Charged late fee due to credit company sending statement out late

hallj999

I have recently took out a topshop store card and ourchased a £36 item. This week on Wed 24th I received my first statement , dated 2nd November, this statement stated I had a mere 3 working days to make a payment!!? Having been away at my partners for a few days I have only opened this statement today so was alarmed to se I only had 3 days to make a payment and I had infact already missed it, even though I had only been in possession of the statement for 3 days before the date had passed!

I have since rang the customer services line, which when connected, plays an automated voice message saying that it apologises for the late statements being sent out but they were updating their systems! When I spoke to a respresentative I was informed that even thought I had not been given enough time to make a payment sucessfully I will be charged £12 and a late payment flagged on my account!

Is this legal?! Is there not a law or act that states how long a credit company should give a consumer to make a sucessfull payment from the date of receipt of the statment?!

I have a perfect credit rating and am soon to be applying for a mortgage and I dont see why I should have my record and chances of a successful credit rating tarnished by topshops mistake in sending the statements out late!

Can someone please advise me of my consumer rights!!

Regards,

lisyloo

Yes, very likely to win IMO.
It costs them about £500 if you take your complaint to the FOS so write a letter in accordance with the formal complaints procedure and you'll be very likely to get it sorted.

However log in online or set up a DD in future.
Snail mail is so last century :rotfl:

saskay

hallj999 wrote: »

I have recently took out a topshop store card and ourchased a £36 item. This week on Wed 24th I received my first statement , dated 2nd November, this statement stated I had a mere 3 working days to make a payment!!? Having been away at my partners for a few days I have only opened this statement today so was alarmed to se I only had 3 days to make a payment and I had infact already missed it, even though I had only been in possession of the statement for 3 days before the date had passed!

I have since rang the customer services line, which when connected, plays an automated voice message saying that it apologises for the late statements being sent out but they were updating their systems! When I spoke to a respresentative I was informed that even thought I had not been given enough time to make a payment sucessfully I will be charged £12 and a late payment flagged on my account!

Is this legal?! Is there not a law or act that states how long a credit company should give a consumer to make a sucessfull payment from the date of receipt of the statment?!

I have a perfect credit rating and am soon to be applying for a mortgage and I dont see why I should have my record and chances of a successful credit rating tarnished by topshops mistake in sending the statements out late!

Can someone please advise me of my consumer rights!!

Regards,

From what you have said above, I don't think the delayed payment will show up on your credit file. Why?
This is how it works.
Topshop has sent you a statement dated Nov-2nd with a payment due date of Nov-27th. If you don't make a payment by Nov-27th they will mark your account as delayed payment on their books. Note the words "in their books".
This delayed payment will not appear on your credit file as long as you pay atleast the minimum payment shown on your next statement which should sent to you dated around the 2nd of Dec.
Why will this delayed payment not show on your credit report?
Well creditors are only required to report a payment late only if it is late by 30days or more. Also known as 30-days past due. In other words only if you miss 2 payments in a row only then they will show as past due payments on your credit report.

So don't worry about this tarnishing your credit history.

Next, regarding the £12 fee, I think you may have a strong case to get it waived. You need to talk nicely to the customer service person in a convincing way that had the statement not been late you would have made the payment on time and blah blah blah.
Just in case, if it is possible, record the line where the automated message appologies for the delay.

hallj999

thank you all for your advice and replies! I now know exactly where I stand and how to word my letter.

Thanks Very much.

oscar52

saskay wrote: »

Well creditors are only required to report a payment late only if it is late by 30days or more. Also known as 30-days past due.

This is true for SOME creditors, however, the industry standard is actually to report after 5 days late.That said, I agree with others above. If they have already admitted fault, following a complaint I think they will refund your fee(and alter your file)