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MBNA also just made a whole bunch of negative changes to their agreement -- ALL foreign charges are now 3% (even if in USD) instead of the 1% exchange fee, late fees increased, one late payment puts you instantly in the interest rate penalty box (apparently forever), grace period reduced, overall interest rates increased, and heaven knows what else -- that's just what I noticed at first reading.
OK, is there any credit card left with a reasonable 1% FEX charge?
More generally, since MBNA insists on actually mailing bills at least 7 days after the closing date, the grace period will often be less than 2 weeks if you get bills via U.S. mail. Someone ought to file a class action on this one!
The penalty charges have become so bad that I long for the days when you paid an annual fee and were sort of treated decently instead of making the conditions so tight that it virtually guarantees that you will go into default so they can charge ridiculous fees. Is there a MC/Visa like that anywhere?
Guess MBNA is now worse than AMEX in every way, so time to move foreign charges back to Amex for the time being.
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I haven't received the notice yet, but I will be reading attentively the fine print on how to REJECT those charges and use the current card until it expires -- after that, who needs it anymore?
People here are talking about Capital One as a 0% F/X card, but have to confirm it. Otherwise my MasterCard-logoed ATM card has a 1%, and I guess that's what I will be using next. Bye bye MBNA--I'm sorry I hyped you in these forums in the past.
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People here are talking about Capital One as a 0% F/X card, but have to confirm it. Otherwise my MasterCard-logoed ATM card has 1%, and I guess that's what I will be using nextNot all (Merrill, Schwab, Sun Trust, Wachovia ... ) MBNA cards are affected. Your ATM card will soon effectively be 0%, as MC and VISA are dropping their 1% added fees.
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RichardInSF, can you share which MBNA card you own that you got sent the notice of changes? Thanks.
I think it'd be nice if there is a running list of exactly which MBNA cards are now charging the 3% fee now that MC/Visa is not charging the 1%.
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RichardInSF, can you share which MBNA card you own that you got sent the notice of changes? Thanks.
I think it'd be nice if there is a running list of exactly which MBNA cards are now charging the 3% fee now that MC/Visa is not charging the 1%.
Sure, it's called "Platinum Plus" MBNA and it annually returns 1% in cash instead of points (got tired of hassling the points).
There were a great many negative changes, let me try to summarize them all here (hope this isn't overkill):
1. APR raised to 8.99% (current rate, it's variable, prime + 3.74%).
2. One default of any kind "may automatically" put you perpetually at a default rate which is fixed at 24.99%.
3. Grace period, should you be eligible for one, for purchases, cash-eqivalents, and Other balances is the end of the billing cycle with no minimum day guarantee.
4. Payment due date may vary from 20-32 days and may now depend on your payment history. I guess this means the payment due date may fall later than the end of the grace period, automatically adding interest charges even if you pay on time.
5. All foreign charges are charged at 3%. This includes foreign charges in USD.
6. "Cash equivalents" (which are some, not clearly specified, items currently regarded as purchases) have an increased transaction fee of 3%, minimum $10, no maximum.
7. Cash advances will have an increased transaction fee of 3%, minimum $10, no maximum.
8. Late fees will be raised. $15 (outstanding balance $100 or less), $29 ($100-250), $39 (more than $250).
9. Overlimit fees will be raised. $15 (outstanding balance $500 or less), $29 ($500-1000), $39 (more than $1000).
10. Overlimit fees may be charged each month and, it appears, under additional new circumstances -- i.e., even if it was their other fees, automatically applied, that made you go overlimit.
11. Payments will be converted to electronic transfers to make them clear faster.
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lovely... does anyone have a link to the 0% Foreign exhange rate Capitol One card? I just finished reading the bad news. :(
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www.capitalone.com
All CapitalOne CCs will be 0% as of April or May 1st.
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Not all (Merrill, Schwab, Sun Trust, Wachovia ... ) MBNA cards are affected. Your ATM card will soon effectively be 0%, as MC and VISA are dropping their 1% added fees.
I hope that this means that the Merrill + card is not impacted by the change and will be 0% in the future once Visa drops the 1% fee? Anyway you can post a link to this information?
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Today I received notice for my MBNA Motley Fool, indicating substantially the same changes as Richard reported above. I too am actively looking for an alternative.
The int'l fee is my biggest focus -- I really do pay on time, even with narrowing windows, so I don't tend to worry as much about that. Maybe using my bank debit card will turn out to be the best choice... Weird...
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I just received the same information for my MBNA Quantum World Points card. Definately not a happy camper. MBNA is really pushing my limits this month.
