First, A Little MBNA History
According to http://www.bushpresident2004.com/pioneers-and-rangers.htm, in 1999, Charles Cawley threw a cocktail party at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, inviting 200 people to greet the town's most famous part-time resident, George W. Bush. The oceanfront soiree raised $200,000 for the candidate -- but Cawley wasn't acting purely out of neighborly good will. As the head of MBNA America Bank, the nation's biggest independent issuer of credit cards, Cawley wanted Bush to push for a new law making it harder for families hit by unemployment or huge medical bills to declare bankruptcy. Sure enough, not long after taking office ...
Bush backed the measure -- which would add $75 million a year to MBNA's bottom line. Last November, Cawley returned the favor by inviting Laura Bush to his Delaware home to greet 120 supporters -- raising $150,000 for her husband's re-election.
According to http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profile.cfm?pioneer_ID=154
MBNA is a member of the misnamed Partnership to Protect Consumer Credit, which lobbied in 2003 for legislation to permanently ban states from enacting protections for borrowers that are stricter than federal rules. MBNA also has joined other credit companies in regularly monitoring their customers credit reports in order to jack up interest rates at the first sign of a credit blemish. In 2000, President-Elect Bush appointed top MBNA executives to his Treasury Department and Veterans Administration transition teams. The late MBNA Chair and CEO Alfred Lerner was among 22 wealthy business leaders that President Bush invited to lunch in 2001 to discuss his tax cut for the wealthy. Incomplete Pioneer fundraising records from the Bush campaign suggest that Cawley was one of Bush's top 2000 Pioneer fundraisers, raising $369,156 by an uncertain date in that campaign. MBNA takes political contributions so seriously that it named a former FBI director, Louis Freeh, treasurer of its PAC.
It's not just Republicans.
Since 1993, MBNA has also been the number one donor to the campaigns of Delware Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden. MBNA also pays Biden's son, a corporate lawyer, $100,000 a year as a "retainer" for services as a "consultant." In return, Biden has been, according to the Times, a "consistent advocate for MBNA.
He has actively supported the proposed Bankruptcy Reform Act, a favorite piece of legislation among credit card companies that would make it more difficult for consumers to escape credit card debt. Biden even tried to get the new bankruptcy law passed by tacking it onto a foreign relations bill in 2000.
But it's not just the Democrats and the Republicans...
This has been posted before, but I think it needs emphasis. Working Assets, a primarily progressive organization is also using MBNA.
Unknown News had the 'scoop' (if you can call it that) back in 2003.
Working Assets sells long distance, wireless, and credit card services, and what sets them apart from other companies is their claim to have a conscience. Working Assets provides our long distance telephone service, because they proudly proclaim that they support progressive groups working hard for the environment, peace, human rights, and other things that matter.
They're not an outfit one would expect to find in bed with the bank that underwrote George W. Bush's 2000 campaign.
A while back in 2003, Unknown News wrote to Working Assets regarding this descrepancy. Here's the back and forth:
... now MBNA is a working partner of Working Assets. My question is: Why?
Here's their reply:
Dear Ms. Highwater,
Thank you for your e-mail. We will certainly make a notation of your comments, as it is valuable feedback to our senior management. Working Assets constantly strives to improve its services to meet the needs of our members.
Periodically we need to evaluate our position to meet our business needs. Since MBNA is a leader in the affinity credit card industry, and is known for their great customer service, we opted to move to MBNA since their experience in this field will benefit our customers.
We understand that from time to time some members may disagree with our associations. However, we also understand that our members know they can take advantage of our activism benefits to affect change in the aspects in which they disagree.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to email me directly or call us at 1 (866) 215-3527 and a friendly customer service representative will be happy to assist you. Our phones are staffed from 5am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 7am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday (PST). For more information about other Working Assets products and services, please visit our website at www.workingforchange.com.
Thanks again for your email, and for helping Working Assets make a difference.
--Barbara
Accounts Processing Department
Working Assets Long Distance
Barbara,
Thank you for your reply. But if Working Assets is willing to work with MBNA, then there is no difference worth supporting.
I'm again sending links to reference materials explaining just who it is your company is dealing with: http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/100days/ bankruptcy.asp and http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0504-03.htm. I hope you'll take a look at this material, and share it those who make the decisions there.
In short, if Working Assets is AOK with MBNA, then Working Assets is nowhere near AOK. We might as well cancel our account and go with the provider that provides the best price, instead of sticking with a company that only pretends to have a conscience.
--Helen & Harry Highwater
The only further response from Working Assets was a form letter telling us how to cancel our account.
If anyone else would like to contact Working Assets, here's their "contact us" form.
My suggestion? Please use the form. Also consider balance transfer (one of those 0% interest balance transfers from MBNA to another CC account, preferably a Credit Union or truly progressive bank. Also, please use this diary to list alternative/progressive CC companies or banks for balance transfer opportunities.