MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Guest: steppin
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:54 am
I've gotten two offers in the past month for a MBNA/Amex card (one branded simply MBNA Rewards American Express and the other with a university alumni club affiliation). APR 7.9%, no fee, "WorldPoints," 0% BT through January 2007.
Does anyone here know anything about this collaboration between MBNA and Amex? This particular card isn't listed in the card reviews here--is it a new thing? I did notice that MBNA has a rep for offering attractive APRs and then hiking them to outrageous levels after the intro period... but damn, that's a pretty long intro period!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: guessindigo
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:52 am
Watch out and read the fine print.
There is no maximum balance transfer fee. It is min. $10 or 3%, but no max. That could be one very very expensive offer if you take the BT option.
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:03 pm
Yes, you have to read the fine print. But I don't see a 0% offer until 2007 with a 3% fee as "one very very expensive offer." If you make minimum payments, it's about the same as a 3% no fee offer for a year. (You have to do the math--the fee is upfront and likely charged as a purchase at 7.9%, but the term lasts over 14 months. It's not going to total much more than 3% with minimum payments, even after considering you're paying 7.9% on the fee. Plus you can avoid that 7.9% by paying the fee so you have a credit of the amount of the fee BEFORE you do the balance transfer. Then the fee, considered as a purchase, wipes out your credit--and you have true 0% on the balance for the 14 months.)
No way I'd consider that expensive! I'd be very happy with that.
Guest: steppin
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:38 pm
Thanks, gang, good analysis. Actually, I already knew the trick of paying enough to cover the BT fee before actually doing the BT, so the fee doesn't accrue interest--I did that with my last couple of BTs. As I see it, that leads to a simple calculation for the "cost" of this transfer: balance times the 3% one-time fee, divided by the number of years held (1.2 or so, if I pay it off by Dec 31 2006) = 2.5% APR, a pretty fair deal IMO.
But I wasn't really clear with my question. I wasn't asking whether the terms of the offer are attractive. My question was more about the issuer. MBNA? Is my impression that they're rate-hikers correct? Is the collaboration with Amex a new thing? Would the credit experts around here want to carry this card? Any input welcome! Thanks.
Guest: hesiden
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:07 pm
steppin wrote:
Thanks, gang, good analysis. Actually, I already knew the trick of paying enough to cover the BT fee before actually doing the BT, so the fee doesn't accrue interest--I did that with my last couple of BTs. As I see it, that leads to a simple calculation for the "cost" of this transfer: balance times the 3% one-time fee, divided by the number of years held (1.2 or so, if I pay it off by Dec 31 2006) = 2.5% APR, a pretty fair deal IMO.
But I wasn't really clear with my question. I wasn't asking whether the terms of the offer are attractive. My question was more about the issuer. MBNA? Is my impression that they're rate-hikers correct? Is the collaboration with Amex a new thing? Would the credit experts around here want to carry this card? Any input welcome! Thanks.
2.5% APR ack. Lots of 0% no fee offers out there.
MBNA is fine (I like their billpay which can be used to pay other CC). Was recently purchased by Bank of America and will probably merge credit cards inside of a year.
AMEX and MBNA is relatively new.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/mbna_amex.html
I'd carry an AMEX MBNA card if the terms were right, but I'd probalby just go directly to AMEX if I wanted that type of CC.
Guest: mouse
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:09 pm
"REAL" AMEX CARDS DON'T HAVE A BT FEE
STARWOOD & HILTON 2.90% NO FEE
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:54 am
I've gotten two offers in the past month for a MBNA/Amex card (one branded simply MBNA Rewards American Express and the other with a university alumni club affiliation). APR 7.9%, no fee, "WorldPoints," 0% BT through January 2007.
Does anyone here know anything about this collaboration between MBNA and Amex? This particular card isn't listed in the card reviews here--is it a new thing? I did notice that MBNA has a rep for offering attractive APRs and then hiking them to outrageous levels after the intro period... but damn, that's a pretty long intro period!
CardRatings.com is the most comprehensive source for comparing credit card offers. Please visit CardRatings.com to view the best rated credit cards!
Guest: guessindigo
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:52 am
Watch out and read the fine print.
There is no maximum balance transfer fee. It is min. $10 or 3%, but no max. That could be one very very expensive offer if you take the BT option.
Guest: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:03 pm
Yes, you have to read the fine print. But I don't see a 0% offer until 2007 with a 3% fee as "one very very expensive offer." If you make minimum payments, it's about the same as a 3% no fee offer for a year. (You have to do the math--the fee is upfront and likely charged as a purchase at 7.9%, but the term lasts over 14 months. It's not going to total much more than 3% with minimum payments, even after considering you're paying 7.9% on the fee. Plus you can avoid that 7.9% by paying the fee so you have a credit of the amount of the fee BEFORE you do the balance transfer. Then the fee, considered as a purchase, wipes out your credit--and you have true 0% on the balance for the 14 months.)
No way I'd consider that expensive! I'd be very happy with that.
Guest: steppin
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:38 pm
Thanks, gang, good analysis. Actually, I already knew the trick of paying enough to cover the BT fee before actually doing the BT, so the fee doesn't accrue interest--I did that with my last couple of BTs. As I see it, that leads to a simple calculation for the "cost" of this transfer: balance times the 3% one-time fee, divided by the number of years held (1.2 or so, if I pay it off by Dec 31 2006) = 2.5% APR, a pretty fair deal IMO.
But I wasn't really clear with my question. I wasn't asking whether the terms of the offer are attractive. My question was more about the issuer. MBNA? Is my impression that they're rate-hikers correct? Is the collaboration with Amex a new thing? Would the credit experts around here want to carry this card? Any input welcome! Thanks.
Guest: hesiden
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:07 pm
steppin wrote:
Thanks, gang, good analysis. Actually, I already knew the trick of paying enough to cover the BT fee before actually doing the BT, so the fee doesn't accrue interest--I did that with my last couple of BTs. As I see it, that leads to a simple calculation for the "cost" of this transfer: balance times the 3% one-time fee, divided by the number of years held (1.2 or so, if I pay it off by Dec 31 2006) = 2.5% APR, a pretty fair deal IMO.
But I wasn't really clear with my question. I wasn't asking whether the terms of the offer are attractive. My question was more about the issuer. MBNA? Is my impression that they're rate-hikers correct? Is the collaboration with Amex a new thing? Would the credit experts around here want to carry this card? Any input welcome! Thanks.
2.5% APR ack. Lots of 0% no fee offers out there.
MBNA is fine (I like their billpay which can be used to pay other CC). Was recently purchased by Bank of America and will probably merge credit cards inside of a year.
AMEX and MBNA is relatively new.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/mbna_amex.html
I'd carry an AMEX MBNA card if the terms were right, but I'd probalby just go directly to AMEX if I wanted that type of CC.
Guest: mouse
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Post subject: MBNA American Express Credit Card Offers
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:09 pm
"REAL" AMEX CARDS DON'T HAVE A BT FEE
STARWOOD & HILTON 2.90% NO FEE
posted by CardRatings.com at 1:34 PM
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