Help - Card was cleared now got 'Notice of Sums in Arrears' Letter

davethedog_3

Hi,

Hope this is the correct place to post and hope someone can help give some advice.

I cleared the outstanding balance on my Virgin Credit Card in February (just over £8000) I made it clear to the person on the phone what I was doing. My understanding was that the figure given to clear the Card would have squared everything up nicely and left the balance at a big fat ZERO.

Fast forward to yesterdays post and the fact that I do not received paper statements, I get a letter saying that I have defaulted and owed £130. Basically interest was charge a couple of weeks after I cleared the card. Unfortunately I don't receive paper statements.

Anyway, checking my account on-line today shows that I have actually paid 2 x £12 late default payments over the past two months.

I've never defaulted before and worried have any black marks on my credit rating.

I'm going to ring up Virgin tomorrow and clear the account, but I'm looking for any advice from the clued up MSE community.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

You don't get paper statemnets, but presumably your online statements were showing the trailing interest?

If you speak nicely to them, they may refund one or more of the late payments, but the late payment markers are unlikely to come off.

bengal-stripe

I presume you did not clear your account in the previous month, so there would have been an amount of ‘residual' or 'trailing' interest due on the next bill. (Interest due for the days between statement date and the actual date your payment was booked.) If you had said to the operator you wanted to close your account, s/he should have advised you that at least some more interest will be due with the next statement. How can the operator know, you wanted to abandon the account, without actually closing it?

You failed to look at next months statement (obviously your internet access is working), where there would have been a certain amount of interest due. Hence the missed payment(s).

Phone MBNA, eat humble pie and hopefully they’ll drop the charges, if need be only partially, if that’s the best you can negotiate. Your credit rating, due to the missed payments, is likely to be demaged for some time.

davethedog_3

OK lesson learned. I understand the logistics of how I got here with the trailing interest etc and have no issues with the 2 x £12 or paying this interest. I'll square up tomorrow and will check for any more trailing interest in the following months.

But what I am concerned about are these markers and the damage they can potentially cause? For what is purely a hands up moment with me accepting its a c0ckup (by me).

Again, I've no CCJ's and never defaulted on anything in the past. So what problems could I expect?

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

davethedog wrote: »

So what problems could I expect?

You first need to ascertain exactly how much 'damage' has been done.

Order your credit reports from Experian & Equifax, but wait a couple of months to ensure all recent activity has been reported.

Then come back and tell us what it says.

But if you've 2 or 3 consecutive missed payments reported then you can forget about mainstream 'good', ie 0% or mortgage, credit for a good while...maybe a year or more?

Amethyst60

Same thing happened to me, despite telling Sygma Bank UK I wanted to close the account!