MBNA credit balance now at bottom of bill

By Caroline E. Mayer
The Washington Post

You used to see it. Now you don't.

The prominent box that told MBNA's 50 million credit-card customers how much they owed each month has disappeared from the top of the monthly statement. Now, the nation's second-largest credit-card issuer alerts customers only about the minimum they must pay to avoid late fees.

The total amount due is still on the bill — at the bottom of each page and in smaller print. The Delaware-based credit card issuer said it decided to remove the "new balance total" from the top of the bill — the "coupon" part that consumers send in with their payments — for security and privacy reasons.

"From a privacy perspective, the total amount owed is information that only the customer and MBNA should know," spokesman Jim Donahue said in a statement. Sometimes, when consumers call to inquire about their account, MBNA tries to verify the consumer is the cardholder by asking for the latest balance, he said. If the coupon falls into the wrong hands, he added, the information could be used to improperly obtain credit data.

Government regulators say federal disclosure rules require bills to clearly show the total amount due. But there is no rule that it must be in a conspicuous place, outlined in bold, next to the minimum due or on the coupon that is submitted with the bill.

A number of consumer advocates and industry experts question whether the new bill was designed to reduce the number of cardholders who pay off their bill in full each month — about 40 percent, according to the most recent figures.