Affected credit rating

barty51

Hi,

have recieved a letter today regarding my wifes halifax credit card, a payment was made on time for the may payment, i made a payment of £6o, unfortunately i must have misread the ammount due as this was actually £64.47p. A shortfall of £4.47p, the letter today was to advise of the shortfall and we have since discovered today this information has already been passed to credit reference agencies and is on the credid file which as everyone knows will cause us massive problems now for many months, can anybody advise as to whether we can appeal or challenge this as it seems very harsh for a payment that was made on time, thanks barty51.

jakesuk

I'm not sure there's anything you can do to prevent them from reporting it to the CRAs or removing any information they have already reported to the CRAs.

If they have applied an underpayment fee then there is a possibility they may refund it if you speak to customer services politely, but the £12 rebate or whatever it is will be little comfort for you.

Late payments have less impact after 12 months so make sure you don't make the same mistake again. It's not the end of the world, just ensure you keep clean from now on.

Why don't you have a direct debit set up for the minimum payment? This would have avoided the situation you're in.

Chattychappy if you're there - this is why direct debits make sense!

neas

appeal to their compassionate side?

But really the words not got a leg and stand on come to mind.

You were asked to pay X minimum payment.. .you paid X-Y aamount... i.e. not paying the minimum.

You could've set up a DD for minimum payment.. so failed on that but also not reading correctly the reminder.

Technically you didnt pay as agreed and are down... but as its for a small amount could plead

cos_2

If Halifax refuse to retract the info they've passed on you could still add a Notice of Correction to the CRA accounts. Your post reads to me that you've accessed at least two CRAs today, so you should have the info you need to post correction notices.

(Although it's called a Notice of Correction, in this case you'll be using it as a Notice of "Explanation". On the face of things there's nothing to correct.)

izools

also one sole missed payment marker by itself amidst an otherwise perfect credit file won't make much difference atall.

My mother was approved for a Capital One Click (9.9% APR) whilst an account was (erroneously) reported as being one month in arrears. It wasn't even referred, instant accept.

Nothing you can do about the credit reference agency data as it is a true and accurate reflection of the fact the minimum payment wasn't met on time. For Halifax to report anything else would be a breach of the DPA.

You may get some mileage in having the £12 refunded; and you should arrange for a direct debit to be set up for the minimum payment save the same happening again.

You should also routinely pay well over the minimum payment requested as only paying the minimum in and of itself can be considered somewhat negative especially if only the minimum is met every moth for months on end. It is a sign of debt stress. Even if you only pay £1 over the minimum required it will ensure that the "I can't pay much towards my debt" marker isn't added to the account each month.

As regards to the late payment marker I'd be surprised if it, by itself, causes you to be declined for credit. It isn't likely to have any effect whatsoever once 6~12 months have passed