Can a credit card do this?

Jul 16, 2004 17 Replies

Hi,



I have done a Balance Transfer from one UK credit card to another (MBNA). I meant to do two transfers but the wires got crossed, and all the transfer cash went to the one card issuer. This left the credit card in +ve balance to the tune of >£15K. They agree that the money is mine - but keep stalling about repaying me my money, so far they've had two weeks and are telling me it may take another two!.



I am losing a lot of interest.



How long is it reasonable for them to stall me?



TIA Ben


If the MBNA card has a balance transfer facility I guess you could have just used that to transfer the money to the originally intended recipient card. They usually go though in 3-5 working days at most.

Don't MBNA charge for balance transfers not in the introductory period.

MBNA reserve the right to, however in this instance it would be classed as a credit balance refund which does not attract a charge under any circumstances at MBNA.

I would guess they would charge interest on balance transfers on a daily basis, but as the balance transfer would be "paid off" in zero days then the interest *should* be zero.

Andrew,

You might think so, but MBNA are not happy about transferring the funds to another, since I am transferring *FROM* a +ve balance .... In fact they have now refused any balance transfer from my account, because they say it is already a mess and further transfers will confuse it even more. They say their 'Banking section ' is already overloaded with work , so any refund may take at least two weeks more. They have me over a barrel?

Ben

Jane,

I am in the introductory period

Ben

Liam,

There has been no mention of a charge - but no mention of when they will do it either! - they just whinge about how busy their 'Banking Department' is and delay...delay...delay..meanwhile I loose the interest and they gain it - I appear to have no choice but to accept the delay.

My only recourse that I can see , is to accuse them of unprofessional behavior and try to embarrass them into paying up promptly

Ben

just do it on their website using the online banking facility

MBNA vet every Balance Transfer that is initiated on their web site - they have (effectively) told me that if I try that they will ignore it - 'I must not further complicate my account'

Ben

"Benthamman" wrote

What on earth have you been doing to get into that position?

Only as described above....MBNA operators have authority to operate in only strictly defined areas, in response to 'defined requests' from customers. Treating a refund as a Balance Transfer does not fall within that defined area - and they adamant about that.

Ben

"Benthamman" wrote

When I had a >10K "credit" on my MBNA card, I simply made a balance transfer request online into my current a/c. Went through fine within a few days ...

Tim,

I reckon this is what should happen as well. When this first credit happened, this is exactly what the MBNA operator performed for me - but five days later she phoned to say the computer had thrown the requests out as they were of too high value. Hmm.... I think MBNA is just playing games to stall me while they collect the interest on my £17.5K balance.

Which is where I came in - How long do I have to put up with this? What can I do about it?

Any ideas?

TIA

Ben

"Benthamman" wrote

I wonder - is your credit limit below 17.5K ?? I can just imagine their software testing a bal tfr amount of 17.5K against a (lower) credit limit, and halting the processing because it thinks you shouldn't be able to transfer that much ....

Tim,

It's well below - my credit limit is only £7.5K - but the money is mine and they must pay it - they acknowledge this too. They could do three separate transfers - or get the bankers to one large one - they are a major European bank - why are they being so deliberately stupid? I may be stupid , but I have done nothing illegal

Ben

For the moment, but you will eventually recoup your losses.

Send a formal complaint to the CEO of MBNA and follow it up with one to the FOS if prompt action does not follow.

They are due to phone tomorrow with an update (although from my account on the web - nothing has happened). I will propose that they now have

24hrs to put repayment in progress, or I will take the action you suggest - Thanks

Ben

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required