Credit rating advice from missed payment on store card?

charli4323

Hi, I know this sounds ridiculous but 2 years ago I got a Topshop card just to get 25% discount, paid it off and cut it up. Then in November I spent £70 on topshop online and clicked pay, thinking i'd already linked my HSBC card to the account because it said pay with card, not realizing that it was the store card linked up to it (not sure if Topshop do this automatically as I don't remember doing it)!!! As I'm in university and living away from home most of my mail comes to my new address but I forgot to change the topshop account to my new address so letters were getting sent back home, my Mum told me about topshop letters I was getting but I thought it was just junk mail or letters from the store card saying 0 balance. It wasn't until I went home last week that I read them and I was being threatened with court.. baillifs etc!! I panicked like mad thinking someone had stolen my card!!! When I realized it was actually me who had paid on it I paid off the new balance of £120 I told the woman on the phone from Santander but she didn't seem interested (I guess people make excuses all the time for late payments!) but is there anything I can do as it was a genuine mistake?? Surely they know I could afford the minimum payment of £5??? I'm also stressing now because I checked my credit rating on Noddle and it's down to 3/5 whereas it was 5/5! Can I change this or how long will that stay on my credit score?? HELP!!

[Deleted User]

You can't change it. But it will diminish in importance over time.

What does it actually say on your credit report?

charli4323

Thanks for the reply!
It's just the free credit report on noddle.. so it just says 3/5 and the only red mark I have is this store card because it was 2 months late! 3/5 means I might be denied credit or might not be able to pay my car insurance monthly etc.. It just seems so ridiculous like why wouldn't I have just paid the £5 a month.. surely common sense shows that I wouldn't not pay £5 and then pay £120 3 months later

[Deleted User]

Perhaps. But ultimately lenders want to know that people won't miss payments - whether through intent, being disorganised, or any other reason. Simply chasing up the forgetful with letters and phone calls are costs that they'd rather not incur.

rartherinv

Within the first months a late marker will be a warning signal to lenders that you may be suffering financial stress, but it will dwindle into insignificance with each month that passes. You probably have nothing to worry about with one late marker unless you plan on applying for prime credit in the coming months or a mortgage this year.

You say your score went from 5/5 to 3/5... this is a very abstract measurement of your credit history and you should clarify what data is actually on your files. Noddle is trying to give an executive summary with these ratings but it really isn't much help to you in this matter. You should look for the account within the report and understand what information the catalogue has provided, then think of it from a lender's perspective. This is the best 'credit score' your money can buy.

Noddle/callcredit don't hold a lot of information and most creditors don't search or report to them so, while they are free and good to check now and then, they are pretty useless if you want to make certain of something. If you are just using callcredit to measure your credit history and lenders are using the main two agencies, then you are looking at a Picasso and they are looking at a Rembrandt!

As well as Noddle, get your £2 statutory reports from Experian and Equifax and see if the account was recorded as Late (varying degrees of seriousness) or in Default (probably dropping you into sub-prime territory for the next 6 years whether you pay it off or not).

From your description I don't think they would have registered a default so soon, and hopefully the lateness of the payment falls into the first category of lateness, in which case it will be a case of waiting a few months for the significance of the late marker to dwindle away and the lender's credit scoring computers to assume that there was probably some mixup with a store card on a website and being at uni, rather than becoming unemployed and unable afford to pay or just doing a runner - as is the case with some new late payment markers and why they will be scared of you in the coming months

Best of luck :beer: