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“0% turns out higher than 19.95%”

written by guest1345453 on 18/05/2013

I thought of carrying out some improvements around the house so I decided to apply for the 0% MBNA Master card..

Got approved, transferred the money (with 1% commission fee) and used it wisely. Two-three months later noticed an interest charge on the statement. Called in…turns out I was late by 1 day to pay the minimum payment, ok, possibly delay thru online banking, possibly I did not consider weekends or whatever it may be. Anyway, the operator told me ‘don’t worry, I am going to reverse the interest charge and everything is going to be ok”. I m all confident and happy, receiving another statement in 1 month period with not only old charge not removed, there is a new one! So I call back and the operator tells me ‘you were late with minimum payment, that’s why you lost your promotional fee’.

I am not going to continue paying the interest, so I said tell me how to pay right now and I will pay it immediately to avoid any further interest. The operator gave me the estimated amount and I immediately paid it using the online banking. I obviously closed the account since I was frustrated with their service and misleading information.

But it did not end there! Oh no! Turns out the operator estimated balance wrong and I overpaid by like $29. So I started receiving statements showing $29 credit although I specifically asked to close my account. It was a credit so I did not pay much attention to the statements and before I knew it, 12 months went by and I received a statement showing only $4 credit. Called their ‘customer service’ again and it turns out they have a fee of $25 for ‘active closed accounts’.

To summarize:
• The operator did not tell me that I lost my promotional fee and indicated that interest will be reversed – BAD AND MISLEADING CUSTOMER SERVICE
• Credit on a closed account not being reimbursed – BAD BUSINESS
• Charging a fee on a closed account – BAD BUSINESS. A courtesy phone call would be proper procedure. I am sure that if it was a negative account they would be all over me with phone calls several times per months.

Never again will apply to any of MBNA cards and would not recommend their services to anybody. Considering many competitors that offer same and even better deals.