Strange phone calls from credit card comapny

[Mike]

Had an interesting call last nightââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢à¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦Ãà †â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãà ¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦ÃƒÆ’¢âââ‚ ¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦..caller said they were from MB&A (or something similar) and wanted to talk to my wife. Would not tell me what it was concerning and as my wife was out they phoned back later.

They informed her it was reference her application for a credit card something she did not apply for as she has enough already . They were insisted she had and stated she would have to phone them back to cancel it !!!!!! 0800 7831116.

Wonder if anyone else had such callsââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢à¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦Ãà †â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãà ¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦..we are ex directory but they got our name and name from somewhere

[dilli-theclaw]

I was getting some strange calls untill recently - I have call rejection on my line now

No more odd calls. Sorted.

Originally Posted by Mike

Had an interesting call last nightââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢à¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦Ãà †â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãà ¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦ÃƒÆ’¢âââ‚ ¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦..caller said they were from MB&A (or something similar) and wanted to talk to my wife. Would not tell me what it was concerning and as my wife was out they phoned back later.

They informed her it was reference her application for a credit card something she did not apply for as she has enough already . They were insisted she had and stated she would have to phone them back to cancel it !!!!!! 0800 7831116.

Wonder if anyone else had such callsââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢à¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ã‚¬Ã‚¦Ãà †â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãà ¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦..we are ex directory but they got our name and name from somewhere

This sounds worrying.In fact it sounds like a scam to me.Give no details out over the phone.I'm sure if was genuine they would SNAIL mail you.Also you need to be very careful IF it is a genuine query as someone may be trying to steal your wifes ID and obtain a card in her name.

Incog.

[Stuartbe]

I agree with Incog. It sounds dodgey. They may say something like " to confirm you are mrs x please give us your date of birth ect " DONT DO IT..... Personaly I would ask them to stop calling and write to you. If they are geniune they will have your address.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

I agree with Incog. It sounds dodgey. They may say something like " to confirm you are mrs x please give us your date of birth ect " DONT DO IT..... Personaly I would ask them to stop calling and write to you. If they are geniune they will have your address.

Thanks for this it sounded dodgey to me to......it concerned me to cancell it thet would proberly ask lots of personal questions...DoB etc...we will see what happens.

Any ideas on company concerned

also

How does call rejection work is that blocking withheld Nos..........

thanks

[Bifta]

MBNA strikes again, next time they phone just tell them to c0ck off.

[punky]

This is a big thing in America (identity theft. But its a lot easier over there, all you really need to get credit is your social security number. People raid your rubbish bins get you SSN and address and then can get a CC in that name. That might be what has happened. I'd get a credit report (Don't know how to get one though). That lists every piece of credit you have applied for, every missed payment, etc. I'd check that first. You could phone up MBNA and ask them about it too. Also, you might want to check if you have CCJs (county court judgements) on your house, which is a sign of bad credit somewhere. My parents had one on their house (meant for someone else, but we recieved their mail), and they didn't know til my dad next went to get credit.

[Ramrod]

register with the Telephone preference service and have an unlisted number, works for us
The last time someone rang to sell us something and I mentioned we were registered with the tps, they couldn't get off the phone quickly enough

[altis]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

... I mentioned we were registered with the tps, they couldn't get off the phone quickly enough

I take control of the conversation, ask for their name and the company and what they are selling - basicly as much info as I can manage - then drop in the fact that we are registered with the TPS and their action has just risked a fine of up to £5K. Then listen to 'em squirm. Makes my day

PS. Forgot to mention - now that we are back with BT we have caller ID so that whenever 'number witheld' pops up on the phone I am primed to do battle.

Originally Posted by Ramrod

register with the Telephone preference service and have an unlisted number, works for us
The last time someone rang to sell us something and I mentioned we were registered with the tps, they couldn't get off the phone quickly enough

Oh yes mention the TPS and they instantly change tune.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Oh yes mention the TPS and they instantly change tune.

We are registered with the TPS......I wonder if this was just a cold call or whether they actually had an application in my wife's name.

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by Mike

How does call rejection work is that blocking withheld Nos..........

thanks

Yup - that's the one. Unless they allow their number it rejects the call.

Although I may add - it seems to only work on numbers in the UK. I've had a couple of calls from Dell and they get through - my phone reports them as 'out of area'

[Bex]

if you get any calls like this, i would ask them to put stuff in writing....MBNA send out loads of "pre-approved" credit card letters, so sending out a personal letter shouldn't be too much of a problem
MBNA are the credit card providers for the Abbey (we don't have our own credit cards for some reason) and i KNOW that there has been a few scams going round, where people have claimed to be calling from the Abbey (and other banks also).... get them to write a letter and do not give out any sort of info over the phone (think we discussed something similiar in another thread where i made peeps aware of the problem)

i had a loans company call me up a few months ago and ask me questions about my on-line application for a loan, was not impressed at all and made sure i got the guys name and the phone number for the company (and actually checked it agasint the one on the web site) but i still reckon it was a scam