Normal practice?

sde

This happened a few months ago but just recently discovered these forums. Basically what happened is that my girlfriend missed a credit card payment. She simply forgot it was due because she didnt recieve her bill in time due to our local postal sorting office being a shambles where mail is regularly up to 10 days late even without industrial action.

It all started when I started receiving constant automated phonecalls from her bank(HBOS). I was on a day off and these phonecalls were coming about every 1/2 hour. She was working in the local hospital on a 12 hour shift so was unaware of them. The calls gave me the option of entering an alternate number to get her on but I wasnt going to do that as a busy hoital ward is hardly the place to receive calls from anyone let alone your bank. I told her what had been going on when she got hom and that jogged her memory that her payment was due which she then made online immediately. This made her payment just 2 days late, the first time she had failed to make a payment on time.

The next day came and the phone calls continued. i eventually had to give in and enter her works number where she explained the situation and that the payment had been made the previous night but the phonecalls continued throughout the day as they were coming from a different department or some guff like that.

She was of course inundated with letters from the bank aswell as having her credit limit cut to just above what her balance was which has of course rendered her car useless until her balance is down.

So basically, is this normal practice for a 2 day late payment?

sde

Bumpety bump

YorkshireBoy

sde wrote: »

So basically, is this normal practice for a 2 day late payment?

Maybe not "normal", but it's certainly quite common if reports on here are anything to go by.

Why not make the card provider responsible for taking the payment instead?

Set up a minimum payment direct debit and put an end to late payments, £12 fees, loss of promotional interest rates, damage to credit history, and harrassing phone calls.

Easy?

sde

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Maybe not "normal", but it's certainly quite common if reports on here are anything to go by.

Why not make the card provider responsible for taking the payment instead?

Set up a minimum payment direct debit and put an end to late payments, £12 fees, loss of promotional interest rates, damage to credit history, and harrassing phone calls.

Easy?

Easy yes but never had the need to before. I just felt what happened with her was rather excessive given the time scale and with it being the first time. I mean i missed a payment on my card through no fault of my own. Made the payment at the bank and it was "lost" somewhere between my bank and the credit card company. First i knew about it was when I got my next statement in and my minimum payment was double what it normally would be. Never did get that money back BTW. There was certainly no harassing phone calls(though wouldve found out quicker if there had been) and they certainly never cut my credit limit right back

izools

Unfortunately credit card providers are becoming more and more heavy handed.

There are plenty of reports of credit limits being cut on accounts that have never had a missed payment - my mother for example has had her RBS and MBNA limits cut to just above the balance, and her MBNA interest rate jacked to 29.9% despite being a loyal customer for years, always paying above the minimum, and always staying well within her limit.

I've read reports of MBNA, Santander, RBS Group, Barclaycard, etc all cutting limits on their loyal customers' accounts.

You're just another one of the growing crowd - don't feel bad about it