2 missed credit card payments due to mess up by amex

daz_75

I started using an old Amex credit card just before Christmas got a call in November from them saying because I hadn't used the card for a while the direct debit had expired. I always pay off my cc in full every month so after paying the outstanding balance I asked to set up the dd again to pay it off in full

I've now had a letter saying I've missed 2 months payments, I've checked my email address that's set to get the statements and I've not had anything

Firstly I'm worried how this will affect my credit rating never missed a payment in my life

Secondly I assume when I phone tomorrow I should be able to get the interest costs back I can't see a charge for none payment but there may be one, their website is awful

than_prutt

So you used your card before Christmas and got a call in November (which was quite long before Christmas) saying that your DD had expired. What did you do then? Did you set up a new DD? If you did then payments shouldn't have been missed.


Also, when did you receive this letter about 2 missed payments? If you've only received it now (Feb/Mar) then maybe you should have found out earlier, say Jan, that a payment had been missed.


Anyway, is it a Amex issued card or Amex issued by a different bank? If it's Amex issued card then call their customer service and explain. They are very helpful and competent in my experience.

chattychappy

It does rather sound like that despite your request, the DD wasn't set up again.

But you did spend on the card.... surely you knew you were supposed to have received some statements and seen a payment go out?

Hopefully they will refund back the charges. Most CCs do this first time around in order to retain goodwill and save the costs of a ballyhoo. As for your CRA file, a couple of missed payments is not good news, but not fatal. After a few months they will fade in significance. I wouldn't worry. In the event that a statement wasn't properly generated, Amex might be prepared to remove any late payment reports. If they do say they will do this and it's important to you, then you really need to get the file yourself to check it's been done.

Gizmo247

I avoided something similar only this week. On checking my direct debits, I noticed my corporate Amex DD had disappeared (Santander have an annoying habit of deleting unused DDs). I contacted Amex and they were unaware that it had been cancelled but I got them to cancel and re-apply for the DD anyway.

This has happened before but I only noticed when the DD bounced. Amex then insisted the DD was OK, I made an adhoc payment and it bounced the next month too. (Good that corporate card don't appear in personal CRA records)

Either Santander are just deleting these DDs on their end only or Amex are too dumb to pick up the cancellation event. I suspect it is the latter.

daz_75

Thanks for the replies, although I think the first replier thought I was making it up:(

Anyway gave them a ring after getting a second letter in 2 days. Their computer showed that indeed I did ask for the dd to be setup and they hadn't done it so they've said any costs will be covered by them and a manager will be looking into the issue and the credit rating side of things

rehanmalik3030

Before you started using the card you got a call earlier saying you no longer have a valid direct debit. You then set one up promptly i assume. If yes than you would have got in writing a letter referring to the direct being re set up. This is part of the disclosure that is read when the direct debit is setup.

Did you get this letter? If not why did you not chase this up at the time?

After using the card in christmas on your statement it would have mentioned the direct debit.

Did you check? and chase this up if it said no direct debit?

Did you check your monthly bank statements after your first statement from Amex credit card to see if any money had left by direct to Amex? If not then why did you not chase this up at this stage?

The whole cycle repeats itself and then dear daz_75 gets a letter saying he has missed 2 payments!!

I agree with than_prutt it either sounds made up or the writer has a poor grasp of his finances.

daz_75

Thanks for the friendly sounding reply. Although I'm not sure I see the point of it other than to point out your superiority. As I said Amex have admitted they didn't set it up when they should have. This isn't my main card so didn't think much about it once I made the payment and asked them to set up a direct debit