N/A MBNA creadit cards

[mattaxelrod]

I read in the business section this morning that MBNA might be selling off its entire credit card operation to Wachovia. I'm wondering if this might be the end of the AOPA 5% discount. Also, we have another MBNA branded card where we get travel rewards--do you think our accumulated points are in danger?

 

[SJP]

I read in the business section this morning that MBNA might be selling off its entire credit card operation to Wachovia. I'm wondering if this might be the end of the AOPA 5% discount. Also, we have another MBNA branded card where we get travel rewards--do you think our accumulated points are in danger?

In our experience, any 'rewards' with MBNA have always been in danger. We spent 9 months trying to sort out our Ebay points from our MBNA Ebay card - never did get them tied up. We cancelled the card, haven't done business with them since.

 

[corjulo]

Same miserable experience with MBNA, one of the worst of a whores business. Glad to see some bipartisan movement in congress to crack down on credit card companies.

 

[woodstock]

Same miserable experience with MBNA, one of the worst of a whores business. Glad to see some bipartisan movement in congress to crack down on credit card companies.

finally! such as? at least if they are going to tighten bankruptcies they need to go to the root of some of it - too easy credit.

 

[MSmith]

On the other side of the coin - I've never had trouble with MBNA.

My wife and I have had trouble with Chase several times (and had to change cards several other times to avoid them - they keep gobbling up the companies that we flee to).

 

[Dave Siciliano]

I dropped my MBNA card last year. On several occassions, they charged interest and a late fee when I had mailed the funds on time. The Uniform Commercial Code dictates how this is to be handled; they didn't care. Once I was late, they wouldn't provide the payoff balance to avoid additional interest; said I'd have to wait for my next statement.

Several times when traveling, I couldn't get that bill paid, and they blased me.

I have other alternatives with better grace periods, lower intrest rates, better interest calculations--just wasn't worth it to me. They were just waiting to pounce if I missed by a day. I have 15 days grace periods on other.

Found that if one called ahead and purchased enough gas, they could get the same discount.

Dave

 

[tom clark]

i use mbna for the aopa rebate. they're slick. my payment used to always be due around the 12th or 13th, so i just paid it out of my end of month paycheck. a few months ago they started working the due date into earlier in the month. it has come in a day or two each month and is now due on the 4th and i bet it's to try and nail me on a late/finance charge! if i couldn't pay them on line, theres no way i could get the check there on time. not without mailing it before my moneys in the account anyway and i hate to do that. in the old days, mailing in my charges for the rebate was very hit and miss. but i have to say, doing it online now sure is easy! i love banking online. i highly recommend it. tc

 

[Jeff Oslick]

i use mbna for the aopa rebate. they're slick. my payment used to always be due around the 12th or 13th, so i just paid it out of my end of month paycheck. a few months ago they started working the due date into earlier in the month. it has come in a day or two each month and is now due on the 4th and i bet it's to try and nail me on a late/finance charge! if i couldn't pay them on line, theres no way i could get the check there on time. not without mailing it before my moneys in the account anyway and i hate to do that. in the old days, mailing in my charges for the rebate was very hit and miss. but i have to say, doing it online now sure is easy! i love banking online. i highly recommend it. tc

I recently had an issue with MBNA regarding their quickly-migrating due-dates. They agreed to waive a late fee, and got info that they are developing a new system where online payments will be credited the date they are submitted (it currently takes 2 days). Something to keep in mind when negotiating with a credit card company rep is that it is helpful, regardless of how much they have pi$$ed you off, to try to be nice to the CSR, since they're the one who will decide if they're going to help you or not. (Same goes for any bureaucrat.) It is also helpful (not just for your credit rating) to try to stay with a credit card company for a long time, as they do usually realize that giving in a little to a long term customer is cheaper than losing that customer.

Jeff

 

[Henning]

I recently had an issue with MBNA regarding their quickly-migrating due-dates. They agreed to waive a late fee, and got info that they are developing a new system where online payments will be credited the date they are submitted (it currently takes 2 days). Something to keep in mind when negotiating with a credit card company rep is that it is helpful, regardless of how much they have pi$$ed you off, to try to be nice to the CSR, since they're the one who will decide if they're going to help you or not. (Same goes for any bureaucrat.) It is also helpful (not just for your credit rating) to try to stay with a credit card company for a long time, as they do usually realize that giving in a little to a long term customer is cheaper than losing that customer.

