P
pixiebean22
Guest
Last May I was made redundant, I didn't receive any redundancy payment as I wasn't entitled to it so after about a month I decided to use my savings to clear my credit card just to get rid of it as I couldn't find a job and didn't want it hanging over me, an MBNA one with a balance of €3,000.
The card was cleared but about a week after clearing my card I got a letter saying my account had been suspended due to non-payment, rang MBNA spoke to about 10 different people each time having to relay the story from the beginning, for two months before I cleared the card I hadn't made any payments as I was saving the money up to make one large payment and in the year before I had missed two payments due to being absent from work through illness and not being able to afford payments.
They said basically tough **** and the account would be suspended for a period of 3 months until they saw regular payments being made to the account, explained to the many people I spoke to that since the account was clear why would I still be making payments, clearly if I had extra money to put on a credit card, I wouldn't need the credit card in the first place. He said that after the three month period my account would be reviewed and reinstated. 3 months passed (up to August 2009) and still no sign of the suspension being lifted.
Contacted MBNA again, get a letter saying it will be suspended for a further six months until the balance was cleared. Contacted them to explain balance had been cleared (had statements and through my online account was able to verify that the money had actually gone through to my account) and they said it would still be suspended for a further six months. I told them at the time that unless they could assure me the account would be reinstated that I would prefer them to just cancel the card they told me it would be reinstated after six months.
It is now six months later and as I am about to contact MBNA again to find out what's going on I am looking for some advice on what to do.
The only reason I want to keep the credit card and such a high limit is to cover medical expenses, I pay back a little on my card every month, maybe €100/€150 and when my medical expenses tax claim comes through at the end of each year I use this money to clear the credit card in full, I have always done this and have never missed payments apart from the 2 months when I was made redundant and the two months of the previous year when I was unable to make payments. I don't use the card for every day expenses or for shopping etc, very rarely I use it to do my lotto online.
My question is am I entitled to force them to cancel the credit card. I have been informed before that if a vendor cancels a credit card and this is recorded on your credit report that this is looked upon very badly by banks doing credit checks on you so basically I don't want MBNA to get the chance to cancel my card. Anytime I have asked them to cancel the card, three times now in total, they have told me they will reinstate card etc etc and there is no need to cancel it.
Are they obligated to reinstate my account after this six month period? My account has now been suspended for nearly a year, I don't understand how they are getting any use out of me as a customer because I haven't made any payments on it since I cleared the account and the account is actually in credit by about 40 quid to cover the next government levy.
Any advice on this would be very helpful.
The card was cleared but about a week after clearing my card I got a letter saying my account had been suspended due to non-payment, rang MBNA spoke to about 10 different people each time having to relay the story from the beginning, for two months before I cleared the card I hadn't made any payments as I was saving the money up to make one large payment and in the year before I had missed two payments due to being absent from work through illness and not being able to afford payments.
They said basically tough **** and the account would be suspended for a period of 3 months until they saw regular payments being made to the account, explained to the many people I spoke to that since the account was clear why would I still be making payments, clearly if I had extra money to put on a credit card, I wouldn't need the credit card in the first place. He said that after the three month period my account would be reviewed and reinstated. 3 months passed (up to August 2009) and still no sign of the suspension being lifted.
Contacted MBNA again, get a letter saying it will be suspended for a further six months until the balance was cleared. Contacted them to explain balance had been cleared (had statements and through my online account was able to verify that the money had actually gone through to my account) and they said it would still be suspended for a further six months. I told them at the time that unless they could assure me the account would be reinstated that I would prefer them to just cancel the card they told me it would be reinstated after six months.
It is now six months later and as I am about to contact MBNA again to find out what's going on I am looking for some advice on what to do.
The only reason I want to keep the credit card and such a high limit is to cover medical expenses, I pay back a little on my card every month, maybe €100/€150 and when my medical expenses tax claim comes through at the end of each year I use this money to clear the credit card in full, I have always done this and have never missed payments apart from the 2 months when I was made redundant and the two months of the previous year when I was unable to make payments. I don't use the card for every day expenses or for shopping etc, very rarely I use it to do my lotto online.
My question is am I entitled to force them to cancel the credit card. I have been informed before that if a vendor cancels a credit card and this is recorded on your credit report that this is looked upon very badly by banks doing credit checks on you so basically I don't want MBNA to get the chance to cancel my card. Anytime I have asked them to cancel the card, three times now in total, they have told me they will reinstate card etc etc and there is no need to cancel it.
Are they obligated to reinstate my account after this six month period? My account has now been suspended for nearly a year, I don't understand how they are getting any use out of me as a customer because I haven't made any payments on it since I cleared the account and the account is actually in credit by about 40 quid to cover the next government levy.
Any advice on this would be very helpful.