Late Payment

January2015

Beautiful-Moose wrote: »

Well my parents had agreed to give us a deposit on a shared ownership flat that is being advertised at the moment but that dream is dead now with this late payment being so fresh on my file.

You can contact the credit reference agencies and ask for a notice of correction to be added to the account. This does not mean the entry has been filed with them incorrectly - it means you can explain the circumstances which led to this blip on your credit file. This means you can put a note against the account explaining the circumstances around the late payment. Lenders may be more flexible if they realise it was a one off and that it was significant enough for you to write correction notices on your CRA files.

Example of how to do this here.

nkkingston

People with incredible credit scores get turned down for mortgages every day. Mortgage providers do not give a flying duck about that number. I don't think they even see it. They care about your debt to income ratio, your history of paying debts, and what would happen if interest rates shot up. One late payment won't make them blink, but if you had a history of them they'd assume you'll also be late on mortgage payments. For you, it's more important to pay the debt down, because the better the debt to income ratio, the better your affordability, and the more likely they are to offer you a mortgage.

ETA - also, do a lot of research into shared ownership before you go for it. It's only a good idea for a very small proportion of people. You take on a lot of risk and responsibility for very little reward with shared ownership (they can still evict you like a landlord until you've staircased to 100%, but you're responsible for all the upkeep etc). If it's not your forever home, it's rarely worth it: shared ownership flats are very hard to sell on. The House Buying Renting and Selling board is a good place to get advice on whether shared ownership is right for you (and may also queel your mortgage fears a little!)

[Deleted User]

Beautiful-Moose wrote: »

Well my parents had agreed to give us a deposit on a shared ownership flat that is being advertised at the moment but that dream is dead now with this late payment being so fresh on my file.

I spoke with Argos again last night and made a complaint against them. They just kept telling me it was my fault and there is nothing they can do as it is their job to report this sort of thing. Even though I made enough points to them that it was a genuine mistake, I paid the late payment fee and minimum payment without argument as I thought that is where the punishment would end. It just seems very harsh to punish someone like this for being barely 48 hours "late" even though I was under the impression my payment dates were the 28th of the month not the 26th and this is the first time this has happened in my life. I also checked my file and I paid on 27th the month before but I didn't get a late payment fee charged or any fuss made about it. Surely that should have been a point to make me aware that I had paid late?

Anyway I have paid off the card in full now (don't need the money for a deposit anymore so may as well put it towards something else) and I've closed down the account as I don't want anything more to do with them ever again after this experience. I took great pleasure in cutting up their card!

Good on you. Following with great interest.

Felt exactly the same way over a short term loan company, have a formal complaint now too so glad you've opened one as well as way to go, but can't help feeling it's going to have something to do with regulations. What would someone do if genuinely their card or account was stolen/hacked meaning in just hours this sort of wicked situation presents.

Anoneemoose

I don't mean to be rude, but surely your statement shows you when payment is due. I appreciate that payments will be around the same time of the month, but I am sure it has to be detailed on your statement.

IF the information is incorrect and it is their fault, then they should remove the late payment marker. If however your statement shows that you are late, then it is no one else's 'fault' but your own. Most of us have done it at some point.

If they haven't made a mistake, I am not sure what good writing a complaint would do? You may be better coming across as polite and apologetic and ask if they can remove it, after explaining the circumstances.

Instead of checking your credit files for when you make payments, you would be best checking the relevant statements in future.

itchyfeet123

I'm surprised there is a late payment marker on your credit file for paying the day after the due date. I get paid on the last business day of the month and do all my banking stuff that day. One of my credit cards has a due date of the 30th, so in months when I get paid on the 31st my payment is late. There are no negative marks in my credit report; Noddle shows every payment as having been made on time.

In fact, if you look at Noddle's list of codes to interpret their reports, it implies there is no notation of late payments until the payment is a month late.

Lau0707

Thats so weird and I would definitely take it further. I changed banks last year, and they didn't switch over my car finance. It was due on 28th and they didn't take it, I kept checking all day, when I rang on the 29th and said to them about it, they said they usually leave it until last working day before marking it as late. I haven't missed it since, but thats just whats happened to me. xx