Defaulted on a Payment, Is it the Bank's Fault?

kirkie_2

A very similar thing happened with me recently. I have a credit card with the Halifax and I have a direct debit set up with the Alliance & Leicester to pay it off in full every month which it has done for the last 12 months or so. I checked my Halifax statement and I saw that the direct debit had been collected then the following day it was all taken out again and said payment reversal. The Halifax claimed that they took the payment like they always did, but then it was recalled due to a direct debit problem. The A&L claimed that the Direct Debit had been cancelled, but didn't know by who or how.

To cut to the chase I got a warning on my credit report, both will not accept responsibility. Halifax refunded the £12 late payment fee and A&L gave me £25 as a gesture of goodwill. I refused to accept both as I want to escalate to the Ombudsman, but they will not take the cash back out of my account.

davethorp

Hax wrote: »

Whenever I've set up a new direct debit, I check the list of direct debits set up on my bank account regularly - they almost always appear before the collection date.

So, in short, you can find out before it is collected

Not necessarily

Natwest and RBS only show direct debits on their internet banking after a first payment has been taken. New direct debits are viewable by staff over telephone and in branch but not online so if the OP banks with either of them, or any other bank that works in a similar way, they may not have been able to check (easily anyway)

Newtoallthis_2

Kind of the same thing happened to me, a clear bank error, but it was still a hugely stressful incident...

Opened a cc two months ago now. On the day I recieved confirmation of the card opening I rang to set a dd
Rang back a little later to confirm it had been set up as I hadn't received any confirmation and they denied all knowledge. Reset it on the phone.
Rang back again a little later to confirm what was going on, they confirmed with me it was all set up, and that it was due to take on the next payment date.
Rang back a little later as I'd forgotten the date it was due to take and again, they confirmed everything was fine.
Next I have a phone call from the bank advising me that my card is in arrears can I please make the payment, oh and there's a charge.
Now I have notes and details of all of the calls, and I'm more than aware that they can listen back to these.
So on the phone call I reset the dd once more, made the payment, I complained rather calmly and my late charge was ammended (though surprisingly they took my word for it rather than needing details) I then asked that any changes to my credit history caused by the missed payment were also ammended, and at this point the bank agent gave me false information and told me that it wouldn't have affected this.
(I am a staff member with relevant knowledge to this situation, so I know this isn't the case) So I asked for it to be escalated to someone who knew what they were doing and for all the original calls to be listened to including the one I was on.
Rang back the next day not feeling terribly confident about the agent and was advised that no, my complaint hadn't been raised and that no-one was looking into it for me. Raised another one.
Got another call back, finally, got my dd set up, refund of the late payment charge, confirmation that my credit history would be ammended (Not that I'm not trusting but I will check this myself..) and also confirmation that the 0% introductory rate wouldn't be affected.
My last payment has gone out ok.
But bleuch!

MCompton, you say that: 'he "did not think" that a single missed payment would have been recorded on my credit file'
I doubt this is the case so chase it up. Whenever you take out something like this out you are ALWAYS advised something along the lines of: if you default on a payment information will be passed to credit reference agencies.
I know the bank I work for will pass the information straight away, and as you can see the first person I spoke to also: "did not think" that a single missed payment would have been recorded on my credit file.
Although in my case I got a straightforward: "no" . Which was confirmed by the final agent as an outright lie (though was phrased as "misleading").

Kirkie, sounds like both sides are acting as petulent children refusing to discover where the fault of the returned dd lies, so fingers crossed and good luck with the ombudsman!!

slopemaster

I also had v similar scenario with new Co-op credit card - and I also was setting up the DD from one of their own current accounts. My card was blocked and I was charged defualt fees.
Turns out they tried to take the DD but it was 'bounced' because the person who set it up for me (over the phone) forgot to put my CC number on it - so it just went into a holding account and then bounced back.
But they didn't contact me at that point, just blocked the card, and then later sent a snotty letter about me defaulting. Like others, I couldnt get a straight answer about whether there would be a marker on my credit file. Have checked myself and there isnt, but it could still turn up later I guess so will have to check again next month.
None too happy...

slopemaster

They havent refunded the default fee either, tho they said they would.
Think I can feel a letter coming on...