RichardM v MBNA ***won***

[RichardM]

I had three credit card accounts with MBNA, which I'm looking for reimbursement. Here's the prelim letter.

 

Mr. S. Bailey

Head of Customer Advocate Office

MBNA Europe Bank Limited

PO Box 1004

Chester Business Park

Chester

CH4 9WW

15th June 2006

Re: Account numbers: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in the name of R. Mxxxxxxxx

 

Dear Sir

 

I seek refund of charges that you levied from the above accounts between the period of August 2000 and December 2003.

 

I understand that the regime of penalty fees that you applied to my account in relation to late payments and exceeding credit limits were unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. Any penalty applied for breech of a non-negotiated contract may only reflect the actual costs resulting from that breech.

Should you wish to contest that these penalty fees do reflect your true costs and were, therefore, applied lawfully, I would be grateful for a full breakdown of the costs that were incurred due to each of the breeches listed. I draw your attention, however, to the information contained in your letter of June 12th, where you state that "If there have been any transactions on your account as a result of manual interventions, they will be included on the enclosed statement information. I note that there is no reference to any such intervention having been applied. This must, presumably, have significantly reduced your costs on each occasion.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract that you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner that complies with UK law and operate may account in the same lawful manner.

 

I am disappointed that you apparently failed to operate my account in this way, since I had always had confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary. Sadly, it seems, this confidence was misplaced.

 

From the information supplied in your letter of June 12th, I calculate that you applied unlawful charges of £970 to the three accounts in question, between the months of August 2000 and the closure of those accounts at the end of December 2003, for which I now seek reimbursement. I attach a list of these charges to this letter. I trust that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter rather than merely respond with standard letters declining this request.

 

You have until June 30th 2006 to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. Failure to respond positively within that time-scale may lead to further action being taken in order to recover these unlawful charges.

 

I look forward to your reply

 

[paulpb123]

Hi RichardM. In the last sentence I would have put WILL lead to further action, but that's a trivial point and they know what's coming next! Good luck with getting revenge on this particularly nasty bunch of

(edit )

 

 

 

 

Do not put libelous comments on this site .

[RichardM]

In the second LBA the final sentence will read, Failure to respond positively within that time-scale will result in legal action being initiated in order to recover these unlawfully imposed charges.

 

I've deliberately wrote it this way as I believe in being nice to your enemy when asking them to surrender for the first time.

[paulpb123]

Sorry for the potentially libelous comments MJ. I'm just really fed up. This bank has caused my family so much grief and I'm absolutely furious about the way they have intimidated us. To be quite honest, when I see my wife in tears after yet another bullying phone call from MBNA, it is too much to take. Anyway, started action against them which should be fun! Apologies for moaning on your thread Richard, and good luck.

Paul

[RichardM]

Not a dicky bird from MBNA so fair warning is given.

 

Dear Sir

 

I am disappointed that I have yet to receive a response to my letter dated 15 June, which was delivered to and signed for by your employee Linda Pickering on 16th June.

 

As stated in my initial correspondence, I expected a reply by June 30th, which should have given you ample opportunity to examine my case for refund of charges imposed on my accounts. As you have failed to offer even an acknowledgement, I hereby give notice that unless a positive response is provided by July 19th 2006, a claim will be issued via the County Court system for the sum of £970, together with interest on that amount, which is currently being waived.

 

For your information, a copy of my initial letter is enclosed,

[RichardM]

Received this from MBNA this morning.

 

We refer to your recent correspondence concerning default fees on your account. I would like to clarify the situation from our perspective.

 

We have always set out precisely what our charges are in our agreement with you, as they are an integral part of the terms and conditions under which we are prepared to provide credit facilities. When Customers pay late, we incur substantial costs in dealing with their default. Similarly, we have set credit limits carefully for each Customer and for good reason. We expect every Customer to respect their credit limit. If a Customer goes over their credit limit he or she is using the card in a way that is not allowed, in effect obtaining unauthorised borrowing. We, therefore, lend more than we agreed to, and take on risks, which were never accepted in the first place. In the case of both late payments and overlimit usage, and also where a cheque is returned unpaid, we look at the portfolio as a whole and set uniform charges reflecting our costs of dealing with such defaults of customers overall, as do all other major credit card providers. This approach allows us to be clear and up front about all default charges and the basis on which they are applied.

 

Our view is therefore that the charges that you agreed to are valid, fair and enforceable. Term 3b of your credit agreement with us clearly states that you must pay £25 each time your payment has not reached your account within one day of your payment due date, or when you exceed your credit limit, or a cheque is returned unpaid.

 

We do value your custom and so we would like to resolve this matter. I have therefore arranged a goodwill payment of £370 on the basis that this is in full and final settlement of your complaint. I confirm that account xxxxxxxxxx is in credit by £0.36 and account xxxxxxxxxxx is in credit by £10. You will receive a cheque totalling £380.36 under separate cover.

