Stay away from MBNA

Stay far away from anything that MBNA has to offer! I got a Visa card from them with a low 2.99% introductory offer for six months. After that, it went up to 10.9% fixed rate. Everything's cool. About six months from that I receive a letter from them saying that they were going to increase my interest rate because they looked at my credit report and said I had too much credit. They raised it to 14.9%. A year went by, and I received another letter stating they were going to change my Visa card to a variable rate because they looked at my credit report again. It is now at 20.9% interest! My service charges are almost as much as my minimum payment! And to top it all off, I have never paid any of my bills late, and I have always paid more than the minimum payment! On all of my bills! I have great credit! I am in the process of paying off their %$^&*@# card, and then leaving them in the dust. But I'm going to make sure the world knows the ripoff that MBNA is! Thanks for reading!

[Jeremy]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experiences and don't blame you for wanting to switch. I just wanted to post a general disclaimed for the rest of the members that this is one person's experience and to please treat it as such. Many others have had positive experiences with MBNA.

i heard MBNA was bought out by another company... don't know which one

they were the ones who actually hired up interest rates, etc...

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!

Sorry about that. In my last post, I inadvertently said that MBNA "wishes very much to have defaults on its books."

Obviously, the exact opposite is true, that the company wishes very much NOT to carry defaults on its books, and will do everything possible (including lowering your interest rate to a net loss for the company) in order to avoid a default, as that will cost them even more.

Sorry for the confusion. Please let us know how you make out.

I had a MBNA card a few years back and I had to say it was the worst. I was getting hit with 19% interest rates and always had trouble getting my bills in the mail.... this was tough because I was constantly getting hit with late fees (hey I was young and thought hey if I don't get a bill I don't have to pay).

Anyways long story short, that was my one an only bad experience with Credit Card companies. Maybe now that they are part of Bank of America they might be better.

[Jeremy]

LOL, I remember those days. The high interest for missing payments is standard with any issuer. I wouldn't really hold that against MBNA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy

LOL, I remember those days. The high interest for missing payments is standard with any issuer. I wouldn't really hold that against MBNA.

I don't hold it against them but have not really had a need or want to go back to them.

Yeah, those high interst days were crazy but they weren't that long ago... hopefuly they don't come back anytime soon!

I am so sad when i hear what you hace said. I do not have the MBNA card. Wish you can get help

thats terrible, but its pretty common if you miss payments. I don't like Bank of America and Fleet Bank anymore. Fleet bank tried to hold me responsible for some chages that i didn't make, and even called a collection agency on me.