The fact that I have been out of the United Kingdom for approaching nine months acts as no deterrent for MBNA in offering me a credit card on a regular basis, with their silver card application dropping through my home address' letterbox up to fortnightly. Of course the promotional letter makes ... Read review
Advantages: *up to* 59 days interest-free credit Disadvantages: 59 days is not generally the case
...acts as no deterrent for MBNA in offering me a credit card on a regular basis, with their silver card application dropping through my home address' letterbox up to fortnightly. Of course the promotional letter makes it sound such a good idea, and the interest free credit period - of "up to 59 days" - which they back up with the claim that "No other credit card offers a longer interest free period on retail purchases, when you pay your ... ...credit.
MBNA make no implicit explanation that of course depending on when you spend during the month you will have less time of interest-free credit, but it is something you should be wary of. The 59 days maximum is based on 31 days for the statement interval and 28 days to pay it off.
This lead me to ponder as to whether all credit card companies tell you this? Well not exactly. Take the small-print from the Goldfish ... more
The fact that I have been out of the United Kingdom for approaching nine months acts as no deterrent for MBNA in offering me a credit card on a regular basis, with their silver card application dropping through my home address' letterbox up to fortnightly. Of course the promotional letter makes it sound such a good idea, and the interest free credit period - of "up to 59 days" - which they back up with the claim that "No other credit card offers a longer interest free period on retail purchases, when you pay your balance in full and on time each month." (according to their website - www.mbna.co.uk/europe). I usually disregard all this stuff but it was the presence of the words "up to" that set my mind racing... I thought about it and realised that my blind assumption of 56 days interest free credit with my existing card might be wide of the mark.
If you have a credit card, the chances are you’ll think you have 56 days of interest free credit on it. The truth is not quite so true. The truth is that you can have *up to* 56 days of credit, and the important thing are the little words up to. The thing is you will only ever get 56 days interest free credit in a very specific scenario, namely:
You make your purchases, on the day your credit card statement comes through, and therefore you have 31 days until your next credit card statement. You then have 25 days to pay your Credit Card statement in full to avoid incurring cycle charges or interest charges. There is no "rolling" 56 day period, which would genuinely give you 56 days interest free credit.
MBNA make no implicit explanation that of course depending on when you spend during the month you will have less time of interest-free credit, but it is something you should be wary of. The 59 days maximum is based on 31 days for the statement interval and 28 days to pay it off.
This lead me to ponder as to whether all credit card companies tell you this? Well not exactly. Take the small-print from the Goldfish Credit Card site (www.goldfishcard.com) which reads as follows: "No interest on Transactions if the balance is paid in full by the due date, otherwise interest payable from the date of Transaction. Interest payable on Balance Transfers and other Cash Advances from the date of advance." Technically therefore they are not lying on their website, when they say that tou have "up to 52 days interest free credit". In other words you have a maximum of 52 days interest free in the best case scenario but no guaranteed 52 day interest free period.
I tried other major card producers too and they had similar wording (I have decided to omit their small print for reasons of brevity!). It was only the Nationwide on their page (http://www.nationwide.co.uk/Banking/Credit/features.htm), who said in plain English how the "up to 56 days interest-free credit" statement really works.
Up to 56 days interest free credit
How does it work?
- If you buy something on the day your statement is due. - You have up to 31 days until your statement. - Then another 25 days before the payment date. - Settle the bill in dull by the date shown on the statement and you won’t pay interest.
It would be unrealistic to shop effectively on the exact day your statement is due, and therefore get your 56 days. A better way to think of it, is that you have a minimum of 25 days to pay (28 in the case of MBNA). If you settle your bill in full then this issue won’t affect you in any case, but the truth is that the words "up to" play a lot bigger meaning in accounting terms than many people realise.
I realise that you cannot judge your credit card spending to the day to get the maximum interest free time on the card, but I would hasten a guess that other people also miss the "up to" in the interest-free period. Slight vigilance can alter this, although if the truth be known, the whole period of interest free credit is only another way of telling you about the invoicing period.
To come to the card, the APR is roughly the same as others, with the exception that it allows you to up its limit more freely than most (a dangerous thing!). If you want a no-frills credit card, you can do a lot worse, but there is nothing to write home about this one.
Advantages: Good credit limit & currency conversation. Life cover. Disadvantages: £ 20 Late payment fee.
...I have spoken to at MBNA has been extremely helpful and professional.
One word of warning. If you have a late payment you will be charged £20. You will soon learn your lesson and it tend to improve your memory when payment day comes around.
Also their Website is very good and you can sign up so that you manage your account online. Ideal if you are away on business for 6 weeks. Just plug in anywhere in the world and pay youre balance.
Oh and the ...