You may know that the Office of Fair Trading has recently issued guidelines for the level of credit card default charges. MBNA disagrees with the OFT's interpretation of the law and continues to maintain that its default charges have always been fair, legal and transparent. However, we have decided to reduce our default charges to £12 with effect from 28 June for late payments and returned payments, and 28 July for overlimit fees. You will receive notification of the changes to the terms and conditions. We expect you to honour the revised terms of your agreement with us. If you do not do so, we will have no alternative but to cancel your card and to formally terminate your credit agreement.

 

I enclose a copy of 'Our Commitment to You' leaflet for your information.

 

Yours sincerely

[blackrain]

Just emailed Rachel Claridge to let her know that my deadline ends on the 18th. I closed my account four years ago so I guess they deal with the likes of me differently as I have had no goodwill gesture offered...and most other MBNA threads here have. Good luck in pursuing them. I remember exactly what this lot were like when they wanted money and there is no chance of me accepting any less than the full amount.

[RichardM]

My reply.

 

Dear Mr Bailey.

 

Thank you for you letter of July 13th.

Whilst I appreciate the goodwill gesture of £370, your terms of acceptance, i.e. being full and final settlement makes the gesture unacceptable. My claim is for £970, the sum that you added to my debt through the life of the three accounts, which I held with your bank. Nothing less than that amount will satisfy my claim.

 

I am well aware of your bank’s changes to your default charges, (I am grateful that you confirm that these are "default charges" and not "service charges" as some organisations are now trying to call them) as these have been widely discussed around various internet forums on the subject. However, they are irrelevant to me, as I am no longer a customer of MBNA. It was because of the shoddy way in which you managed accounts that I terminated my business with you in 2004. Threats such as terminating my credit agreement if I don’t agree with your terms and conditions are, therefore, wasted on me. However, the fact that I am no longer a customer of MBNA does not mean that I am not entitled to the same consideration that you have given to other current customers who have received reimbursement of their claims in full. You have taken this money by using terms and conditions, which have been deemed as unlawful in common law, and I am seeking reimbursement of them.

 

As a reciprocal gesture of goodwill, I am will to extend my deadline for repayment until 26th July 2006. On that date, should agreement to reimburse not be forthcoming, I shall file in the county court a claim for the sum of £970. Should it get to this stage, however, I will also be seeking interest on the outstanding amount, as is my right under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984. To date, this stands at £326.16. Early settlement is, therefore, in your own interest.

 

Finally, I had reason to make a complaint to your telephone banking section recently when I received a statement for account number xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx showing a £10 credit. This account was one of those closed in 2004. A recent Experian credit report confirms that the account is now active without my authority. I insist that this account is closed immediately and that no further transactions take place using it, or any other of my former accounts. The £10 credit is, in fact, the £10 that I submitted for the Subject Access Request, which you failed to fully comply with, but said would be returned under separate cover. I still await its’ return.

 

[RichardM]

Have come back off holiday to find a three cheques from MBNA. One for £10 which was the DPA charged a 36p (outstanding credit on one of the closed accounts) and one for £370! Since I've already told them I don't agree to that being in full and final settlement, before they sent he cheque out, I presume that they accept that the claim goes on and will cash it.

 

No reply to my letter of 16th July, so I telephoned Gareth Tunnicliffe. Got the nurmal guff about how they had 28 days to reply to letters. I've given him until the end of today to call me, agreeing to pay up, or the County Court papers go in tomorrow, which will cost them a few hundred pounds more in interest and charges.

 

Am now waiting a telephone call.

[RichardM]

I've just had the phone call.

 

Cheque for the balance of £600 will be in the post in 3-5 working days. :D

 

Bring on Lloyds bank and their defence now.

[RichardM]

Spoke to Gareth Tunnicliffe yesterday, looking for a reply to an LBA which I sent on July 14th, (giving them our standard 14 days to respond).

 

I told him of my intention to file a claim yesterday, but gave him the option of reviewing my claim for the difference between the £370 he had already offered and the £970 I was claiming. This would save his company the additional costs of interest and court fees which would become payable as soon as I filed.

 

His response was that they are currently on their 28 day response time, as specified by their code of conduct, but agreed to have a look at the correspondence and get back to me by the end of the day. In return, I agreed to hold off filing the papers for a day. I had a call by mid afternoon agreeing to the claim in full without conditions.

 

It struck that if this is the case, many claims are being filed before the banks are getting around to consider them. Once a claim has been filed, the banks have nothing to lose by dragging out the process, because the cost is the same whatever happens if they know they are eventually going to give in.

 

By offering the chance to limit their loses, it would appear that I got a lot quicker settlement. It won't always happen I know, but it may be worth a call before you file the claim if you haven't had an answer to your LBA.

 

May give others something to think about.

[blackrain]

same thing happened to me. although I'm still waiting for the cheque!