Implications of missed credit card payments

cagey76

Hi,

I have manged to make a late payment on a credit card 2 months in a row. The payment has only been late by a couple of days.

Does anyone have any ideas what this will do to my credit history ? Ans is there any way to repair it.

I am getting a direct debit set up, and have complained to the bank in question that they do not send me bills or reminders any more. Presume this is to do with paperless banking, but not sure how its supposed to work with credit cards.

Thanks,

CLAPTON

setting up a DD is a good idea
did you opt for paperless banking?
do they offer a paper alternative
do they have a online system you can access.

if you're not happy with their service, there the lots that do offer paper bills

a couple of missed payments by a few days may not even be reported on your credit file
check your creidt files and see what they say.

cagey76

thanks, I presume experian is the best method to check my credit hostory

YorkshireBoy

For the sake of an extra £2 (£4 in total), I'd check my statutory reports with both Experian and Equifax (wouldn't bother with CallCredit personally).

But because status is often reported 4-8 weeks in arrears you might want to wait a bit before ordering.

ger_ryan22

I've never checked my credit history so i can't advise you on that sorry, however, when i took out a Barclays CC in November I missed the first payment as I thought I'd filled out a DD mandate online when I applied for it, I hadnt and therefore straightaway they dropped my 0% for 6 months purchase rate and I was now paying interest per month, along with a £12 penalty, obviously it totally defeated the purpose of getting a 0% CC so I gave them a quick call, explained the situation, they immediately reduced the penalty to £6 and put me back on the 0% purchase rate for 6 months so it could be worth ringing them to explain things and maybe they'll refund any penalties you've incurred.

cagey76

ger_ryan, good shout, I did that straight away, used to work for a bank and know its always best to own up, it gives you the best chance of a favourable outcome.

TrickyDicky

late payments do not show up on credit files, it is only missed payments.

However, if you are late with any payments, you are likely to lose any bonus rates and possible cashback immediatly.

missbargain

Similar thing happenned to me as with ger-ryan. I miscalculated the number of days, so I paid my CC bill online 2 instead of 3 working days in advance (this was around Christmas, I got confused which were working, which non-working days).
Subsequently, I was one day late, and £12 late fee was promptly smacked onto my account. I am really cross about this, why do they claim to need 3 working days to recieve online payments, I did not send it by pigeon, for Christ sake (even pigeon would have probably delivered it quicker than 3 working days)!

I called the bank to explain, the lady was nice enough, but said that she could not do anything from her side (she had no powers to do anything, she said). The bank in question is Halifax.
However, they still did not take away my 0% introductory offer - YET. I might write to them, if I could be bothered. I don't know if there is any record on my Credit file, would they really do that with 1 day late payment? Sounds a bit draconian to me, but one never knows.

Also, I am a bit confused about DD payments. Since the above happenned, I set up DD on all my CCards.
Can someone please tell me, can I still make payments myself beside the automatic DD payment? As my DD payment is the minimum amount, I usually like to pay much more than that, can I still do it? And when is the best time to do it, soon after DD has been taken or later? I am a bit confused about this, as in the past I used to pay all of it myself, never by DD.
Thank you.

missbargain

P.S.
And how is late payment differentiated from missed payment?

What I mean is, how many days need to lapse for the payment to be considered missed, and not late?

nomoneytoday

missbargain wrote: »

P.S.
And when how is late payment differentiated from missed payment?

What I mean is, how many days need to lapse for the payment to be considered missed, and not late?

AFAIK it's late once the next statement is produced.. Late is the few days in between payment date and statement date.

YorkshireBoy

missbargain wrote: »

Can someone please tell me, can I still make payments myself beside the automatic DD payment? As my DD payment is the minimum amount, I usually like to pay much more than that, can I still do it?

Yes, and yes.

And when is the best time to do it, soon after DD has been taken or later?

The short answer, on an interest bearing debt, is as soon as you can afford to.

But you'll have to ask provider for their approach to additional payments. Some don't take any additional payments into account and still collect the DD as shown on your statement. Others adjust the amount to take into account the extra payment you make.

Of those that do take any additional payments into account, you must make your payment outside the 5 day (or so) window immediately before the DD collection date in order to effect the DD cancellation/adjustment.