Death to my credit card company

[Helevitia]

MBNA - Ths is my credit card company.

Those bastards raised my interest rate back in January. They sent me a notice in the mail but I never read my mail because I can check it online. I noticed on 4/29 that my online account showed an interest rate of 19.99% from 12.99%.

I called them up to complain and they lowered it. I could tell by the way he was talking to me that me that he probably has this same phone call 10 times/day.

They tell me the reason they raised the rate was that my credit report showed a collections. I told them I have no collections. He looked it up and said it was a collections from 2000! WTF? Yes, I had a collections from 2000 but I didn't get the card until 2001 so now it is OK to raise my interest rate in 2004!? What ****ing crooks!

So I get them to give me a new credit card with an even lower rate. 9.99%. I feel better and I get off the phone.

I suddenly realized that I got charged extra interest between 1/1-4/29 this year. So I call them back today and tell them I want my money back. Of course the guy on the phone doesn't have the authority

On top of that, when they checked my credit report without my persmission when we were tryign to figure out why they raised the interested rate. I specifically asked them NOT to check my report. So now they have screwed me out of money and they checked my report without my permission. Those two things are both ILLEGAL! I am so ****ing pissed. **** them!

I want to ride this thing to get the results I want, but is it worth my effort? I mean, they probably took about $30 total during that period and the credit inquiry does lower your credit but I have really good credit so it won't make a difference, but it is the principal of the thing. I am so tired of getting screwed.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I bet there's a clause somewhere in the contract that says you give them permission to check your credit report if you continue to use the card.

[Ajax]

Time to pull a "Fight Club" on them.

[Brian R.]

Cut it up. Get a new card. That's the only way to vote on their tactics.

[KvHagedorn]

I've heard bad things about MNBA.. wouldn't get a card with them. Bank One personally screwed me this same way for no reason when they bought out Wachovia, so I cancelled the card. Had a bad experience with First Card raising rates as well, and cancelled them. So far the best experience I've had has been with Citicard, although they messed with me as well once, though they lowered the rate back. Bank of America gave me a pretty good rate when I went back with them with no interest on my balance transfer for a year. We'll see what happens after that though. Discover rips you off with their rates no matter what, so I don't use them much.

Here's a tip.. if you can EVER get one of those sweet balance transfer deals where you get 3.9% until it's paid off or some such, TAKE IT.. but dont use the card again until you pay it off.. lower interest rate balances always get paid off first, so if you had $3000 at 9.99 and $3000 at 3.99, the first 3000 keeps racking up the big interest while you work at paying off the lower rate.

[rylan]

Yeah MBNA is on my blacklight of credit card companies, along with the giant CitiCorp.

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Jon P. Inghram
I bet there's a clause somewhere in the contract that says you give them permission to check your credit report if you continue to use the card.

Yes, they can check your credit history anytime they want. This is called a "soft enquiry". This does NOT effect your credit score at all.

What I am talking about is a normal credit check that you, as a consumer give them legal permission to check your credit history. This is the enquiry that takes 10 points off your record each time it is done. This is what showed up on my statement that I did NOT give them permission to do.

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Brian R.
Cut it up. Get a new card. That's the only way to vote on their tactics.

Easier said than done. First of all, you get a "hard enquiry" on your credit report. Then, if you have 5 or more "hard enquiries" your score drops even lower. Not to mention the bazillion opther things such as getting a new card, establishing an online account, new mail to look at, etc...

In the end though, my plan is to cancel and get a different card.

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
Here's a tip.. if you can EVER get one of those sweet balance transfer deals where you get 3.9% until it's paid off or some such, TAKE IT.. but dont use the card again until you pay it off.. lower interest rate balances always get paid off first, so if you had $3000 at 9.99 and $3000 at 3.99, the first 3000 keeps racking up the big interest while you work at paying off the lower rate.

Yes, this is such a scam it is hard to believe it is legal. They catagorize the different interest rates into A B C & D. So if you make a payment, it will go to A first. It has a lower interest rate so B C & D continue to rack up high interest while you try to pay off A.

Bottom line, do not accumulate debt. I am done with debt. I paid off all my debt accept for my house. A mortgage is one of the few debts that is considered "good" debt. School loans can be good debt too but in certain situations.

[Jammrock]

All credit card companies are evil scammers. The only reason we have them is to boost our credit rating for car loans and refinancing. We pay them off at the beginning of each month.

Jammrock

[Fat Tone]

I'm using a MBNA card, but it's branded with a UK airline. We switched to using it all the time (and paying off every month) so that a) we get points towards free flights - I estimate one free return flight to Europe every year each and b) we get a little interest on the current account while the money sits there waiting until the last possible moment before paying the CC.

We once got up to about 40% of the limit, so they increased it by 10% without saying anything! I could go out and buy a car...!

[SteveC]

Also hate MBNA. I got a card 6 months or so ago and put on it best part of £4k from other cards as it was 6months interest free. After a couple of weeks I get a letter saying I've not paid anything, so I phone them up and ask what's going on - I have direct debit set up. Well they had no record of my DD, so I set it up there and then. 2 months down the line I realise I'm paying Interest! I phone them up and ask what the hell's going on, and they say that because I missed a payment, I loose all benefits I once had, i.e. 0% interest free. Have a moan at them and they put it back, after being passed around a bit - eventually got to a bloke who sounded like he's had this conversation a million times and he just set it back to 0% no questions asked.

[Helevitia]

Amazingly, I got a call back from one of the "managers" this morning and he says, "I calculated the difference between the 2 interest rates and we will refund your money right away". whoa! I didn't have to argue or anything. He is also looking into getting my "hard enquiry" reversed. Double whoa! I'm glad I followed through with this because it would have pissed me off until the bitter end.

I feel much better now.

Dave

[Fat Tone]

yay