Does one late payment affect applications?

mrseyes

theowl wrote:

Hi,

I had an unblemished credit history until last month, when I made a late payment to my Tesco credit card. It was unintentional; I had thought I had set up a direct debit to make minimum payments when I opened the account, but I had not. Of course I know that doesn't matter - I have made a late payment.
As soon as I realised, I phoned Tesco and paid that and the next month's minimum balance (and set up the direct debit).
Until then you could probably say I was a low risk to banks etc: own home, never missed payments for over six years, only a few accounts etc.
I have just applied for the experian credit report, but while I wait, I was hoping for advice as to where I now stand. I know it's ridiculous that I should now possibly be rejected for certain products, but having read other posts, it seems to me that it might be the case.
So how far do you think this will influence decisions? I was planning to open a A&L premier direct account, but read on that thread that A&L advised one rejected applicant that you will only be approved for an account if your credit record is pristine. I was also thinking about opening an egg money account and arranging a balance transfer with another bank. Now, I am considering forsaking these plans as I might get rejected and therefore further damage my record.
When I asked Tesco if this late payment would affect my credit file, I was told that they have to share the information with agencies, but in her opinion if I had been clean for six years it shouldn't be a problem.
Has anyone in a similar position been rejected/accepted after this?
Thanks

I also had an unblemished credit history and like you I made a late payment to my Virgin credit card. They charged me £25 for late payment. I rang them today and explain to them that it was unintentional, and if they could consider not charging me for that. They agree to charge me half of it £12. But they ended my 0% balance transfer. So at next payment due on 2nd April will be at their standard interest interest rate. Don't now what i am going to next. I have applied 0% balance transfer HSBC and it is gone through but may not be ready in time.

bunking_off

That's interesting. When I was nice to Virgin (MBNA) they both waived the fee and kept the interest rate at 0%. However, I was in the situation where I realised before the payment date that I hadn't scheduled payment, but too late for the payment to get across to their system. Thought they were pretty generous, to be honest.

The_Boss

YorkshireBoy wrote:

You would have seen the 'warning' had you read the T&C's...

I certainly wasnt expecting 5 to be done. I have now learnt my lesson.

Chris2000

A few years ago my full payment to RBS Advanta arrived 1 day late. They reported this to the credit reference agencies as a status '1'.

Orange also put a '1' on my credit file when they changed my billing date, even though I paid all bills in full by direct debit.

These two status 1's do not appear to have affected my ability to apply for credit.

W1zz

Again, used to have 100% record but last year I was late on one payment. I thought I'd set it all up correctly but noticed online that my current account hadn't yet been deducted.
Phoned Barclaycard to try and make payment over phone as I was on the last day of the payment by date, this was at about 11pm. Unfortunatly for me their computers go offline for a few hours as they're processing the statements? ? ? I was unable to make a payment and even if I did, it would take a few days to clear so I'd miss the payment.
Ended up being billed £25 - But they allowed me to keep the 0% rate I was on.
I now ensure I setup and pay my bills 14 days before payment due date and monitor more closely.
My Experian credit score a couple of months ago was 999 out of 1000, so doesn't look as though it effected me.

iwanttosave_2

spam post reported

theowl_2

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. Turned out the late payment didn't affect me at all; Since then I have been accepted for two CCs and two other accounts.