Two and a half years ago, MBNA solicited me by mail to get a revolving credit (non-card) account. I didn't use it til now. Nearly every month, MBNA has sent me checks encouraging me to draw on my credit line. I finally used one that I got in February with an expiration date of March 31.
I wrote it for ~$7400, deposited it in my bank's checking account, and as soon as funds were available, sent an electronic transfer to pay off a credit card balance. Five days later, my bank called me to tell me that the check had bounced, and that my checking account was $7000 overdrawn. It had also assessed fees of $100. I was incredulous.
I called MBNA, expecting the rep to say that there had been a mistake, and expecting it to wire the funds to my bank.instead, I got amazing arrogance, as the rep. (Liz Chmieleki) said that if I read my account terms, I'd see that MBNA could close my account at any time for any reason.
I think that the reason given was account inactivity, but I'm not sure whether she really gave me a reason, since she insisted that no reason was needed. I was stunned. I said, "You mean that you can send me an offer to draw on my account, and close the account without notifying me before the offer expires?"
I forget what her exact words were, but she said, "We've done nothing wrong." I asked whether she thought that I should speak to a manager about this, and she said that I could talk to the department that analyzes credit to see if the account could be reopened. Since she seemed nonplussed by the situation and was comfortable with handling this outrageous handling of my account, I could see that this was business as usual at MBNA, and I had no desire to hear the same thing from a manager. And I sure didn't want to reopen my account after this treatment. I want justice.
I don't care if MBNA wants to close my account, but not after it offers me a check, and then closes without notification. That's absurd. If all financial institutions acted the same way, you'd have to call them every time you wrote a check, and hope that they didn't close your account before the check cleared. On top of my bank fees and concern over covering the $7400 debt in my checking account, this has caused me a lot of anxiety and hassle.
I read the original account agreement (it's MBNA's agreement since it makes all the terms of this "contract"), and it did say that it could close the account at any time for any reason. I don't care what the actual law says, what happened to me is patently unethical, unfair, wrong.
My next step in the matter will be to file a complaint with the Delaware Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. If I don't get anywhere with that, I would have like to have filed suit, at least in small claims court. However, the MBNA "agreement" states that I can't litigate against it, but must use an arbitrator for any disputes. Boy, MBNA really covers itself. If anyone can tell me of a way around this arbitration requirement, so that I can get this jerk company in court, please tell me. Thank you.
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