Credit Report - Late Payment! :(

efunc

I'm considering buying a house so I checked my online credit report yesterday, only to find that there is a '1 Payment Late' notice on my HSBC current account from 3 months ago in Equifax! An isolated blemish on an account I've had for 30 years, but a blemish nonetheless, and so recent! I'm not sure if it's accurately recorded as a Payment Late but it came about thus:

I have large cash savings in several accounts and in December 2010 I thought I'd open a new Nationwide Mysave account which appeared to be offering the best savings rate, and better than my AA Saving Account. As part of their application procedure they ask you how much you intend to deposit. Not realising it was such a crucial question I just put down £10k as a ballpark indication. Unbeknown to me this was now the amount Nationwide would try to request from my HSBC current account as an opening balance, instead of them just supplying me with the account number and allowing me to transfer funds in as I liked. I then had to hurry to my AA account to transfer the necessary funds into my HSBC current account in time for the Nationwide request, which otherwise had a small residual balance. I did this successfully (I thought!), however in my haste instead of transferring in £10000, I'd mis-typed and only transferred £1000!! That costly zero that I could hardly see on my tiny computer screen meant that the request by Nationwide bounced and had to be recalled by HSBC. I have a £1000 overdraft facility on my HSBC account, but apparently I was not overdrawn during this transaction. I was charged a recall fee and now have 1 Late Payment notice on my Credit Report instead

I just received my Experian Credit Report too today to confirm, and it states:

Status History: 001000000000
In the last 36 months of account activity, the number of status 1-2 is 1 and the number of status 3+ is 0

So, how serious is this in terms of applying for a mortgage? Can I have this contested with HSBC? Should it even be classed as a Late Payment seeing as it was just my own funds I was transferring between my own accounts? Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks!

Hax

A single '1' shouldn't cause you too much trouble.

However, I'm a little intrigued as to why a late payment was recorded. Technically, all that happened is an attempt to claim funds from your account bounced - I can't see how this has breached any "repayment" terms and conditions you may have with your bank as they should only be in reference to any overdraft where they probably have the right to demand repayment in full in a very short time - however, they would still need to give you notice of that event.

I'd push this with HSBC and ask them what credit agreement you were late making a payment on. My feeling is it's unjustified and they should remove the mark.

The fee is probably correct and you'd have less grounds to fight that on - but possibly still worth a go

Good luck!

efunc

Thanks very much for your input Hax, much appreciated. I'm happy to let them have the £25 fee, but I'm much more concerned about the warning flag on my credit file. When I originally queried it with HSBC they said that I hadn't gone overdrawn, even though the funds seem to have left my account for a day. The fee was just to cover the recall when there wasn't sufficient funds in my balance to cover the transaction. I'm confused my this Late Payment business. I suppose then it would be best for me to just write to them for an explanation? Should I come right out and ask them if they can remove the warning from my credit file?

YorkshireBoy

efunc wrote: »

The fee was just to cover the recall when there wasn't sufficient funds in my balance to cover the transaction. I'm confused my this Late Payment business.

It's not a "late payment" marker. Markers on a current account status history have a different meaning. In your case, the "1" means...

Cheques, direct debits and standing orders may have been bounced to keep the account in order.

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/YCREJul08.pdf (see pages 14-15)

efunc

That may be so in Experian, but on my Equifax report when I log-in and hover over the month of December with the '1' in the box there's a description that says 'Status: 1 Payment Late'. Is this incorrectly reported then? Would that be HSBC or Equifax's fault?

YorkshireBoy

efunc wrote: »

Would that be HSBC or Equifax's fault?

It must be down to Equifax, because why would HSBC say you'd made a "late payment" when you haven't?

Have you had a look to see if there's a similar document (to Experian's) on the Equifax site?

stclair

Correct me if im wrong however does it not show as a "1" when your overdraft balance has been greater than your overdraft limit.

stclair

efunc wrote: »

Thanks very much for your input Hax, much appreciated. I'm happy to let them have the £25 fee, but I'm much more concerned about the warning flag on my credit file. When I originally queried it with HSBC they said that I hadn't gone overdrawn, even though the funds seem to have left my account for a day. The fee was just to cover the recall when there wasn't sufficient funds in my balance to cover the transaction. I'm confused my this Late Payment business. I suppose then it would be best for me to just write to them for an explanation? Should I come right out and ask them if they can remove the warning from my credit file?

I would visit your local branch and ask them to explain it to you. If you havent exceeded your overdraft limit then it should not appear as a "1" and you should ask them to update your credit file.

efunc

Thanks. I do hope it's that simple. I can't really see why it wouldn't have exceeded my overdraft though, unless the funds didn't physically leave my account. However my Nationwide MySave account does show the funds in there for a day and then transferred back out again straight away. Eitherway, it's very annoying and I'm kicking myself for the typo.

stclair

efunc wrote: »

Thanks. I do hope it's that simple. I can't really see why it wouldn't have exceeded my overdraft though, unless the funds didn't physically leave my account. However my Nationwide MySave account does show the funds in there for a day and then transferred back out again straight away. Eitherway, it's very annoying and I'm kicking myself for the typo.

I would go armed with your credit report as they will no doubt ask you to provide it as evidence etc. I really hope you get it sorted out theres something not quite right HSBC are probably playing silly beggars.

Hax

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

It's not a "late payment" marker. Markers on a current account status history have a different meaning. In your case, the "1" means...

Thanks for that YorkshireBoy - I hadn't realised that bounced payments on current accounts were reported in this way.

In which case, it would seem that's the reason the OP has had their account marked as such.

Still, I don't think a single late payment would cause too much problems - especially not six months or so down the line. If concerned, you could always put a note against the marker, explaining the situation.