Barclaycard not reporting closed and cleared account

Squid101

So i seem to find myself looking for guidance from the wise, and here i am again!

My husband and i both had Barclay credit cards. Total amount of available credit 8k. The balances were almost blown whilst we did the house up. We consolidated lending and cleared all the balances. We paid the whole amount on the 25th Feb and also called to close the accounts. Both doing it independently on the same day. We were both told it was done.

March credit report showed accounts still open and full balance still outstanding. I called again and was reasured my account was closed and this was a timeing delay.

Get Aprils credit report and again account reported as still unpaid, and certainly not closed. When i log into the barclay web portal the account is cleared, and was on the 25th Feb.

My question then is this. They have done this to two independent accounts, same time frames etc. One of our credit ratings has dropped a bit, but thats the one with the reported outstanding balance of 6.5k (no wonder). They havent closed the account when we both did this twice. They even tried to keep up with the same offer "Mr/s Squid your such a wonderful customer we would give you 50.00 to stay". Is this ethical, or even legal?

Whats the thinking?

Thrugelmir

Squid101 wrote: »

Whats the thinking?

Takes time to update records. Not instantaneous.

Doctor_Duke

Barclaycard are known to offer incentives to keep customers. I don't see how this is illegal as it is an incentive no different to getting payments to switch current accounts! They do seem really slow and well behind other lenders in updating CRA records. In this day and age it's ludicrous that lenders can't update the CRAs much sooner, possibly even weekly!

Squid101

Thanks both.


I have raised a complaint with both the credit report agency and Barclaycard on the basis that:-


a) We had both closed the accounts over the phone - which they said they had done and they haven't.


b) they are reporting an outstanding balance two months later when this is actually untrue and detrimental to our credit rating.


We closed other credit cards on the same day and they showed up as closed and resolved immediately.


I think Barclaycard maybe need to improve their processes a bit. Bit naughty but also a little dangerous if I hadn't picked up on it. I don't understand what they get to gain from such delaying tactics. Confused.com!

Squid101

Just a little update.


Had a phone call from Barclaycard.


Their story is its an internal processing procedure, and they cant do anything about it.


We paid on the 24th Feb. They "billed" us on the last day of March. Therefore account balance clear on 31st March. I get that. So then the clear credit balance should have been reported to the credit agencies 1st April. But what I have just been told is even though the account is clear the credit agencies are not updated until then 14th of the Month so that's next week.


At this point I said that this means my credit report (as issued on the 4th of the month) will not show clear until 4th May. That's correct I am told.


I am told that there is nothing they can do, but if enough people complain then it might get the procedure changed!!!!


In the mean time, credit scores look like we have still got 8ks worth of debt when we haven't. Our score is going down a bit each month.


I am livid that a company can hold a customer to ransom like this. We paid another credit card at the same time and it was reported paid and closed on the 4th March credit report. If this had not be the case I might have accepted this, but when two providers take considerably different approaches towards the consumer impact of their tardiness then its really not acceptable to be honest.


Sorry rant over!


Bottom line...for new or existing customers....be careful they can seriously impact on your credit score for up to three months even if they have been paid in full.

glentoran99

Squid101 wrote: »

Just a little update.


Had a phone call from Barclaycard.


Their story is its an internal processing procedure, and they cant do anything about it.


We paid on the 24th Feb. They "billed" us on the last day of March. Therefore account balance clear on 31st March. I get that. So then the clear credit balance should have been reported to the credit agencies 1st April. But what I have just been told is even though the account is clear the credit agencies are not updated until then 14th of the Month so that's next week.


At this point I said that this means my credit report (as issued on the 4th of the month) will not show clear until 4th May. That's correct I am told.


I am told that there is nothing they can do, but if enough people complain then it might get the procedure changed!!!!


In the mean time, credit scores look like we have still got 8ks worth of debt when we haven't. Our score is going down a bit each month.


I am livid that a company can hold a customer to ransom like this. We paid another credit card at the same time and it was reported paid and closed on the 4th March credit report. If this had not be the case I might have accepted this, but when two providers take considerably different approaches towards the consumer impact of their tardiness then its really not acceptable to be honest.


Sorry rant over!


Bottom line...for new or existing customers....be careful they can seriously impact on your credit score for up to three months even if they have been paid in full.

If you applied for credit it will show as cleared, anytime after 14th


Your score is irrelevant

Doctor_Duke

The score may well be irrelevant. I agree, but it is certainly not going to help your credit worthiness if you have a large balance still being shown months later on your file that you have cleared. This would be taken into account by lenders should you apply for a credit product. That's the issue for me.

thinkmortgages

Hi - The lenders only update your account once each month, so the report can take up to 28 days to clear on the report dependent on when you pay the debt off.

Thrugelmir

Squid101 wrote: »

b) they are reporting an outstanding balance two months later when this is actually untrue and detrimental to our credit rating.

25th February isn't 2 months.

If you want to throw mud best to get your facts right.

Squid101

Two months - what I am saying is the following. Paid in Feb credit report in March (Not showing as paid) credit report in April (Not showing as paid).


Paid another credit card in on same day was showing on credit report by the March report.


Not sure what the "if you want to throw mud" comments is saying, because I am not throwing mud, I came in here to seek some feedback and see if this is normal or acceptable. I certainty haven't posted "mud", these are the issues as they appear.


On a side note. Mr Squid also had the call following the complaint to Barclaycard. They told him that the reason they don't report immediately is so that if people default it doesn't show up right away. Now I can honestly say this is untrue. Unfortunately I had a missed DD in Jan (my mistake) but that showed up on the Feb credit report.

Squid101

I also appreciate the feedback on the irrelevance of the credit score, and the reporting dates. Thanks for this.


Thankfully at this point in time we have no reason to apply for credit. We will however in January be re-negotiating our mortgage, hence the reason for my anxiety. I am very keen to make sure everything is in order.