I have been with MBNA for the past 6 months and whilst the Visa card itself has had its benefits my main gripe with the company is that they are always so difficult to get in touch with via the 24 hour phone line.
Hold times are excessive and staff are often straight to the point and not ... Read review
Advantages: High credit limit, low monthy payment Disadvantages: poor customer service, difficult to get through to phone lines
I have been with MBNA for the past 6 months and whilst the Visa card itself has had its benefits my main gripe with the company is that they are always so difficult to get in touch with via the 24 hour phone line.
Hold times are excessive and staff are often straight to the point and not overly helpful. Also within the 6 months I have been with them I have had three calls from them to try and encourage me to purchase their card protection ... ...was my first month with MBNA and about 3 days before my first payment was due I realised that I hadn't recieved my monthly statement. I called them to query this and they said they would send me a statement so that I could pay the amount asap. They said that no charge for late payment would not be charged since it was not my fault that the statement had not been sent.
However, when I recieved my statement (a week later) I had been ... more
I have been with MBNA for the past 6 months and whilst the Visa card itself has had its benefits my main gripe with the company is that they are always so difficult to get in touch with via the 24 hour phone line.
Hold times are excessive and staff are often straight to the point and not overly helpful. Also within the 6 months I have been with them I have had three calls from them to try and encourage me to purchase their card protection scheme which can be quite annoying.
I have been charged the £20 late payment charge twice the first instance been no fault of my own. It was my first month with MBNA and about 3 days before my first payment was due I realised that I hadn't recieved my monthly statement. I called them to query this and they said they would send me a statement so that I could pay the amount asap. They said that no charge for late payment would not be charged since it was not my fault that the statement had not been sent.
However, when I recieved my statement (a week later) I had been charged a late payment fee of £20 plus an extra £20 for going over my credit limit (I was only over this limit because the £20 late charge had been added to my balance!). This resulted in another lengthy phone call to the call centre.
Eventually, this was resolved and credited back to my account. On the second instance I went £1.00 over my limit and was charged the £20 fee which was non-refundable. My advice is to be EXTREMELY careful with these fees and manage your balance wisely. Also I would advise to set up a direct debit asap so that you know all your payments are covered.
On a more positive note, they did offer me 6 months interest free for my balance transfer. They also offer a reasonable APR after the first 6 months and give a good credit limit. Minimum monthly payments are extremely low (mine is £5.00 and I have £2000 limit!) although this could be a bad or a good thing as it does seem that you will never actually pay off the full balance!!!
Advantages: charity donations, no annual fee Disadvantages: terrible service, hard-sell of cover, don't let you leave easily
I obtained an MBNA "New Hall" card in August 1999, because it would mean my college got a small percentage of everything I spent on it. When they were running the credit check on me they claimed they couldn't find me on the electoral register - in fact they couldn't find my college, even though there are 400+ students put on the electoral roll there each year. They also did a very hard-sell on the payment protection which I gave into. After a few ... ...it. They didn't make that easy, I had to be put through to a different department who quizzed me about giving it up and tried more hard-sell.
The initial credit limit they gave me was very stingy - £500. My montly spend was rarely that much but sometimes I would need to buy a lot of things between getting the bill and the payment deadline. I would go over the limit by say, £100 because of this timing problem. The card wouldn't be stopped, but I ...
rachelcoleman 24.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Co-branded
Advantages: Excellent Customer Service, Good rates of Interest. Disadvantages: Wouldent like to have to pay one of their late payment charges!
Ive had an MBNA Credit Card for around two years now and just wanted to say how please I were with the service. I dont actually ever remember filling out an application form or enqiuring about getting an MBNA card, one just turned up in the post one day. I think I may have went to a concert down in London, had a few beers on the way down and got collered by someone trying to flog them at the area! Before that I had never heard of them!
Whenever ... ...which really impressed me with MBNA were that around 6 months ago I moved house and were late with one of the payments due to the move. I had a letter from MBNA saying I would be charged a fairly high amount due to the late payment, so I phoned up the MBNA customer services, explained the situation and they were more than helpful and completely cancelled the late payment charge! I were very happy and they were very reasonable. The only disadvantage ...
MartinClark 14.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Co-branded
Advantages: Decent Apr Discretion to waive late payment fees High credit limits Disadvantages: Large late payment fees No telephone payment service
On the whole MBNA provide a fairly decent VISA card service. The apr is competitive, there are no annual fees and have given me the largest credit limit of any of my other cards.
However I do have an issue with their late payment charges. If you make your payment even one day late then an £18 penalty is imposed automatically. I understand this may be common practice in the industry but its a bit steep.
If you do get hit unexpectedly with this charge ... ...them. Granted you may be on hold for ages, as MBNA's 24 hour helpline is constantly jammed, but its worth it if the £18 fee can be waived.
I managed to get the fee refunded on 2 occasions, once when I had simply forgotten and spoke nicely to the person on the other end of the phone and another time when a balance transfer from another bank had let me down.
So although its nasty if you do get the late payment charge, do not just accept it. It pays ...
OWENSKI 14.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Co-branded
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Watch out for the interest rates
I've had my MBNA card now for some 4 years, always been a good boy, paid on time, never exceeded my limit and more often than not, settled my account in full each month.
Looking around at the cheapest way of borrowing, I decided to use my card to make a quite expensive purchase - after all, I would have the flexibility of making lump sum payments, as well as the minimum payment - and as I said, the rate was favourable compared to other loan packages ... ...you like - I tend to think otherwise, but shortly after making the purchase, I received a letter from the company outlining increased interest charges on my account. Just to rub salt into the wounds, I picked up on a newspaper advert for the same company offering absurdly low rates on cards for customers. Needless to say, in the (very) small print they wrote in the clause advising that this rate would not apply to exisiting cardholders who might ...
MikeyUK 05.07.2001
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Advantages: accepted anywhere Disadvantages: none so far
...most months, as a result MBNA have raised my limit pretty often - again, this is nice.
Then, after having lots of offeres for low rates etc from other companies I phoned MBNA and asked if, as a good customer, they would offer me anything to stay with them. On the spot, over the phone, they agreed to extend the low rate for another six months.
I have had to contact MBNA a few times, once over a late payment charge (which, admittedly was my fault) ...
Frankelson 17.12.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Co-branded
