MBNA Credit Card Review

In June of 2005 Bank of America acquired MBNA, making Bank of America the largest credit card empire in financial history. What this means on a practical level, is that if you want an MBNA credit card, you now have to get a Bank of American credit card. It won’t be difficult to find one, as Bank of America now lists over 400 different kinds of cards at their website:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/creditcards/?context_id=all_cards&RequestTimeout=120&cm_sp=CRD-_-All%20Cards-_-View%20All%20Cards

Since Bank of America’s acquisition of MBNA’s credit card division, a controversy over whether the consolidation of unsecured credit under monolithic giant banking institutions is a good or a bad thing. On the positive side, Bank of America offers lots of different credit cards. (At least, they look different, they are advertised differently.)

On the negative side, because Bank of America owns so much of the world’s unsecured credit debt and issues so many new cards each and every year, if you should happen to run into problems with their policies regarding fees or interest rates, then what? It’s kind of like that old bad joke about the guy with the pet 600 pound gorilla. Where does that pet gorilla sleep? Anywhere it wants, that’s where!

What Bank of America wants is to hike the interest rate on your credit card to 29.99% if you are late with one payment. Unless you pay off your card every single month, religiously, on time, it’s not a bad idea to give that fact some serious thought before making a commitment with dreams of cash rewards dancing in your head.

Despite the wide selection of attractively designed cards with innovative conditions and enticing rewards, you’re not making a casual family loan agreement with your Aunt Sally when you accept to BOA’s credit card terms. They’re not kidding, and it’s sent a lot of people squealing to their Congresspersons over the last several years.

It’s not all whining either: financial institutions should bear some collective responsibility for the credit they extend and to whom they choose to extend it, in the same way that individuals must bear personal responsibility for the credit they accept and how they manage it.

Are BOA’s fees excessive, or a good way to weed out irresponsible cardholders? Right now, the rule is caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.

MBNA credit cards, now Bank of America credit cards, can also be compared with other credit card deals at Apply For A Credit Card Now.com . While reading through the small print on credit card terms and conditions may not be your idea of a great way to while away the hours, it can save you a great deal of money and unpleasantness down the road.

Not only do most people not compare cards before choosing one; a fair number never even read the conditions on the cards they accept. Many people don’t even read their credit card bills. Before long, the phone is ringing, and the interest rate is 29.99%. By that point, the phone isn’t getting answered either.

Chances are good that Bank of America will continue to gobble up other banks and financial institutions for the near future, and it’s not all bad. Several credit cards at the BOA site offer 1.9% introductory rates for the first year if you qualify, some even offer a full year at 0% on balance transfers. It is still possible to make a great deal on unsecured credit if you take your time and think it all through.

Just make sure to read everything, even and especially the little tiny boring print. Then read it again. Then sleep on it, and read it again.