Jeff

I agree with you completely on being nice even when you want to strangle them, but dangit, I still got CSRs that are like David Spade in those commercials, "No.....Nope....Naa Can't do That...) . I've gotten to the point where I won't deal with any of them although I get about 13 offers a week between me and my d.b.a.s. I live modestly, I don't finance less than $20k, and I use alternative finance sources when I need real money. MBNA pi$$ed me off so bad a few years ago, they left my (now ex)wifes card open after I closed the account. That in and of itself isn't the bad part, the bad part was they didn't let me know. Had I known then what I know now, I would have just reported the cards lost and not ordered new ones and shut down the account then. I'd consider paying the actual charges made, but they tripled that with penalties and interest.

 

[SkyHog]

It is also helpful (not just for your credit rating) to try to stay with a credit card company for a long time, as they do usually realize that giving in a little to a long term customer is cheaper than losing that customer.

Jeff

EDIT: I just noticed that I quoted the wrong part of Jeff's quote - oops

Something to keep in mind when negotiating with a credit card company rep is that it is helpful, regardless of how much they have pi$$ed you off, to try to be nice to the CSR, since they're the one who will decide if they're going to help you or not.

edit: Much better

This is a very, very important thing for people to follow. As a CSR (well...CAE, but same thing), I get to make the decision on whether or not one gets what they want. Even if the person calling is right, if they start talking down to me, or make me feel like an ass, and I'm in a bad mood - they can wind up keeping themselves from getting what they want. Asking for the supervisor usually doesn't work (in most of my call center jobs), because we talk to the supervisor first, and if I tell the sup "This person is a jerk, don't help them with anything more than you have to," the sup will only do what is absolutely necessary, and nothing more (which means that instead of a cash credit, in many instances, the customer will recieve credit toward future statements).

Oh - one more thing - no CSR cares if you're going to go to the competition. Saying "You're going to do this, or I'm going to your competition," means nothing to a CSR or a supervisor, because every CSR that likes his job believes that his company is the best, and you'll be back....it's true! Until the CSR gets disenchanted (as I have) with their job, that is the mentaility that they keep.

 

[wsuffa]

This is a very, very important thing for people to follow. As a CSR (well...CAE, but same thing), I get to make the decision on whether or not one gets what they want. Even if the person calling is right, if they start talking down to me, or make me feel like an ass, and I'm in a bad mood - they can wind up keeping themselves from getting what they want. Asking for the supervisor usually doesn't work (in most of my call center jobs), because we talk to the supervisor first, and if I tell the sup "This person is a jerk, don't help them with anything more than you have to," the sup will only do what is absolutely necessary, and nothing more (which means that instead of a cash credit, in many instances, the customer will recieve credit toward future statements).

Oh - one more thing - no CSR cares if you're going to go to the competition. Saying "You're going to do this, or I'm going to your competition," means nothing to a CSR or a supervisor, because every CSR that likes his job believes that his company is the best, and you'll be back....it's true! Until the CSR gets disenchanted (as I have) with their job, that is the mentaility that they keep.

And that kind of revenge, Nick, with the customer is what's wrong with business today. There is "legally right" and there is "morally right". One of those screws the customer.

I find that most compnies that encourage that kind of behavior toward the customer tend to treat the employees badly, too.

 

[SkyHog]

And that kind of revenge, Nick, with the customer is what's wrong with business today. There is "legally right" and there is "morally right". One of those screws the customer.

I find that most compnies that encourage that kind of behavior toward the customer tend to treat the employees badly, too.

I don't disagree that it screws the customer, but if you, as a customer, really want me to go out of my way to do more than what is just required, then you're not gonna get me to do it by calling me names, and saying that I'm worthless (as many, many customers do).

I've never worked for a company that encourages that kind of behavior - instead its human nature. I'll go way beyond what I absolutely have to do if a customer is treating me with respect. As soon as a customer tells me, or insinuates to me that he is better than me, then I have no desire to help that customer with anything more than what is required of me.

For example - you've been out of service for a few hours. The official policy states that one must be out for 24 hours or more to recieve a days worth of credit. We can flex on on that, if we personally feel its warranted. If you call, and the first words out of your mouth are "I don't know what is wrong with you people, you can't do anything right, and you WILL be issuing me a credit for 1 month of service," you can be sure that I will not be bending the rules in your favor. If you start off with "Hey, my service isn't working - is there anything you can do for me?" I'll be more inclined to go the extra mile.

