Late Payment That Not Your Fault - Who's To Blame?

phdpaul

Firstly, let me apologise my (first) lengthy response but I need some advice about a credit card issue. Here goes……

I have been winding down my credit card debt now for the last 5 months now using one of the 0% interest BT as recommended on this excellent site. However, I have come across a problem that I need advice on.

Last week I went to pay my monthly instalment via telephone. Everything went to plan so I thought until a couple of days later I got a letter from the credit card company saying that my bank had declined the amount requested by the credit card company and consequently I had incurred a late fee charge. Although I was really cheesed off with this response I first phoned my bank to see what the problem was (as I knew I was in £2k worth of credit at the time!). They couldn’t explain what had gone wrong at their end and suggested it could have been a problem with the person taking the details off me for the credit card company. Anyway, I contacted the credit card company paid the amount due (again) and a late fee charge.

Today I got three letters from the credit card company – one asking for a payment of nearly £200 (I assume for last month and this months payment), one informing me of the lack of payment on time and lastly, one stating my credit limit had been reduced from £8K to £5K!

My questions are:

1. Do I switch via BT to another card as I’m really cheesed off with their mistakes costing me money;
2. What impact will the reduction on my credit limit have on my credit rating if and/or when I apply for another BT?

Thanks in advance

Paul

jonesMUFCforever

Was the £2k in your bank account CLEARED FUNDS when you telephoned the cr card transaction.
Not knowing how your particular card works but if I pay for anything on the telephone they generally tell me that the transaction has gone through there and then , did this happen to you?
If this is the first time it has happened I would telephone or write to customer relations and ask for the charge to be refunded.

Milarky

It crossed my mind that the card details (debit card that is) given by the OP could have been wrong - and the cause of the non-payment. Anyway if the OP gave correct details and the CC then processed that incorrectly - so the bank did not recognise and pay up - that would make it the CC's fault. If the bank did not honour a correctly quoted request then it's the bank's fault. Either way it looks like someone else is at fault here and the OP should be able to get (one or other) to accept this and get their charge refunded (i.e. you are not liable for other people's mistakes.)

It also sounds to me as if one of the three letters is unrelated - and a coincidence. MBNA cut my credit limit unexpectedly recently (I had done nothiung 'wrong' - it was just a review) and I have a feeling that MBNA might be the company in question.

(Can the OP name the credit card issuer involved here?)

Call_Centre_Monkey

Which bank is your credit card with, phdpaul?

M_Thomson

Could it be that the amount of the payment was not within your usual spending pattern, so the bank declined it?

phdpaul

Thank you very much for your replies.

I contacted the credit card company in question (Royal Bank of Scotland) after clarifying that my bank (HSBC) was not at fault. It seems that the RBS operator took the wrong details. RBS admitted responsibility and refunded me the late fee. Given that it was their mistake in the first place I politely enquired (remembering the advice given in a previous thread) about the reduction in credit - not that I'm that bothered as the sole purpose of this exercise is to reduce and not increase my debt. It seems that this is an automatic response and is reviewed some 6 months down the line. Ah well!:rotfl: