Complaint / Review
MBNA America
Unethical

This is alittle long-winded... Sorry!

In MBNA contacted me and offered a credit line (I do not actually have a "card") of about $15,000, at 10% interest, which I could use to consolidate other higher interest debts and pay the debt off faster with their fixed payment plan. My combined minimum payments on my other credit cards was more per month than what I would pay with MBNA, despite the fact they were at lower interest rates, so I accepted the offer.

Fast forward to March when I received my statement and found that MBNA indicated that I had sent them only $207, of my normal $287, monthly payment. This caused me to incur a late fee of $49, and made my next payment $367, to make up for the $80, I still owed for the month.

I checked with my credit union and found that I had indeed written my check for the correct amount of $287, and MBNA had "encoded" it incorrectly.

I called MBNA and explained the problem, and, to their credit, they immediately cancelled the late fee and updated my account, all without me having to provide them of any proof.

I guess some might say that they knew this the whole time and were trying to "stick" me with a late fee that I did not deserve, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

While I was on the phone with the customer service representative, I looked at my statement and found that my interest rate is currently 14.8%, rather than 10%.

I asked about it and she checked to find that at some point MBNA advised me in writing that if I chose to add to my debt (likely through one of those checks they are always sending me), which I did, I would be automatically accepting the new rate on the entire balance.

While this may be legal, I consider it to be highly unethical. My account with them has always been portrayed to me as a credit line, which I could access whenever needed, up to my limit.
I told her that I thought this was unfair, and all she would say (very politely I might add) was that this had occurred almost two years ago and there was nothing she could do about it now.

I told her that I would keep this in mind for future reference when deciding whether to continue to do business with them. She thanked me.

I am now preparing to transfer my balance to another credit card at 3.9% interest for the life of the loan.

I will then be closing my account as soon as possible and will NEVER do business with MBNA again.

Additionally, I will be carefully reading all correspondence form all my credit card companies.