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According to another thread (I just love it when people start a new thread instead of contributing to an existing one on a similar subject...NOT!), the MBNA AAA (http://www.ouraaa.com/financial/credit_card.html) card will stay at 1% foreign exchange fee, and it's a free card with some gas-purchases moneyback benefit. [Edited to add: this is for existing customers; I don't know what they charge new customers]
As far as REJECTING the changes, according to customer service the following is the only way to do so is to play hardball:
====================
MBNA America
PO Box 15565
Wilmington, DE 19850
Re: My account number XXXXXXXXX
Dear Sirs,
I received your Amendments to the Credit Card Agreement, and [b] I do not accept[b] your amended terms under Fee Change--Foreign Transaction Fee. Unless you agree to a maximum Foreign Currency Transaction fee of 1% (one percent) on all my cards, please cancel this account effective the day of the Fee Change, i.e. May 25, 2005.
Please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence and your intentions.
Sincerely,
XXXX XXXXX
=====================
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According to another thread (I just love it when people start a new thread instead of contributing to an existing one on a similar subject...NOT!), the MBNA AAA (http://www.ouraaa.com/financial/credit_card.html) card will stay at 1% foreign exchange fee, and it's a free card with some gas-purchases moneyback benefit.
As far as REJECTING the changes, according to customer service the following is the only way to do so is to play hardball:
====================
MBNA America
PO Box 15565
Wilmington, DE 19850
Re: My account number XXXXXXXXX
Dear Sirs,
I received your Amendments to the Credit Card Agreement, and [b] I do not accept[b] your amended terms under Fee Change--Foreign Transaction Fee. Unless you agree to a maximum Foreign Currency Transaction fee of 1% (one percent) on all my cards, please cancel this account effective the day of the Fee Change, i.e. May 25, 2005.
Please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence and your intentions.
Sincerely,
XXXX XXXXX
=====================
Please post back to tell us if that works! It seems like as a single customer, we don't have too much leverage... especially since most traditional banks are increasing them across the board. It seems to me the only way we can lock into a lower FX fee is through Credit Unions, but who knows how long it will take for them to catch on too!
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I just sent my letter off; will post the reply. Depending on the response, I'm readu to open a CapitalOne Go Cash (http://apply2.capitalone.com/8463/47-788/index.jsp) account (which seems to still offer 1% F/X and a cashback bonus that effectively erases it), and even if they don't accept me (for whatever reason) I'm still better off closing the MBNA account as it's one less account to ding my credit rating; I can always get 1% by using my MasterCard-logoed ATM card.
I encourage everyone to send a letter to them as well; as the previous poster mentioned, if MBNA sees a bunch of account closures mentioning the fee change they may grandfather us instead of losing our business.
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Just opened my letter from MBNA for my Quantum card. They are going to get a letter. I honestly don't need them, and I have no problem cancelling them. I've been with them for 15 years - way to loose a customer. My credit union has a 1% (or may even be 0% now, will have to check).
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Just opened my letter from MBNA for my Quantum card. They are going to get a letter. I honestly don't need them, and I have no problem cancelling them. I've been with them for 15 years - way to loose a customer. My credit union has a 1% (or may even be 0% now, will have to check).
Stupid move on MBNA's part to raise the foreign transaction fee for Quantum cardholders, typically their biggest spending customers. After all, the minimum credit limit on a Quantum card is $10,000. Way to drive savvy, ultra-creditworthy customers away. :td:
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Not all (Merrill, Schwab, Sun Trust, Wachovia ... ) MBNA cards are affected. Your ATM card will soon effectively be 0%, as MC and VISA are dropping their 1% added fees.
I have one of the MBNAs that's getting hit, but I was recently offered a card by Schwab. Do you know if they let you combine World Points from two cards?
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MBNA America [...]please cancel this account effective the day of the Fee Change, i.e. May 25, 2005. Please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence and your intentions. [...]
Today I got a response from the "Customer Satisfaction Department" of MBNA, sending me "as requested" a copy of the Agreement, which helpfully included an addendum announcing the new 3% F/X fee -- but absolutely nothing to address my letter.
I fired off another letter indicating this, and let's see what/if they respond. I think this story will end with an unmistakeable cancellation letter effective 5/25.
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Since my MBNA account is or will soon be charging for forex, I am certainly not going to be using their card any longer for such transactions and I was thinking of canceling the account in protest. However, after thinking about it, I decided not to cancel because they give me a very high credit line and they periodically offer me 0% balance transfer deals that save me a significant amount of money.
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Since my MBNA account is or will soon be charging for forex, I am certainly not going to be using their card any longer for such transactions and I was thinking of canceling the account in protest. However, after thinking about it, I decided not to cancel because they give me a very high credit line and they periodically offer me 0% balance transfer deals that save me a significant amount of money.
