MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

[Kat1973]

Hi All,

As you may know from my newbie seeking help thread I have just (last week in fact) gone into an arrangement with MBNA on both my cards. The guy I spoke to when arranging this took a payment for each card - when I asked if I needed to do anything else about the minimum payment for this month he said "No that more than covers it" (they had dropped it to £25 for 3 months after I first said I was in trouble).

I got back after a weekend away to find a letter saying an agreement was in place for the Virgin card and in a separate envelope a statement for the MBNA card saying I had failed to make my minimum payment and charging a £12 "late default" fine and another £89 in interest.

Obviously I rang MBNA in a total panic to be told that the MBNA card was in fact set up for an agreement and I should ignore the statement but they couldnt do anything about the new charges as this was just a matter of timing and "procedure" The guy then said the Virgin card had been sent for approval first because "Its easier if we get any problems as there's only one account to deal with" - hardly my problem!

Firstly is "late default charge" the same as a default that gets reported on your credit file?

Secondly - Could someone help me draft a letter to MBNA to try and get the £89 and £12 wiped off? I had no luck getting any charges back before using the standard letter.

I'm getting to the end of my tether with these cards, its never ending

Thanks for your time as always,

Kat x

[enaid]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

I had no luck getting any charges back before using the standard letter.

How far did you get with this?

[Kat1973]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

Hi, they sent back a huge letter saying basically that they disagree with the high court ruling on fees and as far they were concerned all the charges were legit - as I had only ever had a couple of late fee's of £12 and also wanted to them to agree to an arrangement I didnt go any further than that.

[WendyB]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

Kat, have a read of my MBNA thread here. I got back all charges and related interest from MBNA, pretty easily to be honest. The original letter I sent to MBNA is the one from Tools Barclaycard thread. That got me a partial refund in 23 days, then i waited till the refund had been credited to my account before i sent the next letter, and next thing yu know they are falling over themselves to give me money...

[Kat1973]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

Hi Wendy - how does this look to you?

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to insist that you refund the penalty charges incurred on the above accounts since inception. These are listed as “Late Payment Charge” and “Late Default Sum”.

I am aware that these charges are unlawful at Common Law & Statute. This is further reinforced by the Office of Fair Trading report of 05/04/06 which concluded that these charges are unfair to the consumer. In addition, following a recent Freedom of Information request to the Office of Fair Trading I was informed that:

“Following consultation with eight leading credit card issuers we have concluded that default charges in most credit card contracts across the sector are highly unfair in terms of the UnfairTerms in consumer Contracts Regulations (UTCCRs) and therefore unlikely to be enforceable against consumers”

If you believe that they are not penalties, then will you please demonstrate this by giving me a full breakdown of the costs you have incurred as a result of my breaches, in order to prove to me that your penalties really do reflect your actual losses.

I therefore insist that you refund to me, by way of cheque, the total amount of all charges incurred plus any interest accrued at the contractual rate thereon. I will not accept partial repayment nor will I accept that the Office of Fair Trading report of 05/04/06 deemed £12 to be an acceptable charge, as it clearly did not. I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive a refund in full which would return me to the position had these charges and interest thereon not been incurred.

I also request you remove from account xxxx xxxx xxxx 7386 the latest interest charge of £89 as this statement was not issued to me until after I agreed to enter a debt management plan with yourselves on 27th April 2010 and your representative had taken two payments (one for each of my accounts) over the phone during the call and informed me that I need not do anything else about that month’s payments as these amounts “more than covered it” I trust you have this conversation recorded should you dispute this.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall refer the matter directly to the Financial Ombudsman and Office of Fair Trading for further investigation.

Should I not receive satisfaction in this way, I shall then seek recovery by way of a County Court claim against you.

Yours faithfully,

[Celestine]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

"Firstly is "late default charge" the same as a default that gets reported on your credit file?"

No, it's just a monthly late payment marker, it will make the slightest blip on your file. It took MBNA well over 10 months to give me a 'proper default'!!

[Kat1973]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

Thanks Celestine. Decided I'm going to tackle the recent charge as a separate issue - how does this sound?

Account Number: XXXX XXX XXXX 7386

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to insist that you remove from account XXX XXX XXX 7386 the latest interest charge of £89 and “Late Default Fee” of £12 as this statement was not issued to me until after I agreed to enter a debt management plan with yourselves on 27th April 2010 and your representative (Mr Rob Taylor) had taken two payments (one for each of my accounts) via debit card over the phone. During the call he informed me that I need not do anything else about that month’s (ie April’s) payments as these amounts “more than covered it” I trust you have this conversation recorded should you dispute this.

I expect to hear from you on this matter within 14 days from date of receipt of this letter (which I will be sending via recorded delivery) if you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall refer the matter directly to the Financial Ombudsman and Office of Fair Trading for further investigation.


Yours faithfully,

[Celestine]

Re: MBNA adding charges after agreeing to DMP - help!

Hi Kat

Your first letter was fine. They've whacked on charges and interest during the interim period of you paying £25 per month and them setting up the DMP. That is extremely sneaky and you should demand it all back.