Missed cc payment made 5 days late

Elefanchito

Hi

I have a credit card with Vanquis. I got a call from them today saying that I had missed a payment last Monday. Being suspicious it was a phishing call, I insisted on calling them back on their regular number. After speaking with them again it appeared the call was genuine and I had in fact missed a payment. I was pretty shocked at that, as I have never missed a payment before of any nature. I had no recollection of receiving the statement in the mail and I told them that, but they charged my 12 pounds late fee regardless even though I otherwise had a perfect record with them of paying on time and in full every month for 2 years. I was so surprised, I immediately made a card payment to Vanquis then and their over the phone.

Just checked my first direct account now and the available balance has dropped so the money has gone but is not showing on the statement yet. No sign of it when I called Vanquis again to check my balance.

While I'm unhappy about the 12 pound fee, I'm more worried about the impact this small error is going to have on my credit report. When I spoke to Vanquis about it they said they would have to report it as they had already issued the next statement (less than a week after the payment was due) and rolled the overdue payment over into the next month. When I call Vanquis the automated system states that the next statement was issued on the 12 May (i.e tomorrow) even though that is in the future, which doesn't make sense. In any event, I'm not sure that the phone payment I made today would clear by tomorrow, so its not likely to credit before the next statement is issued.

So what effect will this have on my credit report? I read somewhere that missed payments which were corrected within 30 days were not reported, but other sites said that only applied to corrections made within 7 days or before the next statement was issued. Does anybody have any experience of how Vanquis usually handle this? Thanks.

pqrdef

You'll get a yellow 1 to add to your green 0's. Think of it like a deliberate fault in a Persian carpet. Anybody can have a glitch. Don't get any more and don't worry about it.

Buzby

The ability to charge for the late fee is not dependent on them sending you a statement (unfair, but there you go).

You really need to diarise the fact money of some sort has to be paid to the CC company - check online or the amount and don't fall in to the same trap.

SnowTiger

Buzby wrote: »

The ability to charge for the late fee is not dependent on them sending you a statement (unfair, but there you go).

You really need to diarise the fact money of some sort has to be paid to the CC company - check online or the amount and don't fall in to the same trap.

Yet another example of why paying by Direct Debit isn't a good idea.

Oh, wait...

Buzby

No it most certainly isn't.

If you are suggesting the OP is incapable of looking after their finances, sure - go for it. But be aware (a) if they forget to take it, you are STILL liable for the payment. (B) you also have no control over how much they take - especially if you've not had your statement to tell you.

Taking the responsibility to pay what you need to under YOUR control (via BACS) remains the smart way. No need to wonder if your bank account is going to take a hit from a bunch of chancers.

pqrdef

Buzby wrote: »

if they forget to take it, you are STILL liable for the payment

That would be silly. If you have a DD instruction in place for minimum payment, you've done what's required of you. You can't be expected to make precautionary payments against their mistakes. What it says in the T&C isn't always enforceable.

you also have no control over how much they take

With a DD for the minimum, they will never take more than the minimum stated on the statement. Some providers may sometimes take less, but always enough.