MBNA Credit Card Debt Collection Calls: Torture or Just a Blooming Nuisance?

Hard on the heels of my last blog posting about the proliferation of intrusive nuisance calls from Claims Handling companies currently riding the wave of the PPI Mis-Selling scandal, I was intrigued to stumble upon this story.

A Devon businessman, Keith Harrison, recently had over £20,000 of credit card debt written off in the British High Court, after suffering months of aggressive telephone calls and letters, initially from MBNA and subsequently from a debt collection agency.  Link Financial bought Mr Harrison’s debt off MBNA in 2008, and proceeded to pursue it by bombarding his home phone number with calls.

 The judge commented that this was tantamount to torture, due to the frequency and hostility of the calls. Mr Harrison received a total of over 700 calls, and on one occasion received 15 of them on a single day.  That would certainly be very annoying, I would agree.

His business ran into financial trouble in 2007, almost 10 years after he took out his MBNA card. Apparently he was distracted by family problems, when his mother, wife and daughter all fell seriously ill within the space of a few months.  He took his eye off the ball, neglected to invoice some customers, started to run out of cash and incurred credit card debts he was unable to repay.

But doesn’t everyone suffer from ill-health and family problems at one time or another? All the more reason to make sure that bills are paid and the family’s financial needs are taken care of, I would have thought. Yes, the health and well-being of wives, husbands, children and parents must come first, of course. But in times of family stress and hardship, we, as responsible adults, must ensure that our business, household and financial obligations are not neglected. 

The judge was critical of the bullying behaviour of Link Financial and MBNA, but ultimately ruled in favour of Mr Harrison on purely technical grounds.

Contrary to the requirements of the Consumer Credit Regulations of 1983, MBNA failed to supply him the terms and conditions of the card.  The bank denies this, but was unable to prove the paperwork had been issued at the time the card was taken out.

The judge said:
"I find that neither with the application pack nor with the card was the claimant sent the MBNA terms and conditions…It is perfectly clear that the legislature regards it as desirable that such documents should be provided”.                                                                                                      

Card issuers beware.  Make sure you not only comply with legal requirements, but keep the paperwork to prove it.

I do have some sympathy with Mr Harrison. Debt collection agencies are notoriously persistent in pursuing creditors.  It is undeniably upsetting to be on the receiving end of constant , unremitting and aggressive calls from uncaring hard-nosed call-centre staff. I know; I have been there myself.  Not that I am a debtor, I hasten to add.  It happened to me when my mortgage provider, who shall be nameless, made a mistake and accused me of owing them the princely sum of £102.

 There followed six months of aggressive letters and persistent phone calls from a series of call-centre staff.  Some of them were unpleasant and aggressive; most of them were quite sympathetic and helpful; just trying to do their job and earn a living.

I had to explain the situation umpteen times before it was eventually resolved. Stressful, yes.  Annoying, yes.  But torture?  Try telling that to someone who has had their fingernails pulled out. It was just an annoying feature of modern-day life.  We deal with it, and then move on.