For interest-free loans (aka 0% balance transfers), you can do better. MBNA always charges at least a 3% fee for a balance transfer, while Discover, Chase, and many other creditors offer 0% with no fee.
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Everyone's fees are going up:
See http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-04-21-card-fees_x.htm
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Everyone's fees are going up:
See http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-04-21-card-fees_x.htm
not Capital One, some MBNA cards (Merrill, Schwab, Sun Trust, Wachovia ...) or the VISA/MasterCard logoed debit (ATM) cards.
This is a SCAM: fees for no services rendered.
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I have one of the MBNAs that's getting hit, but I was recently offered a card by Schwab. Do you know if they let you combine World Points from two cards?
Schwab is offering $150 for application and approval.
Offer (https://promo.schwabon.com/ad046/ad046home.asp?campaign=ccae05&mp=ccae05b)
I am going with that for now. After you are receive the Schwab, call MBNA to cancel the other. They might xfer the Worldpoints, dont know for sure.
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I've never had any luck getting MBNA to transfer points from one type of card to another.
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The Foreign Exchange rate increase really hurts. But I don’t really care all the rest since I always pay bills on time. And 2% cash back on all purchase still the best on the market. So I think I will just need to find another card to be used outside US.
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Finally got the notice mailed to China that my NFL Platinum Plus Card is from 1% to 3% and called MBNA collect waited on Hold for 20 min (sucks for their phone bill) and told them I was not pleased. CSR said they have been getting quite a few complaints about this but it was the new policy. I told him thanks and that AMEX Gold would be getting most of my Int'l business and MBNA would be getting none. Looks like its time to cash out my points for the upcoming season and treat myself to something while I am back in the USA. So Long MBNA..... Another card bites the DUST!!! :eek:
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Been interesting to watch this. I got a very clear notice a week or two ago regarding my LL Bean Platinum Plus changes, including the 3% exchange fee. But I haven't gotten a similar notice for my Quantum account, far as I can tell. And it's not affiliated with anything, just a plain old Quantum, though I got it when the Quantum first came out.
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Update: still no response to my letter, but I got a replacement card because of my allegedly requesting it. Even if they end up grandfathering me at 1%, I think I will still cancel due to their terrible customer service; I've just applied for the Capital One Go Cash Visa Platinum card...
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not Capital One, some MBNA cards (Merrill, Schwab, Sun Trust, Wachovia ...) or the VISA/MasterCard logoed debit (ATM) cards.
This is a SCAM: fees for no services rendered.
Called CapitalOne who said that they will be instituting an "undisclosed FOREX fee" at a to be determined date.
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Called CapitalOne who said that they will be instituting an "undisclosed FOREX fee" at a to be determined date.
Could be just 1% (to recoup the 1% FX fee that Visa/MC will charge member banks) but more likely, it'll be 3%.
I'd recommend a Visa card through a local credit union to be on the safer side; credit unions generally don't try to nickel-and-dime you as much as the big banks.
Household Bank (part of HSBC) and Providian also charge only a 0%/1% foreign currency conversion fee for the time being.
Poor move on the part of Capital One if they do decide to go to a 3% FX fee at a "to be determined date." A 1% fee would separate them from the crowd of faceless credit card banks all charging 3%, and if they publicize the lower fee, might drive big-spending, frequent foreign travelers away from Chase, MBNA and Citi to a less expensive Capital One card.
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Anyone have an MBNA customer service email address? I looked all around their Website and couldn't find one. I want to add to the complaint deluge. I'm going to use my Cap One CC card now for foreign currency transactions going forward. I hope they don't change their fee now too.
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Anyone have an MBNA customer service email address?
I'm afraid I could not find one either, and when I used the regular customer service email address I got random responses that did not address my complaints. They only way to add to the complaint deluge is to write to the only place where the efforts will count: the CEO (in reality it's his Administrative staff that will see it, but will summarize it to him). Here you go:
Mr. Bruce Hammonds
MBNA Corporation
1100 N King St
Wilmington, DE 19801
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Some of you may also be interested in knowing that MBNA long been a major Bush contributor (google "bush mbna contribute"). Bringing in record profits, the credit card industry last month successfully won Bush's signature on its long-sought bankrupcy restriction bill. I received my nastygram from MBNA the very next day.... it would have been incredibly ironic if it weren't entirely predictable.
What must be the thought process at MBNA?
"We're raking in money off of predatory interest rates and fees; our dream bill is about to become law... the perfect time to tighten the screws on the peasantry a little bit tighter."
So at least Republicans can take comfort knowing that their fees and points are going to a good (ahem) cause. Dems and indys may want to quit MBNA and quickly.
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Update: MBNA's executive dept. refused to budge on the 3% F/X fee and I just closed the account.
Nothing better than voting with one's feet.
