30€ government cancellation fee?

Nic'name

I just cleared my credit card balance today. I'm heading back to education in September and do not want a credit card with a 3500 limit so I want to close my account. I called MBNA to request this and they informed me that I need to pay a 30€ cancellation fee that is nothing to do with them but enforced by "the government." So I politely ended the phone call to google this and cannot find it anyway. Anyone know anything about this?

Also what is the best procedure to close down this account without damaging credit records? Should I send a follow up letter when I do cancel over the phone? I want to be officially free from MBNA by the end of this week

rameire

sounds like the standard yearly government duty
usually it is paid in march or april, but that is for the previous year.
so as you are closing after the above months, you would normally be charged in march or april 2010 for the current year.
so you pay it now.
just get a letter from mbna stating you have closed your credit card and paid the stamp duty for this year, incase you want to get a new credit card in the next 6 months.

100gSoma

yeah its the 30euro levy alright. You will have to pay 30euro in April 2010 for the period april 2009 - april 2010 even if you cancel the card now.

seamus

Yep, standard practice and not something that the companies can get around. Stamp Duty is payable every year for your credit and debit cards. Banks charge this at the end of each year (in April) and they apply the charge directly to your account. If you close your account mid-way through the year, the duty for that year is payable on closure.

Details from Revenue.

There's no way around this, you are required to pay it, but as rameire says, ask them to issue you with a letter of closure. This is for your own piece of mind as much as anything - there have been stories of people whose accounts have been "closed", but the €30 charge was left outstanding and unpaid (because the holder wasn't notified), which then affected their credit record because it was showing up as a missed repayment.

daithijjj

Irish banking is slowly emerging from the 1980s, its such an anal policy to have this one. Would it really be such a big deal to, i dunno, this is a whacky idea i know but, charge the feckin fee for the year to come???......removing all this nonsense from the equation.

Surely, if you have to pay it after a certain date then they might aswell charge your card with it on the first day of the new card year. I worked for two large cc companies in the uk years ago and there was none of this 'carry on'. When someone rang up and said 'id like to close my cc please' we gave them a balance there and then and the card acc was shut instantly.

Redmen Rule OK

daithijjj

Problem isn't with the Banks this time. The 'Fee' is a Government tax and the Banks have to abide by the tax rules. Working in UK banks owuldn't have prepared you for this. For that matter neither would working in any other bank in Europe. Its the Irish taxation laws that are behind the times.

broker2008

Perhaps you don't want the tempatation of credit on a credit card but you may find it difficult to replace. Consider keeping same and reducing the limit to say €500 for emergencies, booking flights, buying stuffonline, car hire etc. €30 for the privilege of having access to a credit card is cheap as far as I am concerned. It almost sounds as if you or a friend are not fans of MBNA due to previous debt and they way they hound people to recover the debt? Having a credit card that is NOT in debt during college would be of help to you in future years.