Dave.Amps 02.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MBNA Silver Card
Advantages: special rates to existing customers, good, friendly customer service Disadvantages: APR a little higer than some of the competition
Holding an MBNA Credit Card in the States I am told is tantarmount to getting lots of credit, in this country, they are, along with many others, a credit provider that have opened up the UK market to lots of competitive rates. They offer both Visa and Mastercard in Silver and also Platinum versions (min income above £25K). They were the first company I encountered on my breakthrough into the credit card market.
When I opened my account a few years ... ...month and due date.
MBNA now also provide internet access with limited functionality, it provides similar information to the telephone line, including available credit, amount of last payment, a record of transactions since your last statement, although until recently did not allow any interactive transactions. I notice they are now allowing balance transfers on-line. Internet access is easy to set up and requires no lengthy telephone calls.
Although ...
sue.51 20.03.2001 (11.08.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MBNA Silver Card
Advantages: good if you pay off your balance every month Disadvantages: but does everybody do that?
MBNA was the first credit card that I got when I started working as a teacher. I thought I was a big cheese, and I was immediately given a credit limit of £1500 (this was in 1994). Over the years the card has had its uses, but there are a number of alarming issues that I feel should be pointed out to members of the general public before they sign up and splash the plastic:
1- Interest Rate - MBNA does not have the most expensive, but then again ... ...- The minimum payment on MBNA cards is only 2% of the outstanding balance. You may feel that that is irrelevant to you, but if you are one of the millions of folk who do not pay their balances off in full, there can be a few problems down the line. MBNA are happy to up your credit limit from time to time. Before I got rid of it, my limit was up to £5500 ! If you have payment protection on your card, which initially seems like a good idea, and you ...
Nolly 02.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MBNA Silver Card
Advantages: excellent balance transfer apr Disadvantages: they now charge a handling fee for cheques
...careful with your spending, the MBNA cards offer some distinct advantages, the main one being the low apr for balance transfers, currently only 1.9%.
This is useful for those who already have balances on other cards at less favourable rates, the transfers from these cards are easily done with a quick phone call once the account is activated.
A word of warning here - if you are going to use the card for this purpose, make sure you use it for this ...
suggo 11.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Silver Card
Advantages: High credit limit Disadvantages: Very high charges for late payment and extremely poor customer service
MBNA is another American issuer that is eating up an ever-increasing slice of the UK credit card market. If you’re looking for a credit card with an average interest rate, no annual fee and most importantly a good credit limit that will give you the spending power you need then you have to consider MBNA. They continually offer good introductory rates on their cards, but that should be your sole reason for choosing a credit card. They offer ... ...cheques.
The one thing that MBNA are very good for is giving their customers a good usable credit limit. Unlike most issuers who often offer a low starting credit limit and increase your limit over the years, MBNA give you a limit you can use. In this day and age a credit limit less than £1000 is useless. If you can’t buy a new top of the range computer with your credit card then you should seriously consider changing to MBNA.
MBNA’s ...
ICerva 14.12.2000 (13.05.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of MBNA Silver Card
Competitiveness of APR
Product package
Quality of Customer Ser...
Reward Scheme
Additional Charges
Security and Privacy
Ease of Application
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Advantages: Good intro rate, good customer service, Credit card chequebook Disadvantages: Poor "normal" rate, no incentives (e.g. cashback), no Internet presence
MBNA International Bank are best known for their wide range of
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Advantages: easy to get hold of Disadvantages: no incentives
of them wanted). But now five years on i'm a platinum card holder (no different than normal), with no more circulars, i think the cost of the circulars to exsisting customers must have been huge, as my friends who also took out
So would i recommend them, probably not as the credit card market is so competitive now, i still have mine but use others which give cash back. I do wonder how much longer MBNA will be around, i feel it will have to change its policy, maybe reward users with cash back or something similar.
To answer a few comments posted, I'm not sure of the criteria required for the Platinum card. But i have had an MBNASilver,Gold or Platinum card for about 5 years.In those years, i have seen my limit rise from about £1000 upto £5400. I am not a high salary earner, but have always had a small balance running until recently ...
Advantages: Good customer service, frequent incentives to transfer balances at very low rates, one of the longest interest free periods on the market, Up to 59 days interest free Disadvantages: Payments are used to clear balance transfers first whilst any other spending accumulates at 15.9% APR
MBNA was the first credit card I held, and has remained steadfastly tucked in my wallet ever since. On their main silver accounts they had rubbish interest rates and no loyalty packages, but did offer interim incentive periods at very low interest rates for balance transfers.
I was going to close both my accounts with them, when RBS refused me a special rate on a balance transfer, so I elected to contact MBNA who offered me 1.9% fixed for 6 months and 15.9% thereafter. I discussed with them the possibility of upgrading to a Platinum card as I fulfilled the criteria, yet they said no. I challenged this decision, and within two weeks, received my new card, cheque book and pin number, together with an increased credit limit, a special rate of 1.9% on cash advances and balance transfers, with 15.9% thereafter.
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sue.51 17.11.2001 (28.06.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of MBNA Platinum Card