 

[sere]

In our experience, any 'rewards' with MBNA have always been in danger. We spent 9 months trying to sort out our Ebay points from our MBNA Ebay card - never did get them tied up. We cancelled the card, haven't done business with them since.

I concur with all of you that think MBNA and CHASE are the blood suckers of the world. I dropped them both a couple of years ago. Now a bank I have been with for 20 years (Bank One) is now owned by Chase. So now I am changing to a credit union. To all of you who still have them. RUN!

 

[wsuffa]

I don't disagree that it screws the customer, but if you, as a customer, really want me to go out of my way to do more than what is just required, then you're not gonna get me to do it by calling me names, and saying that I'm worthless (as many, many customers do).

I've never worked for a company that encourages that kind of behavior - instead its human nature. I'll go way beyond what I absolutely have to do if a customer is treating me with respect.

Nick, I understand where you're coming from, but it does come with the job. And I am NOT, I repeat NOT, standing up or justifying the cretins that would be abusive to a CSR. You may be an exception... I've run across plenty of CSR-types that won't lift a pinkie for a customer.

IMHO, and it's only my opinion, that kind of tit-for-tat lowers you to their level. And it leads to further abuse as the word gets around that the company (and you represent the company) is not "customer oriented". I learned a long time ago, in a far away place, that disenchanted customers will tell about 20 people about bad experiences for every 1 person they tell about a good experience.

And face it, many companies have adopted rigid "anti" customer service policies. That does little to engender niceness to the CSR when the customer gets nothing in return.

I'm a believer that people will be less agressive and more patient if they generally have good service from a company. That, unfortunately, is getting harder and harder to find.

We may have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[PoAdeleted5]

MBNA is on my never do business with again, ever list.

Bunch of crooks in my opinion.

 

[SkyHog]

Nick, I understand where you're coming from, but it does come with the job. And I am NOT, I repeat NOT, standing up or justifying the cretins that would be abusive to a CSR. You may be an exception... I've run across plenty of CSR-types that won't lift a pinkie for a customer.

IMHO, and it's only my opinion, that kind of tit-for-tat lowers you to their level. And it leads to further abuse as the word gets around that the company (and you represent the company) is not "customer oriented". I learned a long time ago, in a far away place, that disenchanted customers will tell about 20 people about bad experiences for every 1 person they tell about a good experience.

And face it, many companies have adopted rigid "anti" customer service policies. That does little to engender niceness to the CSR when the customer gets nothing in return.

I'm a believer that people will be less agressive and more patient if they generally have good service from a company. That, unfortunately, is getting harder and harder to find.

We may have to agree to disagree on this one.

I don't know if its an agree to disagree issue, because I agree with you on most of the points. All I'm saying is that if you're nice to people, you get niceness back (usually). The old saying about bees and honey applies here.

I agree tho, there is a HUGE number of CSRs that just do what they absolutely must all the time. They are in the wrong field, at least IMHO, and make the job harder for those of us that actually do our jobs correctly.

Sigh

 

[RogerT]

As a CSR (well...CAE, but same thing), I get to make the decision on whether or not one gets what they want. Even if the person calling is right, if they start talking down to me, or make me feel like an ass, and I'm in a bad mood - they can wind up keeping themselves from getting what they want.

Would you like to tell us who you work for so we can avoid them?

 

[woodstock]

MBNA is on my never do business with again, ever list.

Bunch of crooks in my opinion.

agreed. I have one credit card - my credit union. that's it.

 

[woodstock]

I don't know if its an agree to disagree issue, because I agree with you on most of the points. All I'm saying is that if you're nice to people, you get niceness back (usually). The old saying about bees and honey applies here.

I agree tho, there is a HUGE number of CSRs that just do what they absolutely must all the time. They are in the wrong field, at least IMHO, and make the job harder for those of us that actually do our jobs correctly.

Sigh

the CEOs/CFOs etc make the (bad, unfair, unethical) rules and rake in the money. you guys are the front line on the war against the customers. someone has to take the hit - and a frustrated customer can't take it out on the big guy who is hiding behind his CSAs. you aren't paid enough for what you do - and the ones making the rules are paid far too much.

 

[Greebo]

This is a very, very important thing for people to follow. As a CSR (well...CAE, but same thing), I get to make the decision on whether or not one gets what they want.

Right, so what kind of PoA features would you like access to in order for me to get that really low interest no downpayment $100,000 aircraft loan?