MBNA credit cards provide only a short period between issuing their statements and receiving your payments. You have to be careful to pay within this time to avoid interest and late payment charges.
I was horrified to receive this month’s credit card statement for my MBNA Virgin Atlantic credit card. I had until August 28th to make my payment to them.
There was one problem, though. I only received the statement on Saturday 22nd August, which means that the banks were shut until today and payment has to be in the MBNA bank account on Friday.
It can take around three days to send a payment through the banking system, so I have, in effect, just today to make the payment.
I checked when the statement was created – 13th August, but why had it taken so long to get to me?
I phoned the MBNA help desk on Saturday to see what had gone wrong.
From their side, everything was fine, however the customer support woman did say that it can take two days for MBNA to send the statements out. My statement probably didn’t leave MBNA until the 17th August as the 16th was a Sunday.
And then there are the vagaries of the postal system, which probably explains the rest of the delay.
The net result is that I have been given one day to initiate the payment to MBNA to prevent their penalty system swinging into action. This is not acceptable.
Yes, you can pay through their web site and see your statements online, but what about those who, like me, need a paper statement? They also send me texts to my mobile phone.
So I accept that MBNA do make different payment methods available, but the company should provide a much longer period for repayments, like most other card companies.
As we’ve seen, delays at their end and delays in the post mean that I came close to being penalised for late payment on my £9.25 bill, which is probably a deliberate ploy by the card company as a way of making additional money.
Oh, while I am at it – MBNA please stop sending me unasked for credit card cheques with every statement.
Don’t think setting up a direct debit will gurantee you won’t miss it. After missing two payment dates already (£24) somebody phoned me up to make a payment and set up a direct debit to avoid further charges. To my horror this month I’ve noticed the direct debit has gone through a day later than the due due.
I’m about to go and have a rant at them!
I also think there statement-payment period is too short. I hold a couple of other credit cards and never have problems meeting the payments on time. However with MBNA (virgin) I’ve missed it twice in a year costing me nearly a £100. I pay off the full amount every month and loath having to pay interest.
Totally agree. I had the same issue. I use my card purely to get Virgin miles, so make payments on my card, then immediately transfer money over from my bank account to pay off said payment – except once when I was on holiday.
I went away for 2 weeks. Whilst away I used my card and also received a statement. On return, I had one day to make the payment, that short period is appalling. Don’t be fooled by paying on their website though. I did that, yet still received a late payment charge because it takes three days to process. I appreciate you could set up a direct debit to pay the minimum payment (to be safe), but to be away on a two week hols and this cause a late payment is not that great – this must effect thousands of “good payers” each year. It’s a shame on their part really, because when away in future I’ll make sure not to use that card so as not to risk missing a payment.