I got my freebie! (MBNA)

Member Name: Edwina Irvine

Product:	MBNA
Date:	24/02/01 (815 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free gift, credit history

Disadvantages: charges

I have only been using MBNA for about three months and i have never had a cause to complain about a charge or a mistake yet... but from reading other opinions, as long as i behave myself I'll find MBNA just right for me.

I applied for a student credit card mainly because i was tempted by the offer of a free mobile phone... even though i am no longer a student, i qualified age-wise and requested a spangly multi-coloured card (but of course, they sent me the dull, run-of-the-mill card!

After about a month i rang them to see where my mobile phone had got to and was told that the offer had expired last August (which, on close inspection of the leaflet, was true, but then why was the leaflet given away ina magazine that had only just been published???). I was feeling almost disappointed enough to ring up and cancel my card but decided not to (see below). anyway, the other week, out of the blue, a mobile phone was delivered to me - nothing like the one that the leaflet offered, but very welcome never-the-less so i was glad that they had made the effort to keep their new customer happy!

I have noticed that my credit limit is quite obscenely huge - surely it is a bit immoral to encourage students to get into quite that much debt more than they already are and a starting limit of £2500 is a little weird, but hey!

I am often tempted to change this credit card though because many other cards now offer much better rates and my other card offers airmiles as a very tempting incentive but i will stay with MBNA for the time-being even if it is just for this reason...

...I recently bought a copy of my credit history from Equifax UK which is the company that most places in Britain will consult for a credit check. I discovered that even though i have had and used a credit card for the past 4 years, my credit histiry has no record of it because obviously Natwest do not use Equifax. My parents also noticed that their HSBC and Lloyds c
redit cards weren't recorded but that my new MBNA card that i had used for just one month then, is recorded by Equifax. Luckily with MBNA i can now slowly build up a credit history with them.

Summary: