MBNA is by far my favorite issuer.....I put EVERYTHING on the Fido 1.5% card and they'll probably take that away...

smartshopping said:There is currently not a single BOA credit card worth applying. Such crappy rewards compared with what MBNA offers.

Boy--are you on the money!!!! I am so fed up with BofA about a cc I have which is 13.99%(money return) and they will not lower--I am paying off small balance next week and also paying off heloc with them.
I've been a very good customer for years and all they say is thank you for your business (FL).
Those of you with the good cards with MBNA---hold onto your hats because BofA is going to either take away all your goodies or they are going to change and start doing in the cc business what MBNA has done---but I think it will be the former rather than the latter. I'll keep my chk account only for it's convenience of branches, BillPay, ATM's and the fact I can deposit large checks from anywhere in country with no holds.

Hard to know what will happen., but it may not be a bad for MBNA customers as some fear.

Bank of America claimed they were getting marketing skills as their head said, "He also made it clear that he considers MBNA's marketing muscle to be just as valuable as its credit card accounts."

It should be noted that Hammmonds, the head of MBNA becomes head of credit cards,"Bank of America promises a level of consumer access that it can't get on its own, said Hammonds, who would become CEO of Bank of America's credit card division, to be headquartered in Delaware."

This suggests the MBNA procedures and personnel are more likely to be the survivors than the Bank of America. This could mean many of the MBNA benefits etc. will survive.

It probably does pay to take any offers for cards from the firm you do not yet have (probably BOA for most on this list). They are likely to consolidate credit approvals at some point and be unwilling to issue more than X in credit lines to one person. They might decide more than Y cards is too many also. My guess is if you already have more than X in credit lines (based on credit rating etc.)or Y in cards, you will be allowed to keep it because they will not want to antagonize customers. Also, by then you will be a "seasoned" customer and seen as less risky (new cusotmers are the riskiest). However, new approvals for cards may be harder to get.

Likewise, it may be wise to try to get larger limits on cards from one bank if your credit justifies it, since it may be harder later.

They may be tempted to close the unique MBNA bill pay and try to offer BOA bill pay to these customers as a way to get them to open accounts. I suspect that sooner or later MBNA was going to at least place dollar limits on the amounts you can borrow through bill pay, since it must be expensive to let someone who owes another firm say S50,000 (on an expiring 0% offer) to get as much as 45 days of extra 0% interest by paing it off via MBNA bill pay.

It is virtually certain that MBNA bill pay could not be used to pay off BOA cards after the consolication and the consolidation of systems. This might argue for using a BOA offer now and hoping you can get a little extra time via MBNA before they consolidate. It may be that if a BOA card is on bill pay you will be able to use bill pay on it (from other cards) even if new ones can not be added. This is because it may be easier to stop adding new cards than to reprogram in a hurry and they may hesitate a short time in taking a benefit away from existing customers.

One good offer I know of the Choices cards which is BOA and offers enough points for a couple of free hotel nights after the first use.See http://www.bankofamerica.com/choicehotels_site/index.cfm?template=overview&context=promo.

Apparently MBNA has a lot of banks it issues cards for and these banks may seek new partners now (not wishing to push cards of a competitor, knowing BOA will then use the card as an entry to getting the banking business), which may mean new offers to get customers. If one has a chance to get one of these cards (perhaps through being a cusotmer of the relevant bank), perhaps it should be done now. BOA may make offers to keep this customers if the bank withdraws the marketing arrangement. You could then still apply for whatever card that bank replaces it with.

Great, now everytime I run in or drive in to deposit a check or withdraw some money, I will be told I am automatically approved for a MBNA card instead of the B of A platinum. Every single time I go in.

DaveHanson said:Generally, I agree completely with geo123's comments, though I'm not certain about this one. IME, larger lines are often quicker to receive better promo offers than are smaller lines. Moreover, in some cases, the offer itself stipulates that you get, e.g., 0% if BT $5K or more, 1.9% if $2K or more, and 3.9% if >$2K.
Dave is MUCH more experienced than I am in these things, so I would certainly defer to his judgment here. Just to clarify my previous statement, however, I generally operate with credit lines of $25K and up (I know that Dave's CL's are VERY significant as well) and just haven't noticed or encountered any situations where a $40K credit line was more likely to qualify for a better BT offer than a $25K one. Dave, has your experience been different?

Hopefully the credit card division will still have some money to offer deals with after Hammonds gets his $154.5 million payout.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/business/01bank.html?pagewanted=print

Amazing how those $39 late fees add up!

will post later

What's special about MBNA bill pay? I assume its job is to let you pay your MBNA credit card from your checking account. Did I miss something?

TERRIFIED!

I have MBNA WorldPoints and been collecting points in the hope of redeeming them later.

Should I redeem them now regardless of whether I have reached my goal?

Thank you!

B

This sucks. BoA is the worst bank hands down. Rude tellers, poor customer service, outrageous fees, and now they're taking over MBNA? Not saying that MBNA was great, but they were a huge step up from BoA. I guess my MBNA credit cars won't be lasting much longer now that this merger has taken place.