minimum payment marker

zerog

Heard a lot about this on MSE and elsewhere.

Experian credit report only shows a promotional rate marker. Is the MPM something that only lenders can see, or does it appear on Equifax, or do only certain cards report this?

Also since balances are rounded down (?) to the nearest pound, wouldn't paying 1p more than the minimum not change what is reported (I know most people, including myself, usually pay about £1 over)?

Martinslovechild

Credit Reference agencies record the most recent outstanding balance and details of all monthly payments.

A lender who reviews your credit report will have a approximate idea of the minimum payment required because they know the minimum payment percentage amounts charged by other lenders (e.g. 1%, 2%, 2.25%) each month as well as the standard APR for the card.

The promotional flag simply indicates whether interest is currently being charged and therefore allows them to more accurately calculate both the minimum payment (as normally interest plus percentage outstanding is billed) and the outstanding balance.

chattychappy

The minimum payment marker appears on my experian report, at least for some of my cards.

I always pay at least £1 more. I'm guessing 1p more might be enough and that the rounding thing takes place later in the process - perhaps on reporting/presentation.

YorkshireBoy

Martinslovechild wrote: »

The promotional flag simply indicates whether interest is currently being charged...

How can it? Not every "promotional rate" is 0%.

chattychappy

Annoyingly, I noticed I get a minimum payment marker on Tesco if I pay the full balance when the full balance is also the minimum (because it's under £10 or whatever).

Martinslovechild

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

How can it? Not every "promotional rate" is 0%.

Since you put it like that, YB, you are of course correct. I don't know what I was thinking of!! :beer:

Anthorn

I don't get a minimum payment marker on my Experian report. I don't even see a field where it could be. I have Balance and Payment for each month as well as things like last updated, etc.

Edit: Unless you mean the online one?

stclair

Anthorn wrote: »

I don't get a minimum payment marker on my Experian report. I don't even see a field where it could be. I have Balance and Payment for each month as well as things like last updated, etc.

Edit: Unless you mean the online one?

Im not sure if reports differ from the paper format to the online one.

However the online one now looks like as shown below.

Where the "M" is shown next to the payment code means they have only paid the minimum payment.



However not all lenders report the full information.

zerog

chattychappy wrote: »

Annoyingly, I noticed I get a minimum payment marker on Tesco if I pay the full balance when the full balance is also the minimum (because it's under £10 or whatever).

Yes do you get your report online? Tesco doesn't seem to be reporting min payments on my paper report - I've just opened the card so haven't made any payments yet, but there isn't any field for that, only promo rate, cash advances, etc.

Lloyds and HSBC have the same fields.

Had to get a cash advance for the first time in my life as my flight was to depart in 90 mins, I was still in central London, had no debit cards, only a £20 note and €40 in coins! Experian however doesn't know that I did that, as Santander Zero doesn't report anything except the payment amount.

Edit: OK stclair may be on to something, though I can't see any picture at this time. The paper format has a field called "account status code" which is always 0 for me as I pay on time, so maybe it might change to 0M or whatever, I guess I could find out if I allow Lloyds to take the DD for a few months.

stclair

Sorry zerog take a look Experians "Your Credit Report Explained" booklet:

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/experian-YCRE.pdf

zerog

stclair wrote: »

Sorry zerog take a look Experians "Your Credit Report Explained" booklet:

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/experian-YCRE.pdf

Aha I see, a bit sneaky of them to call it "payment code" when there is only one possible code. Well, rounding up to the next whole pound doesn't get the marker set, so that's what I'll do from now on.