MBNA CC- Interest rate reduction

M

Murt10

Guest
A friend of mine is carrying a bit of debt on her MBNA credit card. She was talking to a friend of hers who also has an MBNA card and who had had her interest rate reduced. The friend advised my friend to get on to the Customer Loyalty Section in MBNA and tell them that she had received an application form for a Barclaycard which was offering her 0% interest for 6 months on transfers from her other cards.

My friend got on to MBNA Customer Loyalty Section and sure enough the girl there immediately said she would reduce the interest rate they were charging her, on a permanent basis, so long as she stayed with them - from 14.9% to 10.9%.

Now I'm not saying that 10.9% is cheap but it's a hell of a lot better than 14.9% and all just for making one phone call.

Anyone else out there with some MBNA debt could do worse than ring the Customer Loyalty Section and look for a reduction in their interest rate, the worst MBNA can do is say no.

Incidently, I advised my friend to go for the interest free card for 6 months and then change cards again to another bank offering 6 months interest free. She will then become what I believe is known in the trade as a "Rate Tart".

If the new Minister for Finance in his December budget were to change the rules and make people pay the Government tax just once a year he would really encourage competition in the CC market.

Perhaps Brendan will remember this when he is making the AAM pre budget submission.


Murt
 
(Replying to your own post. sad!)

I spoke to another friend of mine about a month ago. He was carrying a few of thousand debt on his MBNA CC and paying 18+% interest on the amount owed. I told him about ringing up and looking for an interest rate reduction. He agreed to try this.

I met him during the week and he's delighted. When he rang them up, the first girl he spoke to in MBNA wasn't quite sure whether she could reduce the interest rate and promised to ring him back. She didn't, and a week later he rang back. The next girl offered to reduce the rate to 10.9% for 6 months. He wasn't happy with this and insisted that he wanted the reduction in interest rate to be permanent. She agreed. They have now written out to him confirming the new arrangement.

Personally, if I were in his position, I'd become a rate tart, and hawk my business around to whoever wouldn't charge me at all for balance transfers, but without any bother, and for the price of a phone call, he is now paying a lot less than he was.

I hope that anyone who is reading this and paying interest to MBNA will ring them up and look for a reduction. The phone no for customer services is 1800 409 511



Murt
 
Your friends would be better off not relying on credit cards for credit longer than the credit free period if at all possible. By keeping unpaid balances they are most likely paying through the nose even on reduced rates. Credit cards are good cashflow management tools - for those who have some discipline - they are bad credit management tools.
 
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