Hi
I'm looking for some independent advice before I proceed with a case to the Financial Ombudsman.
For several years I had an account with MBNA where I was receiving online statements. All good and up to date. They changed to Avantcard and withdrew their online services without the required 30 days notice. This was not in MBNA's terms and conditions but was added to Avantcard's T&C's on the day that it happened - so the required notice was not given. I have done an archive and have screenprints of the day before and the day after to verify this. I did not receive any statements for a 6 month period despite several requests for either online or paper statements. As the card was expired but the account was still open, they said that there was nothing they could do. I asked them to transfer it to a personal loan and they refused. I stated that I wasn't happy to make payments without any paper trail or audit. All they did was say - you need to make a payment, you need to make a payment again and again. Eventually 6 months later I got reprints of statements. When I got the statements I made payments and asked if anything had been negatively reported on my ICB report. They said no. I made the payments for the following months and closed the account.
Myself and my wife are going for a mortgage in the new year and and I got an ICB report in advance and they have posted arrears on it - despite what I was advised. If I had known the ICB was affected I would never have closed the account and I would have waited for the records to age off. However, because of their advice, I closed the account. Despite many many attempts to resolve this issue directly they have point blankly refused stating they cannot do anything because the account is closed.
At no stage in any of their terms and conditions does it say that you need to make payments even if you do not receive a statement (It says I must make payment by the due by date printed on my statement, which were not provided). It does in subsequent T&C's but not the ones that relate to my account with them (actually, the ones where it does now is after my despute with them - not that I influenced that but just commenting!!) All it says is the following - however, I believe that I do have a legal right as they failed on their part to provide me with statements when they transferred from MBNA to Avantcard and Avantcard changed their T&Cs (which were issued to me in January 2013), however on the 15th March 2013 they also introduced other new T&C with no notice via their website terms of use which would allow them to widthdraw online access.
As a side note, my postal address was up to date at the time of this dispute.
I really need to get this cleared up and I suppose I'm looking for some confirmation that I'm within my rights and am correct to escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman.
I'm looking for some independent advice before I proceed with a case to the Financial Ombudsman.
For several years I had an account with MBNA where I was receiving online statements. All good and up to date. They changed to Avantcard and withdrew their online services without the required 30 days notice. This was not in MBNA's terms and conditions but was added to Avantcard's T&C's on the day that it happened - so the required notice was not given. I have done an archive and have screenprints of the day before and the day after to verify this. I did not receive any statements for a 6 month period despite several requests for either online or paper statements. As the card was expired but the account was still open, they said that there was nothing they could do. I asked them to transfer it to a personal loan and they refused. I stated that I wasn't happy to make payments without any paper trail or audit. All they did was say - you need to make a payment, you need to make a payment again and again. Eventually 6 months later I got reprints of statements. When I got the statements I made payments and asked if anything had been negatively reported on my ICB report. They said no. I made the payments for the following months and closed the account.
Myself and my wife are going for a mortgage in the new year and and I got an ICB report in advance and they have posted arrears on it - despite what I was advised. If I had known the ICB was affected I would never have closed the account and I would have waited for the records to age off. However, because of their advice, I closed the account. Despite many many attempts to resolve this issue directly they have point blankly refused stating they cannot do anything because the account is closed.
At no stage in any of their terms and conditions does it say that you need to make payments even if you do not receive a statement (It says I must make payment by the due by date printed on my statement, which were not provided). It does in subsequent T&C's but not the ones that relate to my account with them (actually, the ones where it does now is after my despute with them - not that I influenced that but just commenting!!) All it says is the following - however, I believe that I do have a legal right as they failed on their part to provide me with statements when they transferred from MBNA to Avantcard and Avantcard changed their T&Cs (which were issued to me in January 2013), however on the 15th March 2013 they also introduced other new T&C with no notice via their website terms of use which would allow them to widthdraw online access.
As a side note, my postal address was up to date at the time of this dispute.
I really need to get this cleared up and I suppose I'm looking for some confirmation that I'm within my rights and am correct to escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman.