Went over limit once in 12 years; will this affect my credt score?

Edtough

Hi all,

I rarely use my Barclaycard, which I first got 12 years ago. I recently did a house renovation and decided to put a lot of the materials on the BC, just so I could keep a record of what I'd spent. Anyway, I ended up exceeding the £3500 limit by about £50 completely by accident (as opposed to being desperate).

On discovering this I immediatley paid the entire balance. Still got lumbered with a £12 fine:(

But more pressing......will this tiny slip that was born purely from negligence rather than relying on credit, affect my credit rating?

HappyMJ

No and you should have rang Barclaycard. They will refund the first fee incurred in a year but only if you ask. They will also do a limit review to see if that would help you. Does this mistake appear on your credit report at all?

Edtough

You're right! Just got off the phone to them and they have waived the fee, and confirmed that this will not effect my credit rating since the data was not passed on to the powers that be.

Thanks for the tip.

Edtough

While I'm at it, you mention my credit report; I have never done one of these. Can you recommend a free trustworthy site please, and am I right in thinking checking this will also not have any bearing on my rating?

lisyloo

Get the statutory reports that are only £2 from Experian and Equifax.
They will be happy to advertise more expensive services but you won't get anything extra. It is worth getting both as different lenders do different CRAs.

Checking you rating will create a "search" or footprint, but it will not be shown to lenders and it will not be for credit purposes.
There are different types of searches for identity checks, credit application etc.

Don't bother with buying the scores. These are numbers provided buy Experian/Equifax and don't relate to any lenders scores, it's purely to get more money from you.
My advice is don't sign up for the free trial. You may find it difficult to cancel or forget and be stuck with a larger bill - jsut go for the £2 versions.
Equifax is on-line, but Experian you have to wait for a password for so takes about a week - but hey there's no rush in your case.

Edtough

Great advice. Thanks.

udydudy

I would say wait until the month after your overlimit occurence or rather two. Most lenders update the files only once a month and normally IMHO it is within the first 15 days. So if this transaction that you are concerned about happened in april wait until June 15th and get your reports.

I do not think barclays will report the incident to the credit agencies as you immediately got the balance back into track before they reported it(as the CS told you).

Like lisyloo said you can get your reports from Equifax and Experian, in addition also callcredit; get only their statutory reports. I am not sure noddle (which is call credit) are still open to free for new customers. the only problem with noddle is that they show the callcredit reports but a month late.(I do not mind as it is free)