MBNA Platinum Plus Card Review

Overall Rating

Firstly I have to admit I got sucked into believing MBNA thanks to their strong marketing and very little knowledge on my part. For 5 years now I have struggled with a Virgin/MBNA card and in the last 14 months the apr has gone up 3 times, to a whapping 31%. The reason? Well last year and the year before I had 3 late payments which I then sorted. So they deemed my account as "risky" and hiked the charges. Since Jan 08 my scoring has vastly improved and asked several times to reconsider the charges (I had been unable to transfer the balance) and they always said no. Surely it would be a good idea in helping people to clear their debt not preventing them from doing so. My argument was and still is: This is my debt, I want pay it but those conditions make it impossible" Of course they do not care, they are trying to squeeze the last drop of blood you have to satisfy their greed and very lucrative investment. Remember that MBNA is not poor they have several assets and endorsements and their charges are not a direct result of financial crisis but a proven unethical and unfair trading. So if any of you out there is thinking of switching to a 0% rate as currently advertised DON'T. It does not matter how much you earn, what is your limit, how good you are with the payments. I see very little difference between them and the classic dodgy unscrupulous loan-shark. Really it does not make much difference, except maybe with MBNA you get paper statements and threatening letters. At least with the loan sharks you can report them to the police, with credit card companies there is very very little you can do. Even if you complain to the Office of Fair Trading it takes time to go anywhere and they have some rather small but significant clauses in their TC: they reserve the right to change the credit agreement at any stage giving you a 30 days notice. Firstly I have to admit I got sucked into believing MBNA thanks to their strong marketing and very little knowledge on my part. For 5 years now I have struggled with a Virgin/MBNA card and in the last 14 months the apr has gone up 3 times, to a whapping 31%. The reason? Well last year and the year before I had 3 late payments which I then sorted. So they deemed my account as "risky" and hiked the charges. Since Jan 08 my scoring has vastly improved and asked several times to reconsider the charges (I had been unable to transfer the balance) and they always said no. Surely it would be a good idead in helping people to clear their debt not preventing them from doing so. My argument was and still is: This is my debt, I want pay it but those conditions make it impossible" Of course they do not care, they are trying to squeeze the last drop of blood you have to satisfy their greed and very lucrative investments. Remeber that MBNA is not poor they have several assets and endorsements and their charges are not a direct result of financial crisis but a proven unethical and unfair trading. So if any of you out there is thinking of switching to a 0% rate as currently advertised DON'T. It does not matter how much you earn, what is your limit, how good you are with the payments. I see very little difference between them and the classic dodgy unscrupolous loan-sharks. Really, it does not make much difference, except maybe with MBNA you get paper statements and threatening letters. At least with the loan-sharks you can report them to the police, with credit card companies there is very very little you can do. Even if you complain to the Office of Fair Trading it takes time to go anywhere and they have some rather small but significant clauses in their TC: they reserve the right to change the credit agreement at any stage giving you a 30 days notice. Moral of the story? Stay clear of MBNA, if you are very desperate for a credit card and everthyng else is failing go to your bank. Be wary and be warned, do not let them put you through what I have gone through and squander £ £ £ in silly charges. If you have got the strength and energy to fight them do it or better just prevent it. Mariolina London.