Did you know? Credit card companies give you one free hit.

one-non-blonde

I got an MBNA card last summer for the 0% balance transfer but idiot features was a little late with her first payment (I'd just moved house!). It was a couple of months before I realised I was being charged interest (about £25 a month) but I assumed I'd broken a T&C so never called them. Any chance of getting it back d'you think?

Amba_Gambla

worked for me with barclaycard - one day late (oops) played it up, 'oh really soory, it's my first time....'

let off -phew!

gritts

Screwed up twice with Barclaycard and they have let me off both times. Again polite phone call telling them why the mistake was made.

There is another approach but it's not so polite!

slider_2

Recently took out an Abbey credit card at 0% for balance transfers. Have been tarting for about 2 years. However on this occasion I was late with the first payment by 3 days. When I recieved my statement I was hit with interest on 4k, a late payment fee , and informed that I had lost the 0% offer. Two phone calls and a small amount of grovelling later and all of the above had been resolved to my complete satisfaction.Needless to say I set up the dd the same day. Its definately worth the price of a phone call.
PS My first post. Hope I did OK

exmodel

I recently cleared one of my Barclaycards but had carry over interest totalling £9.45 on the next months statement. Was a few days late paying it after assuming I had cleared the account completely the previous month.
Guess what Barclaycard told me??? They never charge you a late payment if your balance is less than £10!!!! So got off on that one scott free!!!Yippee!

rammell

I recently had a bad experience with Amex. As a result of income being paid late into my bank account, there were insufficent funds to pay my business Amex card (taken by Direct Debit). The amount outstanding was paid about 3 days later when Amex re-presented the Direct Debit. About 2 months later, the same thing happened again.... silly me! I got a phone call from Amex and paid off the amount immediately over the phone using a different bank account by Debit Card. The chappie I spoke to mentioned (in passing) that there MIGHT be a risk of my account being suspended due to the 2 missed payments. I pointed out that the error had been immediately rectified on both occassions and my cashflow problems were not sorted and he said that would be looked on favourably. I then heard nothing until shops, restaurants and petrol stations started refusing my card! Without any notice, Amex had shut down my account, including a 2nd unrelated personal account. As a result I forfeited over 50,000 Amex Reward points worth about £400. A couple of days later I received a letter saying my balance had been referred to a Debt Collection Agency even though I'd not actually been given an opportunity to pay the bill. They were also levying a charge for the debt collection. Despite their Terms & Conditions not stating that accounts are always closed after 2 missed payments BUT including the fact that account closure is discretionary, they refused to change their decisions. I managed to prevent the accounts going to a collection agency and they waived the related charges but I won't be getting another Amex card!!

Smartasss

The late payment will be reported, but if it's the only one it won't make much difference to your credit rating.

nh

slider wrote:

Recently took out an Abbey credit card at 0% for balance transfers. Have been tarting for about 2 years. However on this occasion I was late with the first payment by 3 days. When I recieved my statement I was hit with interest on 4k, a late payment fee , and informed that I had lost the 0% offer. Two phone calls and a small amount of grovelling later and all of the above had been resolved to my complete satisfaction.Needless to say I set up the dd the same day. Its definately worth the price of a phone call.
PS My first post. Hope I did OK

Unbelievable! When this happened to us (with MBNA) it was my fiance's card and when he rang they said no way would they give us 0% back and they wouldn't waive the fee either. We transferred it to FD as soon as we could but incurred about £70 charge. Grr, I was angry! He has been a customer with them for ages as well and paid them loads in interest before I met him (and taught him about these things!). The 0% was an existing customer deal so maybe that made a difference.

We since closed the card of course.

Oaktrees

I am having a tussle with Amex (platinum card). I asked them to increase my credit limit and they suggested moving some credit from my Amex blue card but didn't do so and now I have been 'fined'. Having got no satisfaction on the phone I have written to the Director of Customer Services (personal business) and await a reply. What is worse they have been unable to set my card up on-line so I cannot manage the account. Such unnecessary stress!

rammell

I also wrote to Head of Customer Services (Amex) but had no success. The galling thing was that Amex claimed they ALWAYS cancel accounts after 2 missed payments. If so, why not include this in their Terms & Conditions? If so, why did the Customer Services representative that I spoke to on the phone not warn me of this and even suggested that I'd be OK. If so, why not give 30 days notice of account closure, giving me the opportunity to redeem my Reward Points. Amex sucks!!