# MBNA and phone spam



## mriegger (May 18, 2012)

Has anyone else had this experience with MBNA?

A few years ago I picked up an MBNA no-fee credit card as a backup card. Ever since then I've received pretty regular phone spam from MBNA asking me to sign up for new products and whatnot. It wasn't hard to say 'not-interested' but a few months ago I decided to cancel the card out of frustration with being called at work all the time.

While in their phone menu options, the robot gave me an option to stop getting solicitations. It sounded good at the time, so I signed up for it without thinking too much about it.

The next day, an MBNA call center rep phoned up me to ask how my experience was using their phone menu system. That was annoying, but kind of amusing at the same time. I didn't receive any phone calls from MBNA after that, so I assumed that everything was going well.

The next credit card statement had a single item on it. A charge from "InfoProtector Plus - Montreal" - ~$11. Because I was lazy, they billed me the next month as well. I paid it off and called up MBNA to cancel.

I told them I was tired of being called, the nice rep said that you can disable that. I mentioned the InfoProtector charges, after which he cancelled my card without any hassle.

I've done some web-searches, but it doesn't seem like anyone else has had this experience. And I don't recall hearing anything about a monthly fee when I went to disable the solicitations in the menus. MBNA apparently used to belong to Bank of America, so am I crazy for amusing that they are a little bit scummy


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

MBNA is not exactly known for their high level of ethical standards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98wZkFaz98


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## DanFo (Apr 9, 2011)

My visa called me today with the same [email protected] declined their offer.......I would never give any business i deal with anything except my home phone number..and that is only if it is absolutley necessary.


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

I did this when I got a smart cash card. I have not received one call.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You may ask to be suppressed under (e) (f) and/or (g) at any time after your Account has been opened by calling MBNA Canada Bank at 1.866.845.0980 or by writing to us at MBNA Canada Bank, Privacy Officer, P.O. Box 9660, Station T, Ottawa, ON K1G 6M9. Suppression requests must be made by the Primary Cardholder only. We cannot accept suppression requests via email - customers must call or notify us in writing. *All suppression requests shall be valid for a period of 3 years and 31 days starting from the date they are received*. In accordance with your request, and within 5 business days, we will suppress you from direct mail marketing and telemarketing for products and services offered by MBNA, or by selected companies, which are directly related to the financial product or service we are providing to you and/or we will suppress you from direct mail marketing and telemarketing for products and services offered by select companies which are not directly related to the financial product or service we are providing to you. Please allow 31 days for telemarketing and 90 days for direct mail for full effect as marketing campaigns may already be in process. However, if your request is made within the first 30 days of your Account's opening, we will not share your name for use in any secondary marketing campaign. This will not limit information we may provide to you in statements or when you contact us.


http://www.mbna.ca/privacy.html#


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

No, I've never had any problems with MBNA. I'm very happy with them in fact.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

Great find leoc. I've had an MBNA card for 5-6 months. Haven't recieved any spam from them yet, but I'll have to remember that in case they start pestering.

I'm a little confused with the original post... this "InfoProtector Plus"... they wanted to charge you $11/mo for them to not call you?


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## RedRose (Aug 2, 2011)

I had a similar problem a few years ago with The Bay/Zellers card. I cancelled the card in frustration.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Yes you have to tell all your credit cards to stop selling your information. And keep doing that every year.


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## Compounding1 (May 13, 2012)

I've had the card for maybe 2-3 months now and the last 3 days I've been getting these calls from them. If it keeps up I'll have to do what the above poster did as it's pretty annoying getting called at work everyday for this.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

got a card about 18 months ago never received any calls *knock on wood*


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

I never got calls offering me new products, but I did get repeated calls from the bank asking me to do a survey (not from MBNA). One day I finally said ok and did the survey and the calls stopped. They basically just asked how happy I was with various aspects of the bank.


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

The first pitch MBNA tried to sell me was for their Credit Alert monitoring service for $17.99 per month.

What I found interesting was that the telemarketer used this line:

“Since you recently reported your card lost or stolen, you know the importance of protecting your personal credit information from those who might abuse it.”

I only had this card for a few months at that point and had not reported it lost or stolen. And why would you pay for a service that the MBNA account agreement already provides, free of charge?

http://www.boomerandecho.com/mbna-canada’s-aggressive-marketing-tactics/


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## PeterPan25 (Dec 8, 2017)

Well I am also with MBNA. I had gotten a phone call a while back from a lady presenting me this offer working with the MBNA bank. They got me to agree, and I said yes. Was a free month and then an annual charge. But then I felt suspicious of the phone call. I called MBNA and they told me I should cancel the card and issue a new one since I didn't know what company I was really dealing with at the time. This was exactly ONE hour after the InfoProtector phone call. So I have a new card WHICH I haven't even activated yet!

Today I logged once again in my MBNA account. And to my surprise I see a charge of $117 and some change. Again I have not yet even ACTIVATED my brand new card number yet.

How did they get my NEW account number?

I called MBNA tonight and told them about that transaction. The man directed me to somebody from InfoProtector. Got a fast response. Asked me my name, phone number and address to verify, Explained my situation. Told her that i cancelled my card at the time so I can avoid any weird business. She asked me when I cancelled my card. I told her ONE hour after the phone call. She finally said she will refund the amount by my next statement.

Something very fishy here. I will update you all with what happens here.


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

I've had the smart cash card for about five years now.

The phone calls to get credit advance are quite annoying I tell the guy I'm not interested about 17.4 times.

I can live with that phone call every few months though.

What I not sure I can live with is the $39.99 annual fee they are just about to announce.... Any recommendations on new cards?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

They never seem to call me, or it's so infrequent that I can't remember.

Where did you see that a $40 annual fee is coming?


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We no longer have land lines. Really cut down on the robo calls. And the monthly bill of course. We get a few on our cell phones from time to time but we never answer a call if we do not recognize the caller. We can always call back if they leave a message. 

Plus, we never, every buy anything from someone on the phone (especially those phony charities) or someone pesky door to door salesperson. We cannot afford free nor can we afford 70 percent off!


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