Late Payment Fee During Account Transfer?

pvincent

Well my credit card was charged a late payment fee on 13/03/12. This occurred after a 'switch' from RBS to Halifax (Halifax being my main account from then on).

In addition this late payment fee took me over the limit and I was charged again for being over the limit. Even though I have not spent anything on the card.

My Halifax account was set up on 17/2/12. Halifax were supposed to arrange all my direct debits to go out of that account. For some reason the credit card fee did not go out of any account on the 9/3/12 as it should have done.

Does anyone know what I can and if it is RBS's fault or Halifax's? Because I do not see why I should be charged £24 for something that is clearly not my fault.

Ben8282

Did you advise the cc company of the new direct debit arrangements and set up a new direct debit? Unlike a standing order, a direct debit is instigated by the cc company not the bank. Unless you told the cc company of your new banking arrangements, how could they possibly know?

pvincent

Halifax said they would sort out all direct debits, standing orders, etc and arrange them to be taken from that account. I have had other direct debits come out of the Halifax account since then.

camuk81

Speak to Halifax, they should have a date of when they sent the information over to RBS and when they uploaded the direct debit. Should be fairly easy as its done electronically nowadays and they all keep records

Explain the situation and whats happened.

pvincent

Furthermore, I have a letter from Halifax dated 22 February that shows all direct debits they transferred to them. There is one listed which seems to be my credit card payment, the reference is the same as my credit card number.

So this looks as though Halifax set it up properly and the problem is with RBS? Either way it is certainly not my fault.

camuk81

Then challenge it with RBS. It does take a few days for a direct debit once setting up to take effect but I would suggest that the error is on their behalf and the should refund and ensure there are no late markers placed on your credit file

Miss_Spendalot_2

pvincent wrote: »

Does anyone know what I can and if it is RBS's fault or Halifax's? Because I do not see why I should be charged £24 for something that is clearly not my fault.

Did the Halifax inform you that the switches on your Direct Debits were completed ? Because it says on their website that it SHOULD take less then a month and they will let you know when it is completed..

When I switched my Current Account I was told to make sure I had enough cleared funds in my previous bank in case the DD debits were not switched on time.. On the dates you have given 17th Feb to 9th March that is only 3 weeks.

pvincent

The letter says Halifax have 'asked the companies to take direct debits from 7th March'. Which implies they would be set up by then. If they weren't set up at the date of the letter.

Ben8282

Without wishing to sound critical of your actions, I think that in your place I would have been less trusting and checked myself with every company that holds a direct debit instruction from me that the direct debit had been changed.

From your post, I assume the original direct debit to the RBS account was not taken. Have you asked the credit card company why they did not take the dd from either account? This would imply that the credit card company cancelled the RBS direct debit without replacing it with the Halifax one, which would make them at fault. It is unlikely to be the fault of RBS. It may be the fault of Halifax for providing the credit company with incorrect/incomplete information or the credit card company for not actioning this information correctly.

Your first course of action must be to contact the credit card company and obtain their version of what occurred, specifically why they cancelled the RBS direct debit without replacing it with the new instruction.

Miss_Spendalot_2

pvincent wrote: »

The letter says Halifax have 'asked the companies to take direct debits from 7th March'. Which implies they would be set up by then. If they weren't set up at the date of the letter.

It says have asked the 'companies' but It does not say they have accepted to do it, Don't credit companies apply for the minimum payment a few days before it is due and mark your credit account as paid until the minimum amount is received ? If that was the case they may have applied for the Direct Debit on the 6th..

I hope that you get this resolved though but Banks do not like to take responsibility for anything :-(

pvincent

No, the letter says, and I quote:

"The following direct debit details have been supplied by your previous bank on your account X, which are to be transferred to your account held with Halifax Y.

The table below lists the direct debits that HAVE BEEN transferred to the account you hold with us."

And below the list of payments:

"You don't need to do ANYTHING else if you are happy with these payments as they are listed."

This letter is dated 22 February.

I did not ring up the DD companies because they were all listed on this letter and everything appeared to be fine. And I have come to the conclusion that most likely someone at RBS cancelled the payment from RBS before it was transferred to Halifax and/or blocked the Halifax one too.

I will ring up tomorrow, only found the letter about RBS's fees this afternoon and was quite shocked.