Hi

I'm hoping somebody can help me as I fear I've been given a negative credit rating by the Virgin / MBNA credit card and I don't think I deserve it.

What happened is this: in January, having just moved house, I paid off the balance of about £3,000 on my credit card. At this time, I was under the impression that I had 'wiped my slate clean' so to speak, as intended – nobody at MBNA gave me any indication otherwise.

But, the next month I was charged with ''estimated interest' of just over £9. For some reason, this wasn't deducted from my bank account as previous payments had been.

The next thing I knew I received a letter from Virgin / MBNA saying I'd missed two payments and that my name could be marked down as a bad debtor for the next 6 years. I promptly paid off the £9 but of course am still recorded as having two missed payments.

These payments would never have been missed if a) I'd been told about the estimated interest when clearing my balance or b) the money had been taken from my bank account as usual.

After speaking to their help desk, I wrote, as advised, to MBNA politely suggesting that there had been a lack of communication on their part and requesting that they wiped my non-payment record. It seems insane that you can pay off a few thousand pounds on your card and then get recorded for not paying a £9 debt you didn't even know existed!

They responded with a letter that made it seem they'd barely read my complaint, saying I wouldn't be getting a refund. I hadn't even asked for a refund.

I'd be very grateful for some advice on how I can go about 'clearing my name' so to speak, as I'm thinking about applying for a mortgage in the next year or so and don't want any black marks against me, particularly for the sake of £10 and Virgin / MBNA's failure to communicate.

Many thanks.

Hey Abisti

Theres a few things im not sure of here. You mention automatic payments, so what happened to your Direct Debit then? When did this stop taking payments from your bank account?

Also RE the change of address. What happened to the two statements advising you of firstly the £9 residual interest charge and secondly the 1st missed payment? Were these sent to the wrong address?

Eco

Hi Eco

I don't know what happened to my direct debit - it stopped taking payments from my account after I paid off the balance as mentioned but I've no idea why.

I've been through my statements and can't find any advising me of either the interest charge or the missed payment, though obviously that's not proof I didn't receive them. All my mail from my previous address is being redirected to my present address.

Hey, sorry for the late reply.

MBNA/Virgin will point to the fact they have sent you statements about your current balance and payments due, so they are wont find themselves at fault for payment not being received. The only way to win that argument is if you told them of a change of address and it wasnt actioned. But even then your mail has been redirected.

However, you must find out what happened to the Direct Debit and why this didnt collect your minimum payment. You have said that it was taking payments from your bank account before now. If you can show that they have made an error with the DD then you have grounds to ask them to correct the adverse credit information given to the CRA's. Speak to them and clarify what happened.

Good luck.

Hi, I read your post and feel for you - however, the same company gave my details to a debtor for guess what amount???? TWO PENCE!!!! which, apparently, I had not paid in time, over a 2 months period.. I received threats and some mail that was so dodgy that I had to report it - they outsource these services so I honestly thought the letters were a scam and I never took notice of them; they had no name and the company was registered in Asia.... well, until I got too many letters and I had to ring them up; I had a huge row over these 2 pence and ended up hanging up on them - absolutely useless customer service; I wrote to the company and I pasted all the junk mail they had sent me over the past 12 months - inviting me to spend on the card, earn points on the card etc.... and evidence of no evidence of the 2p outstanding payment if you know what I mean; in the end the marketing manager quit arguing with me and I settled the 2p payment by credit card hehehehe with no consequences....but I did check my credit score with Experian and this never showed up in my credit summary; maybe you should check your score with one of these companies too, just to see if they went that far... in my case they did not although the threats clearly indicated that they would go that far. Oh and I also closed my account with them. That I recommend too... best of luck

gosh i cant believe how similar a situation to me u are in.

I transferred a credit card balance over to Virgin/MBNA in April and, when i did the application over the phone, i very specifically said several times during the conversation "so do i need to do anything at all with this, like speak to my current credit card provider or anything" and the girl kept saying each time "no, not a thing, we take the balance from one card to another and look after everything - you dont have to worry about a thing" - as i said, i said this several times during the conversation and she responded the same thing each time. I have to admit that, at the time, i thought "this is brilliant, so easy". how wrong i was..........

My card arrived a few days later and, to this day three months on, i still havent activated it as i never intended to use the card- i only took advantage of the 0% baance transfer so that i could pay off the card over the next few months.

A few days ago i got a standard marketing letter from them about "why dont you set up a direct debit with us, its so easy to do blah blah blah". this immediately concerned me as i thought i did have a direct debit set up as the girl said during my application several times about how i didnt have to worry about anything and that they will look after everything for me (unfortunately, i assumed, that her saying that meant i literally had to do nothing, like set up another direct debit)

I called the helpdesk and it turned out that no payment had been made for THREE months because i had assumed the direct debit had carried on. i immediately paid the 3 months payments there and then and suddenly realised i be faced with a default on my credit rating. This is of major concern to me as i am just about to exhange contracts on a house and i am worried that if the mortgage people find out, they will withdraw. I spoke to some jobsworth at MBNA who insisted that i shouldnt have made assumptions that a direct debit had been set up. I told him that i have had NO letters fromt them at all to tell me i have missed payments and that, if i had received even just one letter as soon i missed the first payment, then i would have been horrified and would have rectified the situation immediately but, since i missed THREE payments and didnt get any letters at all (apart from the standard statements, which stupidly i didnt read as i knew my exact balance and i had no intention of ever activating the card so i knew i didnt even need to check my statement for any potential fraudulent activity).

