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

not_happy_5

I recently transferred a balance to Barclaycard and moved house. I was very busy with the move and forgot to set up a direct debit I missed a payment and phoned to try and explain but they were not interested and charged me (£20 I think). They were very unhelpful and rude, hence I won't be using them again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I will stick with Egg and First Direct where I have never had a problem.

There is such a competative and vast market for credit cards out there that it is in the companies interest to treat the customer with respect and courtesy. I didn't even bother to complain as my time is precious and I merely took my custom elsewhere.

leepotton

As it's automated I've found credit card companies will credit for a late payment as long as you don't make a habit of it.

I've also found that banks will do the same if you go over your overdraft limit for a few days before your salary is paid in and they end up charging you. Just tell them politely what has happened and you have a good chance. If you regularly go over your overdraft limit then instead of trying to get a refund or paying the fees just ask them to increase your overdraft limit if you need it to save on any excess charges. If you get nowhere and you feel hard done by then write to them and hint that you may move banks if they treat you badly.

Being a card tart myself I often find that when shifting balances between cards I receive a call from the previous company asking me to transfer some money back in exchange for a better interest rate. They will ask what rate you are going to so even if you lie a bit and tell them the rate is better than it is they will offer you a good rate. Whether it's enough to tempt you is down to you.

Also, don't be afraid to call them to either increase your limit or to get a better interest rate.....it's such a competitive business they should help unless you are a new customer or an erratic payer.

Lee

Smiley_Mum

I missed paying my Tesco card one time and I called up and explained it was an oversight on my part, and they waived the late payment fee. I do pay on the nail every month though so I guess so long as you are usually on the ball with your payments they turn a blind eye to the occasional slip up on payment.

Altarf

An article by Richard Colbey, a barrister who writes for the Guardian, suggesting that these charges may not be legal:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_jobs_and_money/story/0,,1333400,00.html

and his report of somebody who took the banks to court

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_jobs_and_money/story/0,,1405937,00.html

Pukeko

We were on holiday and came back on a Friday, realised on Sunday afternoon that my husband's credit card bill was due to be paid on the Monday, and we immediately transferred the funds online. We bank with Lloyds (Platinum account) and the credit card was a Lloyds Platinum one.

My husband got charged the £25 fine for a "late" payment, so we finished work early and went into our branch and spoke to a manager type person and explained that (although they say "allow 3 days" or whatever) we had made our payment on the Sunday afternoon before the bill was due. My husband had never missed a payment before and he has quite a large limit with them (not a large debt, just a large limit). The manager type person said that it says online that card payments made on a Sunday before 12pm on the internet will be honoured but as ours was after 12pm we would have to accept the fine. Not knowing any better (but not having remembered there being any such small print) we left. Got home and looked it up online and lo and behold NO mention of this at all. If anyone else banks with Lloyds and can see this message then please advise!!

It happened a few months back and we weren't able to get back into our branch so have worn the charge, but considering our good custom and the fact that we had paid before the bill was due I can't believe they didn't waive the charge, it seems like very bad customer service to me. I know they don't have to waive the charge but considering the circumstances (ie. we had paid!) I thought their response was very poor.
Anyway since then and thanks to Martin we have found better deals elsewhere so we have transferred balances and are also checking the new A&L current account deal as advised by Martin (looks good! )

monki_man

Just a quick update,

I've just got my statement from Sainsburys and on it was a late payment fee of £25. I knew they would waive this fee if I call up and explained what happened. But what I didn't know was they wouldnt report this to experian that I made a late payment. Is this true? The helpful guy told me that its sainsburys that has to tell Experian if there was any late payment. So in my case as they waived the fee I should still have all '0' in my report. Anyone else confirm this?

While I was on the phone I set up DD with them to avoid this happening in the future.

Galstonian

As payment history is not updated in real time I think you should find this is true. I believe (but cannot confirm this) that you could be a lot later but so long as you are not a full payment behind when they update the history it will come through as a '0'.

zcaprd7

High all, Martin I am suprised you are not a bit more ruthless on this.

If you break the T&Cs and are in breach of contract the credit card company could sue for damages - however these are for the courts to decide and impose.

There is a test case with a mortgage company and the court decided they could only charge the money they were owed or thought they may lose - as the customer was willing to pay up the court decided that "penalising" customers with fines was illegal.

Now I'm not a lawyer but I do remember the case from a while back - it certainly catches all the "I went £5 over and they fined me £25" incidents which should not be allowed.

Could be an area for more jounalistic research...

isasmurf

MSE_Martin wrote:

However, don't just settle for this. Most card companies tend to have a loose 'one mistake rule'. In other words, if you're usually a good customer or have just started an account. If you make a mistake, such as paying late, call it up and tell them "it was a mistake, i didn't realise, is there any chance you can wipe the fine this time?"

Most times they'll say yes, so always call up and ask. If they so no, calmly try and persuade them and speak to a superviser. There are no hard fast rules but more often than not it works.

Except HBOS. :mad: I never got a statement in December, and it wasn't until I got back after Christmas that I realised I hadn't got a statement. So I phoned up straight away and told them this. They said payment was due today, so I paid by Debit Card. It only occured to me afterwards that I could've gone to a branch to pay in cash. They sent me a copy of my statement and charged me a late payment fee and despite having a valid excuse for not paying in time they wouldn't waive it.

I also thought it was sneaky of them to bring the payment date forward a few days just because it was Christmas, they were probably hoping to catch a few people out over the festive period. If it was the normal payment date I would have made the payment in time. :mad: Serves me right for not setting up a DD I suppose. Thankfully it hasn't invalidated my stoozing period.

I usually stay well clear of HBOS, but greed got the better of me this time (I was running out 0% cards to apply for!) but never again will I have anything to do with this poor excuse for a bank.... well not unless they offer 20% on an ISA!

jat100

A while back, my Direct Debit to a company for a loan was not paid because of a mix-up (long story!) and not noticed by me. Subsequent payments (for the next 3 months went through OK. The company apparently called me but as they did not leave a message on my answering machine, I was not aware that there was a problem.

Although I identified the 0870 number as being theirs' from dialling 1471, I did not call back because they regularly make 'marketing' calls to me despite repeated requests not to do so. Eventually, I was in when they called and was made aware of the problem. The individual I spoke to was very helpful and, when I had explained the situation, took a direct debit payment over the 'phone for the missing amount.

A few days later, someone from another department called and told me that I owed £60 for late payments (£20 for each). Although subsequent payments were made after the missing one, these went to cover the 'arrears' payment each time. I explained everything again, gave the name of the person I had previously spoken to and said that he had not mentioned any additional charges at that time. The caller was very persistent in saying that I had to pay the £60 (to the point of being aggressive - at which point I would normally have given in and paid the charges) but, spurred on by having read Martin's articles and this forum, I refused to pay reiterating my situation. The caller said that he would check into it and speak to his supervisor. I never heard anything about late payment charges after that.

Interestingly, my credit file only records one late payment and not 3! (which is good!)

So, stand your ground - what have you got to lose! They can only say 'No'!