Delay in billing on credit card

Nuttynana

Please can anyone advise me? I had a query on my credit card today & phoned to check it. As part of that call the operator related to me all the transactions for this month & I was amazed to hear that the first two dated from 23/6/2009. They were from two different companies. I have asked why they have only just appeared & was told I need to ask the merchants, but this seems like too much of a coincidence they both forgot & then remembered on the same day.

I have no idea if they are genuine or not (no I don't ever check my transactons ). But the problem is they amount to over £100 & I just don't have the extra money to pay - I always clear the balance each month to avoid charges.

Can they really just add these transactions to my account almost 3 years later without any warning? My circumstances have really taken a downward turn over the intervening years, had they been billed at the time (if genuine) they wouldn't have been a problem, now I'm going to be in trouble.

Thank you

Saints2011

They have six years to claim payment. Raise a dispute with the CC company and see what they can find out. You may not have a leg to stand on.

The lesson would be always check your transactions that's the reason for a statement.

Ben8282

Nuttynana wrote: »

Please can anyone advise me? I had a query on my credit card today & phoned to check it. As part of that call the operator related to me all the transactions for this month & I was amazed to hear that the first two dated from 23/6/2009. They were from two different companies. I have asked why they have only just appeared & was told I need to ask the merchants, but this seems like too much of a coincidence they both forgot & then remembered on the same day.

I have no idea if they are genuine or not (no I don't ever check my transactons ). But the problem is they amount to over £100 & I just don't have the extra money to pay - I always clear the balance each month to avoid charges.

Can they really just add these transactions to my account almost 3 years later without any warning? My circumstances have really taken a downward turn over the intervening years, had they been billed at the time (if genuine) they wouldn't have been a problem, now I'm going to be in trouble.

Thank you

I believe that visa/mastercard guidelines/regulations do not allow merchants to indefinately delay submitting charges. Although your legal responsibility to pay for something that you have purchased does not disappear, I believe that 6 months is the limit for submitting charges, in that the charge form has a validity the same as a cheque. If you wrote a cheque and the payee failed to pay it in for over 2 years, the cheque would be expired and he would have to ask you for a new one.

I agree with you that this seems like too much of a coincidence they both forgot & then remembered on the same day. Impossible in fact.

Contact the cc company and ask for an explanation of why these charges, which you do not recognise, were delayed for so long. If they say to ask the merchants, ask them why they accepted such old charges and to charge them back through visa/mc. Ask the cc company if the charges were authorised at the time as you can't remember incurring them. They won't be able to answer that I'm sure. Don't mention inability to pay or refuse to pay or say will cause you difficulties etc. Try to get cc company to dispute on grounds of unreasonable age of charges. If not, dispute as not yours as you have no recollection of making them.

I also think there are guidelines concerning debiting old charges, delayed perhaps to bank error, without prior warning.

meer53

Ben8282 wrote: »

I believe that visa/mastercard guidelines/regulations do not allow merchants to indefinately delay submitting charges. Although your legal responsibility to pay for something that you have purchased does not disappear, I believe that 6 months is the limit for submitting charges, in that the charge form has a validity the same as a cheque. If you wrote a cheque and the payee failed to pay it in for over 2 years, the cheque would be expired and he would have to ask you for a new one.

I agree with you that this seems like too much of a coincidence they both forgot & then remembered on the same day. Impossible in fact.

Contact the cc company and ask for an explanation of why these charges, which you do not recognise, were delayed for so long. If they say to ask the merchants, ask them why they accepted such old charges and to charge them back through visa/mc. Ask the cc company if the charges were authorised at the time as you can't remember incurring them. They won't be able to answer that I'm sure. Don't mention inability to pay or refuse to pay or say will cause you difficulties etc. Try to get cc company to dispute on grounds of unreasonable age of charges. If not, dispute as not yours as you have no recollection of making them.

I also think there are guidelines concerning debiting old charges, delayed perhaps to bank error, without prior warning.

They can be disputed with the CC issuer as late payments, but they will probably reject as genuine unbilled amounts.

The 2 retailers may use the same payment processing agent who has recently carried out an audit, which may be how the 2 transactions have appeared at the same time.

If they are both genuine transactions and the OP has received the goods or services, then they will have to pay. Otherwise they may find themselves being pursued by the retailers concerned for their money, possibly through legal channels.

As they're on a CC they wouldn't need to be paid in full straight away would they ?

Plxply

As far as I know the authorisation code only lasts 6 months for both Visa and Mastercard, yes my idea of fun is reading through guidelines. I would definitely question your credit card company as there is no way they used the original authorisation as it will have just failed if they attempted to put it through. I'm not saying you don't have to pay it, but it's definitely quite suspicious as they must have retained your full card information for this long to be able to get another authorisation code.

jonesMUFCforever

What are the transactions?
Are they from retailers you normally use or somebody you know that you don't?

Whatever people tell you here about authorisations etc if they find the transactions are genuine then they can debit your card.

MoneyMagic01273

I'd dispute them if I were you. After that length of time, you can genuinely say you do not recognise them. And who knows - genuine or not - the merchants may no longer be able to find or supply the required support for the charges and they may get charged back.

And before anyone lectures me about the "ethics" - save it.There is no excuse for a merchants taking this long to submit a transaction in this day and age.

Nuttynana

Thanks everyone for your comments. The cc company contacted me today and said it had been their fault, a glitch in the system and admitted they should have informed me before adding them to my bill. In the end they agreed to split the cost 50/50, giving a credit of £60 to my account. Bearing in mind the transactions may be mine, I think that's a very fair outcome

Simon7685

Is it a fair outcome though if the transactions weren't yours?? If you don't recognise the retailer and can't recall the transactions, wouldn't it be better to try and dispute them and possibly end up paying nothing. I would find it a bit suspicious that the CC company suddenly offers to cover 50% of the costs. I appreciate they maybe should have told you before applying them to your account but even so........

Obviously it's your business and your call but I would be trying to find out a bit more if I were you.

Nuttynana

I guess I hadn't really thought of that. One is a national supermarket, which I do use. The other is a local shop which I use from time to time, so the transactions could be mine. My initial concern was it was someone messing with my account, but as my daughter has painstakingly explained to me - that would be one seriously complicated scam.

So then really my thoughts turned to thinking they should have given me some warning before sticking them onto my account and hoping I wouldn't notice and at this stage I genuinely have no idea if they are mine but feel relieved I won't have to pay something I can't afford. 3 years ago I wouldn't have noticed the payment, now, post redundancy I really would!

charlie3090

Hi, im no expert but work for a retailer and we shred all our eft slips after 6 months so i guess if you challenged these charges they would not be able to supply you with proof.
this seems really odd and i think its worth disputing the charges,im surprised your c/card company was so willing to split the cost,
good luck with this.