Tried to cancel MBNA credit card

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Several reasons:-

But not to those that have too much credit available.

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.

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.

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.

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

"Stephen Burke" wrote

Posters to

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

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.

"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...).