Help - will littlewoods error cause me a huge problem?

Moneysavermum

Hi,
So I'm hoping people more knowledgeable than me can advise here! I bought some items on buy now, pay later through Littlewoods. Payment was due (to avoid the interest charge) by April 2016. I made payment in full by debit card at the end of Feb 2016. In March my statement showed the payment credited but also stated the interest was owing from April. I called to query, advisor said my payment wasn't allocated to the BNPL (only thing on the account!) but he would pass it to relevant department and the interest wouldn't be owed. Effectively account balance would be 0.


So I didn't pay, assuming it was dealt with. Received this months statement yesterday, interest still there, plus "your account is in arrears" and a £12 late payment fee. Now, I spent most of yesterday on the phone to various people at Littlewoods, all of whom agree it isn't my fault, I did make the full balance payment and balance should be zero. Concluded with a call back from someone there yesterday confirming all dealt with, balance zero, late payment charge removed and that she'd sent a memo to have late payment marker removed from my credit file.


BUT, I spoke to credit team who said they share their info with credit reference agencies this weekend and can't remove info in advance, so it has to go on my file to be removed. My concern is we have a decision in principle for a mortgage and would have been due to submit full application next week. I assume such a recent late payment marker would result in a mortgage decline, and I don't know what to do. Should I wait and check with Littlewoods next week that they definitely have removed it? Will removal be instant or is it one of those "update in 28 days things" in which case I assume the mortgage application is stuffed?! I explained to the credit team this was why I was so concerned about how they were reporting this and she said she would keep checking my file and remove it as soon as it went on, but I'm not sure if I'm being naïve in thinking this will be immediate and the bank won't see it when they process our application?


I'm so, so angry with Littlewoods about this, especially when it was the only thing on my account and the payment couldn't have been for anything else, and I even asked the first adviser whether I should call back and check it was done, but he said it was fine. Grrrr.

Ben8282

Sorry but your OP really makes no sense at all to me.
You made a purchase on a buy now, pay later plan. Full payment had to be made before April to avoid payment of interest.
You made full repayment in February and the account balance became nil.
You say that the March statement showed this payment as having been credited and the balance presumably 0.
You mention that the statement stated that interest would be payable from April, which I assume is just for general information as the balance was 0.
You say that you were told that the payment had not been allocated to the BNPL but as you say that the BNPL was the only thing on the account, what else could it have been applied to? And why did you call to query in the first place. If the balance had been repaid and the balance was 0, what could interest the following month possibly be charged on?
You then say that you did not pay the interest .... what interest? Your post implies the interest was charged on March statement when you say that it was going to be charged from April. So what was this interest in respect of?

amersall

Ben8282, the op wants to know if the late charge and having a marker on the credit file (although it will be removed) will affect the mortgage application, due to Littlewoods mistake.
The BNPL and zero balance was only to show how the mistake happened.
You obviously did not read the post properly .

I spoke to credit team who said they share their info with credit reference agencies this weekend and can't remove info in advance, so it has to go on my file to be removed. My concern is we have a decision in principle for a mortgage and would have been due to submit full application next week. I assume such a recent late payment marker would result in a mortgage decline, and I don't know what to do. Should I wait and check with Littlewoods next week that they definitely have removed it? Will removal be instant or is it one of those "update in 28 days things" in which case I assume the mortgage application is stuffed?!

Moneysavermum, I would keep chasing this to make sure, hopefully someone will post who knows how a credit file works.

Put a complaint in to Littlewoods in the meantime, just in case they do not remove it.

Moneysavermum

Ben - I know it makes no sense, that's why I'm so cross about it. The balance should have been zero when I made the payment, the March statement showed the 'interest' (on the BNPL balance) as oweing from 11 April with a minimum payment amount calculated on it. Despite also showing that I'd paid the full amount of the BNPL balance at the end of Feb.

It's ridiculous really, but it is what it is and as amersall says what I'm most bothered about is whether they can remove marks on credit files instantly or is it going to potentially drag on and cause me issues with the mortgage, or scupper the mortgage entirely. They have agreed it was all their error and I have done nothing wrong to warrant any kind of late payment mark.

Ben8282

How can the March statement show interest owing from 11th April other than as an estimate in the same way as credit card statements show 'estimated interest' to be charged the following month.
You say also that the March statement shows the payment as credited so how could the balance have been other than 0?

Moneysavermum

Ben - that is exactly my issue with the company, why was the balance not zeroed when the payment was credited? It should have been, they agree.

I'm not sure why you keep questioning the detail, is it that you don't understand it or simply don't believe me?!

The detail is, as has been pointed out, me trying to explain the background. Either way, the point of my post remains the same, but I'm coming to the conclusion that no one on here knows the answer.

RADDERS

Moneysavermum wrote: »

Ben - that is exactly my issue with the company, why was the balance not zeroed when the payment was credited? It should have been, they agree.

I'm not sure why you keep questioning the detail, is it that you don't understand it or simply don't believe me?!

The detail is, as has been pointed out, me trying to explain the background. Either way, the point of my post remains the same, but I'm coming to the conclusion that no one on here knows the answer.

I work in finance and I do know that if a late payment has been reported to the credit agencies incorrectly that we can send a fax to them and I believe it gets sorted promptly as mistakes do happen. Hope that helps

LuSiVe

I know with Very when you pay towards a BNPL you have to specifically allocate that payment to a particular item, otherwise it goes towards the general balance. I guess it doesn't get allocated if there *is* no general balance.

Did your account show a positive balance in one place and a negative elsewhere adding up to zero?