They are saying that they take no responsibility at all for my assumption that they "would take care of eveything and you (meaning i) wont have to anything at all" was wrong. i even burst into tears on the phone to them out of sheer frustration and stress at the thought of how this completely innocent mistake, of which i 100% believe they shoud take at least 50% of the blame for, could potentially ruin my mortgage of which i have been saving up and working towards for years now.

The financial ombudsman is onto the case now - his concern is that they didnt send me any letters at all during those three missed payments - but that does not help the fact that this could take months to sort out and i am meant to exchange contracts on my first house in 3 weeks time. i even explained to MBNA that, if they look at my credit history they could see that in ten years of having credit cards i have always paid by direct debit and never ever missed any payments.

i will never never use MBNA again

"

Mellie:

gosh i cant believe how similar a situation to me u are in.

I transferred a credit card balance over to Virgin/MBNA in April and, when i did the application over the phone, i very specifically said several times during the conversation "so do i need to do anything at all with this, like speak to my current credit card provider or anything" and the girl kept saying each time "no, not a thing, we take the balance from one card to another and look after everything - you dont have to worry about a thing" - as i said, i said this several times during the conversation and she responded the same thing each time. I have to admit that, at the time, i thought "this is brilliant, so easy". how wrong i was..........

My card arrived a few days later and, to this day three months on, i still havent activated it as i never intended to use the card- i only took advantage of the 0% baance transfer so that i could pay off the card over the next few months.

A few days ago i got a standard marketing letter from them about "why dont you set up a direct debit with us, its so easy to do blah blah blah". this immediately concerned me as i thought i did have a direct debit set up as the girl said during my application several times about how i didnt have to worry about anything and that they will look after everything for me (unfortunately, i assumed, that her saying that meant i literally had to do nothing, like set up another direct debit)

I called the helpdesk and it turned out that no payment had been made for THREE months because i had assumed the direct debit had carried on. i immediately paid the 3 months payments there and then and suddenly realised i be faced with a default on my credit rating. This is of major concern to me as i am just about to exhange contracts on a house and i am worried that if the mortgage people find out, they will withdraw. I spoke to some jobsworth at MBNA who insisted that i shouldnt have made assumptions that a direct debit had been set up. I told him that i have had NO letters fromt them at all to tell me i have missed payments and that, if i had received even just one letter as soon i missed the first payment, then i would have been horrified and would have rectified the situation immediately but, since i missed THREE payments and didnt get any letters at all (apart from the standard statements, which stupidly i didnt read as i knew my exact balance and i had no intention of ever activating the card so i knew i didnt even need to check my statement for any potential fraudulent activity).

They are saying that they take no responsibility at all for my assumption that they "would take care of eveything and you (meaning i) wont have to anything at all" was wrong. i even burst into tears on the phone to them out of sheer frustration and stress at the thought of how this completely innocent mistake, of which i 100% believe they shoud take at least 50% of the blame for, could potentially ruin my mortgage of which i have been saving up and working towards for years now.

The financial ombudsman is onto the case now - his concern is that they didnt send me any letters at all during those three missed payments - but that does not help the fact that this could take months to sort out and i am meant to exchange contracts on my first house in 3 weeks time. i even explained to MBNA that, if they look at my credit history they could see that in ten years of having credit cards i have always paid by direct debit and never ever missed any payments.

i will never never use MBNA again

"

Hey Mellie

You have my sympathy for what has happend but I dont see how you can blame MBNA for you making an incorrect assumption. Are you saying you never received any statements?

Eco

Hi Eco - Warrior

I am saying that MBNA need to take some responsibilty in this fiasco and that how can a misunderstanding between both parties end up with me being in such a serious state with my credit report when clearly my credit history shows that i have always paid any credit on time with absolutely no issues.

This is not a case of me not being able to pay the monthly payments, or me not wanting to, its a genuine, honest error and i cant understand why, in this kind of situation, MBNA cant be more customer friendly and delete the report from my credit file?

Hey Mellie

I know where your coming from but any bank in this situation would do the same.

You didnt read the statements which to me (and them) count as letters telling you of the missed payments

I hope you can sort something but its very unlikely.

Eco

Thanks Eco - my panic has settled down a bit now as i now have the support of the Financial Ombudsman, Experian and my IFA who all agreed that this was a misunderstanding of both parties and the first two are therefore requesting they investigate further. Their main reasoning for this is that they felt that they should have sent me a separate letter from the statements, particulalry as i was a new customer (apparently this payment issue happens with a lot of new customers and therefore they feel that MBNA, or any other credit card company for that matter, should be more wary about this)

Well that sounds good, i wont profess to know anything about the Ombudsman etc so hopefully that will work out.

Ive never known any credit card company not to write a separate letter about arrears and i also have a Virgin/MBNA card.

They actually text me when i was late asking me to call them immediately. If they have your mobile no then ask them why they didnt do this as it is something they do.

Brilliant plan! will definitely do that.

This is what professionals are saying to me - that they are very suprised that i didnt receive any separate letters about the 3 missed payments or any calls either.