Unpaid Item fee - so Santander

student248

First time poster so apologies if this topic has already been covered but here's the situation.

I'm currently a student living in a house with 7 others so 8 in total. I am the one in charge of finances and such and our house's bank account is with Santander. Up until now people have been extremely good with paying rent and things but the last couple of months we have been late and our standing order (that's how we pay the rent) has failed to go through.

Now the landlord has been pretty understanding about this and he has been fine that we have paid a few days late each time so I thought no more of it. But now I see Santander have charged us £25 each time for an unpaid item fee - so.

I was just wondering if there is anything we can do about this or is it just something we need to learn about standing orders? Obviously it may not seem like a lot but for students £50 is an annoying amount to lose

Thanks!

meer53

If the bank account with Santander is in your name i'd be on to your housemates very quickly. Something else you need to learn about is how banks report returned payments to credit reference agencies, this might affect your credit file for a long time to come.

student248

so the standing order not going through is going to be affecting my credit file? (yes the bank account is in my name) How so ?

meer53

Read this, You'll need to check with your landlord to see whether they do this or not.

Rent payments to go on credit files from spring 2013

In March 2012 it was announced rent payments could appear on your Experian credit file by the end of that year. This has been delayed into 2013. This means whether you're on time or late paying rent, it could start to affect your ability to get credit.

The potentially positive impact is that consistently punctual rent payments will appear, boosting your credit history. Here's the key info we know so far...

You won't be linked to flatmates. Originally Experian planned to financially link flatmates who had a shared tenancy agreement. However, after pressure from MSE and our forum users, it changed its plan. See more in the MSE News story.

Who will this apply to? This won't be automatically in all contracts, landlords must insert it. It's believed many 'amateur' landlords are unlikely to do it, certainly to begin with. For now, this will only apply to the private rental market.

Why is Experian doing this? It will open up a new income stream for the credit reference agency, as soon landlords will be able to pay to search credit files before deciding to rent out a property to someone.

Who can see what? Rental payments will soon sit on your credit file, but in a separate section to any mortgage, loan and credit card history.

Landlords will be able to see your rent-paying history to judge you as a potential tenant, but not the rest. Some landlords already check a list of those who often miss payments, but this will be the first full-scale sharing of rent payment data.

Banks and other lenders will be able to see your complete history. See the MSE News story for full details.

student248

ah right I see. I just read the full story as well. I'm with a small scale landlord so I'd be surprised if they had signed up the scheme and there was nothing about it in the new contract we signed with them for next year

Wywth

Be aware, most small landlords reequest a reference from your previous landlord. Your landlord may tell you they are fine with it, but if the landlord is not honest in their reference, then they could find themselves in trouble.

What you can do in future to avoid such bank charges is to ensure you have sufficient cleared funds in your bank account to meet the standing order. It's not as though you don't know it's due.