Advice please - made a very silly mistake

*ditzypixie*

I have a 0% credit card, have been using it for ages and paying off the minimum payment and putting the rest into savings so that a.) I get interest and b.) I have the money to pay it off.

I stupidly went over the credit limit today. My hubby had put something very expensive on it in the week, and I just didn't register that I was that close to the limit until after I'd typed in my PIN. I checked online from the car park and yes, I went over my limit (by £4 grrrrr)

Anyway, presumably I'll get a charge for this which is annoying, but I took my eye off the ball so I suppose I have to accept that. I have now paid off over half the balance online (although it's not cleared yet) so that I'm nowhere near the limit. There's no point in getting interest on it if I'm shelling out on bank charges!

My question is. Will this affect my credit rating? I've never had a late charge or anything before and I'm a bit worried.

How much can they charge in late fee? Is it going to be horrible? Or might it be less because I was only overdrawn for 20 minutes?

Any help/advice gratefully received.

Thank you

YorkshireBoy

If it shows on your statement it'll be a £12 overlimit fee.

However, odds on you now have a much bigger problem...you will probably have lost the 0% offer. Furthermore they'll probably backdate the standard interest to either the last statement date or the date you went overlimit (most likely the former).

SCO

[QUOTE=YorkshireBoy;...you_will_probably_have_lost_the_0%_offer._Furthermore_they'll_probably_backdate_the_standard_interest_to_either_the_last_statement_date_or_the_date_you_went_overlimit_(most_likely_the_former).

[/QUOTE]
If they take the 0% away phone them up and say you will take your business elsewhere, as you paid quite a large amount in it shows you did not do it on purpose and the fact you paid in within 20 mins should help as well.

fishfins

About the credit rating, I've read somewhere (think it might have been in a magazine but I'm not sure, might have been this site) that banks etc. prefer people who are going to make them the most money. If you meet all of your payments and never over-spend you will be less attractive to them because you will never pay them any fees. So don't worry about your credit rating! I was worried the same as you after Natwest made a mistake and took the minimum payment from an empty current account when I had already paid the full amout off my credit card, but the article I read made me feel a lot better

Catslovelycats

might be worth phoning them
if you're only talking about £4 they might be willing to waive any penalty etc
worth asking....

*ditzypixie*

Wow, Yorkshireboy, I never even thought of that.

Have called them, they have confirmed you are correct. And not only interest, but full interest from the date of purchase.

That £4 mistake looks like it's going to cost me a fortune!

Was told that if I could make a payment which will clear by statement date then they would waive it all, £12 fee, backdated interest and black mark on credit rating, but statement date is Monday and because of bank holidays it's not possible.

Sent payment earlier by faster payment, but it won't clear till Tue. So will have to wait and see if they generate statement before clearing transactions or not.

Am properly gutted. That's going to be one extremely expensive bag of compost (the item I bought this afternoon) if I get charged all the backdated interest!!!

Gutted! Guess that's what I get for trying to be a rate tart!!

whatyadoinsucka

have you made a debit card payment on the credit card providers website, some of these payment credit instantly.

ps. you should read martin lewis golden rule never use a Balance Transfer card to make purchases, keep them seperate.

*ditzypixie*

I've looked at the T&C on the dd on their website and it says 3 working days. I suppose I could try anyway.

As for the balance transfer thing. None of it is balance transfer - I had no balances to transfer. It was 0% on purchases and I was nowhere near my limit until hubby put over £500 on it during the week after a very expensive visit to the dentists!!