charges

how do they look once the CIsheet is filled out?

 

at THEIR int rate?

 

dx