Tried to cancel MBNA credit card

A couple of weeks ago I called MBNA to get them to cancel my CC because the

9 months interest free was up. The guy in India said the dept I needed to speak to was in the UK and gave me a UK number to call.

The guy I spoke to in the UK then tried to convince me to leave the account open, but "suspend" it, so that I couldn't use it. When I pushed to get the account "closed" he basically refused to do it as he said there was no difference between suspending the account and closing it.

He said that if I suspended it then if I ever wanted to reuse it then I just needed to call them up and re-activate it. I guess he gets paid based on the number of accounts that he prevents from closing.

I've checked my acount online and it's still open so I'm now writing to MBNA telling them to cancel my CC account.

I don't want this 20k of credit sitting open on my credt record and wonder what I can do if MBNA refuse to cancel my CC?

Paul

Reply to
PMC
Loading thread data ...

I had an MBNA account and wrote to cancel it. They acknowledged my letter and wrote back saying that they would keep the account open for a month and if no transactions were made during the month they would cancel the account. Then I got phone calls from them offering "No-interest" credit to tempt me back.

I dont think they will refuse to cancel your account, if you put it in writing and dont make any transactions in the following month. However, I am not sure what you mean by having "credit sitting open on your credit record". Pardon my ignorance but what is the significance of this, Paul?

Regards

Buster

Reply to
Buster

The £20k won't appear on your credit record if you don't use the card.

Reply to
Chris Blunt

Oh yes it will. Your credit record lists all cards. Inactive cards not cancelled look exactly like active ones except that the current balance is nil. A cancelled card is described as "settled". If this card is simply suspended it will look like the OP has 20k of credit from MBNA and wants even more.

Reply to
The Blue Max

Thats what I thought. I got one of those 2 credict checks done last year from Experian (or someone similar) and there were a load of old credit cards I'd had, never used for years, but still showed up as active on my credit check. PMC

Reply to
PMC

Thanks - I've put it in writing so will check my online account next month and see if it's still active.

Reply to
PMC

Bitstring , from the wonderful person The Blue Max said

And this is a problem why, exactly, ... ?? Heck, I've got loads of CCs, all with current balances of nil .. afaict this actually improves my credit rating, rather than the reverse.

Reply to
GSV Three Minds in a Can

Why don't you dig out the terms and conditions to them ... write to them .. quote "chapter and verse" ... "In accordance with clause ?? of the agreement between us I hereby cancel the agreement." ... and ask them to acknowledge.

Reply to
John

Quite right. It's an utter waste of time phoning. I don't know why people even bother. Anyone would think they relish chatting with call centre staff.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

I would think it best to send them the card(s) too. In bits for security.

Reply to
Rob

Isn't that good? People like to lend to those who can handle debt.

Reply to
Chris Game

Several reasons:-

1/ Some lenders refuse credit to people who already have what they consider too much of it. 2/ Some lenders sneakily introduce low usage fees, buried in a leaflet they send you about "changes" to your account, entitling them to collect an annual fee from existing cardholders who aren't actually using the cards. 3/ The best deals are always given to new customers, so you are better off cancelling inactive cards and re-enrolling as a "new" customer at a later date.
Reply to
The Blue Max

But not to those that have too much credit available.

Reply to
The Blue Max

But if you have all the bits together, what would stop anyone opening the letter and using the card online or over the phone? Particularly if you've very kindly included a letter with your billing address on it!

When I last cancelled a card, I was asked by the call cantre to write to the cc company and confirm that I'd destroyed the card - not actually put it in the envelope though. I thought this in itself was a delaying tactic mind - I suspect if I'd persisted they'd have cancelled it over the phone.

Reply to
Paul

In message , PMC writes

The account will not be 'closed' for years because some old payment might turn up. By attempting to 'close' an account you do not remove the liability. A CC company cant return a payment marked 'account closed' like a bank can with a cheque.

Reply to
john boyle

People assert this from time to time, but there seems little evidence to back it up, and plenty of people manage to pick up a large string of credit cards with no trouble.

Like who?

True, although there are enough cards around to keep going for quite a while anyway. And MBNA at least seem to give the "new customer" offers to existing customers who make a fuss. egg are also giving 0% deals to existing customers.

Reply to
Stephen Burke

Trues, the trouble only starts when all of the cards are at mximum limit when the new issuers searches.

Reply to
john boyle

"Stephen Burke" wrote

Posters to

formatting link
report having been turned down for exactly this reason.

Citibank for one, at one point. They introduced a charge for "low usage" to people who hadn't paid any interest. So if you spent 10,000 a month and paid it all off you were a "low" user.

The trouble is that although there are scads of offers there are only about

17 banks behind them all and 3 appear dominant: MBNA, Morgan Stanley, Lloyds TSB. So getting a series of cards should in theory be difficult because you will start to run out of underlying lenders. This doesn't stop cases like the bloke who had 17 cards and owed 70,000 but I suspect he slipped through because he scored favourably in a number of areas (married, homeowner, etc).
Reply to
The Blue Max

Written confirmation came today that my account had been closed. Ironically, I got a call tonight from MBNA regarding a CC I applied for a week ago with a high street bank to confirm it had been accepted.

Reply to
PMC

"The Blue Max" wrote

I understand that RBS is also very active in the credit card market, and that HFC bank market a lot of different CC brands (eg Marbles, Beneficial, GM, used to have Goldfish...).

Reply to
Tim

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.