MBNA was absorbed by the friendly folks at Bank of America.

To the original poster, you might try calling MBNA (before the merger is compete in the 4th quarter of this year) and tell them that you are having great difficulty managing payments to them at the increased interest rate, askng them for a temporary reduction in the rate until your debt with them is a bit more manageable, as you are worried about the possibility of default (note the magic word "default" in the last sentence). From what I'm to understand, MBNA, as a matter of policy, wishes very much to have defaults on its books, and will likely cut you a deal for a 6 or 12 month period at an annual interest rate of either 1% or 5%.

Try it, you have nothing at all to lose by asking, especially since you intend to stop using their card anyway.

Good luck!