Late payments on credit file

Lovetotravel

How long do late payments stay on your credit file and affect credit card decisions?

I had a late payment in August 09 due to me not being told my direct debit would not be taken until after my payment date and it was paid as soon as I read the warning letter. I phoned Halifax to complain but they basically told me to !!!!!! off.

Checked my credit file yesterday and there it is!!! I need to transfer the balance of £800 now as they are charging me 21.9% interest instead of 0% as per the offer.

YorkshireBoy

Lovetotravel wrote: »

How long do late payments stay on your credit file

Up to 4 years.

and affect credit card decisions?

A one-off (is that all it is?) late payment, amongst many other well managed credit accounts, will have minimal, if any, effect on acceptance.

I had a late payment in August 09 due to me not being told my direct debit would not be taken until after my payment date

For future reference, if your statement doesn't say the payment will be collected by direct debit from your nominated account then it won't be!

...they are charging me 21.9% interest instead of 0% as per the offer.

If that wasn't your original rate on acceptance (maybe it was 15.9% APR?), then exercise your right to 'opt-out' (was it offered?) and stay on the old rate until such time as you're able to shift the balance.

Lovetotravel

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Up to 4 years.A one-off (is that all it is?) late payment, amongst many other well managed credit accounts, will have minimal, if any, effect on acceptance. For future reference, if your statement doesn't say the payment will be collected by direct debit from your nominated account then it won't be!If that wasn't your original rate on acceptance (maybe it was 15.9% APR?), then exercise your right to 'opt-out' (was it offered?) and stay on the old rate until such time as you're able to shift the balance.

Thanks for the answer. I've had 2 other late payments, with Barclaycard (also a result of problems with dd's) but never more than a day or two late. One was January 2009, the other late 2008.

As far as I can make out the agreement with Halifax was 0% unless I broke the terms of the offer, which I did with a late payment, then 21.9%.

Does this mean I have a "poor" credit rating now?

CannyJock

Lovetotravel wrote: »

Thanks for the answer. I've had 2 other late payments, with Barclaycard (also a result of problems with dd's) but never more than a day or two late. One was January 2009, the other late 2008.

As far as I can make out the agreement with Halifax was 0% unless I broke the terms of the offer, which I did with a late payment, then 21.9%.

Does this mean I have a "poor" credit rating now?

Nope, it mght be "average" or "slightly dented" but as each month goes by without any more missed payments you're rebuilding it.

With the Halifax card, if the reason for a missed payment was the DD not setup on time, others have had success in contacting their CS people and pleading politely for the 0% to be reinstated. You may be stuck with the late payment fee.

Lovetotravel

CannyJock wrote: »

Nope, it mght be "average" or "slightly dented" but as each month goes by without any more missed payments you're rebuilding it.

With the Halifax card, if the reason for a missed payment was the DD not setup on time, others have had success in contacting their CS people and pleading politely for the 0% to be reinstated. You may be stuck with the late payment fee.

I had tried this at the time of realising the interest had been added and was politely told where to go. I tried again just now and the lady on the phone couldn't have been nicer!! I didn't even have to ask to have the 0% re-instated.

She even arranged for the late payment charge and the interest I have paid to date to be refunded!!! What a result.

I can't thank you enough for suggesting this to me! I've calculated I've got roughly £90-£100 being refunded onto my card.
:beer::beer::beer:

izools

And next time you get a statement, read it to make sure they will take the amount due by direct debit.

A very good phrase to remember in life - assumption is the mother of all f***ups.

Well done on getting the charge and 0% Back! That'll be one lucky star used...