gyuri_ft
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2002
- Messages
- 140
Hello,
I had today a problem with MBNA bank (the issuer of the Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard). I am not sure, is this out - of - topic here, but since it was an Amtrak card and the issue could potentially damage my belowed company (no, it's NOT the MBNA! ), I dare to post it here.
Background: I did use the FirstUSA "United" mileage VISA for number of years. After United went ch.11 and after we re-discovered Amtrak (and after many happy journays on the American rails) I decided to switch from FirstUSA to MBNA. The fact that the Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard was free (but the United Visa wasn't) did not hurt either.
So I accumulated a few points on Amtrak with that MasterCard until a minor inconvenience accured: this month we had a few business expenses and also some Amtrak travel with the sleeper - so that credit line of $5000 was maxed out. I did discover it this Monday so I quickly made a payment on-line of $2000 to MBNA at about 2:00 PM PDT this Monday. After a phone call I was assured by the MBNA customer support specialist, I can use the card again no later, than 5/1/2003 (or today). To my surprize, I could not use the card today. I checked the on-line Payment Center and I was able to see the $2000 under the payment activity with the status "Paid". The credit card account however wasn't credited. The MBNA customer support specialist told me on the phone, they need one more(!) day for the $2000 to actually appear on the card. What does make things even worse, the MBNA customer support specialist (and her supervisor) had no way(!) to access my payment activity from her system.
Therefore unlike the competitors (FirstUSA, AmericanExpress, etc.) MBNA needs about 72(!) hours to post the payment on the customer's account. The other banks do it usually within 24 hours, Amex (according to my experience) even less. The only option for me to use the card today would be to either increase the credit line or to ask for the authorization of the charge. I am very conservative regarding the credit line increses, so I opted for the second. The supervisor told me, the line of the authorization department is busy so she wanted to give me their number. I asked her to close the account - it was simply too much hassle for no reason. Also, the bank did use my money for at least two day without paying a single penny in interest. Further, the system where an account specialist cannot access the customer's real-time payment activity is flawed. And last, but not least. What happens, if I pay the balance in full two days before the due date? MBNA not just will use my money for "free" for 72 hours, they also will charge a late fee and a fat interest on what I do not even ow them.
While every bank tries to stretch the possibilities to a certain limit and they are definitly not a caritative organzation, the MBNA's practice seem to be worse, than of several of it's competitors, including FirstUSA.
It was a very sad moment I had to close my Guest Rewards MasterCard accont because it really did provide me with quite a few Amtrak points recently. However, with this move I wanted to show my opinion about MBNA. Also, I would like to express my opinion that perhaps Amtrak should re-consider its policy to partner with MBNA and look for an other bank. I won't even mind to pay a modest credit card fee yearly - if everything else is honest and the bank's system is up-to-date.
My question to the forum: who would be the best partner at Amtrak I should speak about my experience with MBNA?
Thanks -
George
I had today a problem with MBNA bank (the issuer of the Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard). I am not sure, is this out - of - topic here, but since it was an Amtrak card and the issue could potentially damage my belowed company (no, it's NOT the MBNA! ), I dare to post it here.
Background: I did use the FirstUSA "United" mileage VISA for number of years. After United went ch.11 and after we re-discovered Amtrak (and after many happy journays on the American rails) I decided to switch from FirstUSA to MBNA. The fact that the Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard was free (but the United Visa wasn't) did not hurt either.
So I accumulated a few points on Amtrak with that MasterCard until a minor inconvenience accured: this month we had a few business expenses and also some Amtrak travel with the sleeper - so that credit line of $5000 was maxed out. I did discover it this Monday so I quickly made a payment on-line of $2000 to MBNA at about 2:00 PM PDT this Monday. After a phone call I was assured by the MBNA customer support specialist, I can use the card again no later, than 5/1/2003 (or today). To my surprize, I could not use the card today. I checked the on-line Payment Center and I was able to see the $2000 under the payment activity with the status "Paid". The credit card account however wasn't credited. The MBNA customer support specialist told me on the phone, they need one more(!) day for the $2000 to actually appear on the card. What does make things even worse, the MBNA customer support specialist (and her supervisor) had no way(!) to access my payment activity from her system.
Therefore unlike the competitors (FirstUSA, AmericanExpress, etc.) MBNA needs about 72(!) hours to post the payment on the customer's account. The other banks do it usually within 24 hours, Amex (according to my experience) even less. The only option for me to use the card today would be to either increase the credit line or to ask for the authorization of the charge. I am very conservative regarding the credit line increses, so I opted for the second. The supervisor told me, the line of the authorization department is busy so she wanted to give me their number. I asked her to close the account - it was simply too much hassle for no reason. Also, the bank did use my money for at least two day without paying a single penny in interest. Further, the system where an account specialist cannot access the customer's real-time payment activity is flawed. And last, but not least. What happens, if I pay the balance in full two days before the due date? MBNA not just will use my money for "free" for 72 hours, they also will charge a late fee and a fat interest on what I do not even ow them.
While every bank tries to stretch the possibilities to a certain limit and they are definitly not a caritative organzation, the MBNA's practice seem to be worse, than of several of it's competitors, including FirstUSA.
It was a very sad moment I had to close my Guest Rewards MasterCard accont because it really did provide me with quite a few Amtrak points recently. However, with this move I wanted to show my opinion about MBNA. Also, I would like to express my opinion that perhaps Amtrak should re-consider its policy to partner with MBNA and look for an other bank. I won't even mind to pay a modest credit card fee yearly - if everything else is honest and the bank's system is up-to-date.
My question to the forum: who would be the best partner at Amtrak I should speak about my experience with MBNA?
Thanks -
George