Late payment charges

badtoad66

I have recently received a late payment charge from MBNA that I am unhappy about paying. I have spoken to MBNA and they state that although I cleared my account before the due date the fact that I cancelled my direct debit incurred charges as they couldn't take any money from my account - surely this can't be right as I didn't owe them anything so why would they need to take the minimum payment from my bank account. When challenged about this they stated that it says in my agreement (small print) that i should firstly notify them of the cancellation of the direct debit. This has now caused me some problems in trying to get credit as there are now 2 payments in arrears on my credit file. Does anyone know how to rectify this as I have spoken to MBNA about clearing my name and they say they can't do it.

Consumerist

The question here is whether you had also paid in full the month before. If you hadn't then there will be interest owing for the period between your previous statement date and the payment date on that statement.

I don't, however, quite see why they have charged for late payment if your latest payment was on time and at least the minimum amount on your statement.

YorkshireBoy

Consumerist wrote: »

I don't, however, quite see why they have charged for late payment if your latest payment was on time and at least the minimum amount on your statement.

They've charged for a returned direct debit, although I'm not sure why OP has 2 charges?

This MBNA issue gets raised dozens of times a year on here. Here's the most recent thread...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/41793108#Comment_41793108


OP, use the forum search tool (top right), entering "important confirmation direct debit instruction" (without the quotes) and you'll see you're not alone...in not reading the information that MBNA send you.

chattychappy

This is the kind of reason why I never sign DDs.... life is so much simpler (and cheaper) without them!

(Ducks as the DD brigade swings into action...):D

badtoad66

Consumerist wrote: »

The question here is whether you had also paid in full the month before. If you hadn't then there will be interest owing for the period between your previous statement date and the payment date on that statement.

I don't, however, quite see why they have charged for late payment if your latest payment was on time and at least the minimum amount on your statement.

At the time of paying off my account I contacted MBNA and asked for a settlement figure as I was aware there would be interest owing from the date of the statement to the payment date, this was resolved and paid. The problem arose from simply cancelling my direct debit instruction which they say the instruction to my bank had already been sent thus the ball was already rolling to collect the minimum payment required. Surely at the time that I paid in full the direct debit instruction to my bank should have been cancelled as well.

The reason I ended up with 2 arrears marks against me was that I was on paperless statements and when my statements arrived I didn't check them because I was confident the account balance was at zero.

I have now paid them the arrears form the first statement and they have written off the second one but still I have 2 counts of arrears on my credit profile that I would like removing.

Anyone got a clue how to resolve this as I don't think I am totally to blame for this and feel that I have been wronged by them.

chattychappy

It's a bit cruel, but technically they are correct if there was money owing. What was the money owing for those two months? Was it purely the charge from the bounced DD? Was it also interest on the DD? Another thing - you asked for a settlement figure. It sounds as if the figure they gave you was valid on the date they gave it to you, but of course by the time the payment reached them, a few more days' interest would have accrued.

I think the best you can do is complain to MBNA in writing and if necessary escalate to the FOS. Say that you relied on their representations on the phone that you could clear the account by paying the amount quoted. You paid this immediately and that should have been the end of the matter. It was unfair of them to attempt to take the DD given it was agreed that the account was being closed. Besides, it was implicit in your conversation that this was being cancelled as the account was being closed and you were sending a manual payment. Given they shouldn't have attempted to take the DD, it was unreasonable of them to have charged you a penalty when it failed. The fact that they "wrote off" the final amount suggests that this was never really due. On this basis they should correct the credit record. They have not treated you fairly and their actions have been disproportionate.

OK.. that argument is all a bit dodgy and some of the connections are a bit tenuous. But it's the best I can come up with!

IF you only have a couple of late payments, it is not necessarily fatal and they will fade in importance with time. Certainly getting just one of them removed would help.