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I'm afraid I could not find one either, and when I used the regular customer service email address I got random responses that did not address my complaints. They only way to add to the complaint deluge is to write to the only place where the efforts will count: the CEO (in reality it's his Administrative staff that will see it, but will summarize it to him). Here you go:
Mr. Bruce Hammonds
MBNA Corporation
1100 N King St
Wilmington, DE 19801
Thanks hillrider. I think it is pretty much a lost cause getting any sort of decent response from MBNA seeing your experience. I think the only way to make a point is to take your business elsehwere like you have done.
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The tactic should be to stop using the MBNA card except where it is advantageous for YOU. And to use other cards even if their conditions are not better, simply to punish MBNA for awhile and send a message.
That's what I am doing, along with registering my objection in a formal letter and letting them know what I am doing.
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Cancelling the card with the clear message that you're doing so as a result of the tripling of the foreign exchange rate sends a much clearer message. If you remain a customer, a changed spending pattern gets lost in the noise, while the size of their card portfolio remains the same.
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Cancelling the card with the clear message that you're doing so as a result of the tripling of the foreign exchange rate sends a much clearer message. If you remain a customer, a changed spending pattern gets lost in the noise, while the size of their card portfolio remains the same.
I agree. I am in the process of moving my business over to Capital One and hope they do not implement fees as well.
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Anybody with an MBNA Fidelity Rewards or Fidelity 529 credit card get new terms which included the increased FOREX fee ?
Many seem to have gotten new terms for it, but FOREX increase wasnt in there ?
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To those of you who have the opportunity. I just picked up a Mastercard from my credit union. I will use it only overseas. Thankfully, they only charge 1% all the time and don't tack on any additional fees. I dropped MBNA like dead weight.
P.S. I'm only a 20 minute drive from their HQ in Del. Perhaps I should stop by the front of their building and moon them? ;)
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Anybody with an MBNA Fidelity Rewards or Fidelity 529 credit card get new terms which included the increased FOREX fee ?
I wonder the same thing. My wife has a Fidelity VISA card from MBNA (no longer available to new customers). We received notice from MBNA that foreign exchange is 1%. I've tried to get a definitive answer on the phone about foreign exchange on MBNA Fidelity Rewards from the "Can I take your application?" phone folks, but they don't really seem able to answer questions.
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My wife has a Fidelity VISA card from MBNA (no longer available to new customers).
Could you tell us when you got this card? I remember last year when Fidelity began their MBNA MC, and got one almost immediately. I do not remember seeing a Fidelity VISA MBNA.
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Could you tell us when you got this card? I remember last year when Fidelity began their MBNA MC, and got one almost immediately. I do not remember seeing a Fidelity VISA MBNA.
The card says member since 92, but she thinks she got the card in about 1985 and thinks it was reissued for some reason.
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Does anyone know if there's somewhere online Capital One posts their foreign exhange rate? I'd like to monitor it for my next out of the country trip to see if it goes up without calling Capital One every time but can't seem to find it online. Thanks.
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You can find the VISA rates at http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp
Capital One adds 1%. My 22 June purchases in the UK just posted with an exchange rate of 1.822, confirming this. If they change this 1%, they need to notify us first as it would be an amendment of terms.
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Wow did I just get screwed!
What we have here is a series of very large banks who are obviously conspiring and price fixing. This is indeed criminal.
I did not receive a notice of this new charge and was very surprised to see these massive charges popping up on my MBNA Platinum World Points card.
These dirtbags have gone out of their way to repeatedly screw me - once for hundreds of dollars worth of points on the Elite Rewards when they surprise devalued the points and would not allow retroactive cash out of the points - and several times when I was travelling and they just shut the card off on a whim.
I spend over $10,000 a month on foreign transactions. This will amount to over $3600 a year in charges. An Amex Platinum is only a couple hundred a year fee and they will give you a better rate. If I spent a little more, the savings of the card would cover the Centurion $2500 annual fee.
I wrote to MBNA about this and received a "customer satisfaction department" unsigned response. It's pretty funny that they call this department the Customer Satisfaction Department, as they're anything but. I explained to them that I would save a pile of money going elsewhere - and they're not budging. Whoever made this decision was obviously not thinking that the international spenders are the ones that spend the most and are the most profitable - unless they're including the people they charge 30% interest plus $35 late fee for missing a payment.
I won't cut the card due to the world points I have accrued - but I will sure as hell switch to another card and take my ENORMOUS credit history away. I really wonder what will happen when all the big accounts take a walk...
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"Starting Sept 1, 2005, MBNA WorldPoint MC will no longer provide the extended warranty benefit. Program Rules will continue to apply to eligible claims." - in my June statement
I wonder if my previous purchases on this card can still claim extended warranty. .... :td: