Please soothe my paranoid mind

TheFlyingGerbil

I'm quite upset and would love someone to tell me I'm just being silly. Here's what's happened.

I've never had any credit before so at the start of the year I opened a Barclaycard Initial Credit card to start building up a credit history. The most I ever spent on it in a month was less than £30 and I always paid off the debt in full as soon as the statement arrived. As you can see I was not using it to spend beyond my means.

When my last statement arrived (Sept) it had a payment for £30 for a purchase I made and £13 for late payment and interest. I couldn't understand why this was so I looked through my previous statements and it turned out I'd never received the August statement so hadn't paid anything off that bill at all and didn't realise anything was amiss until the Sept statement.

I phoned up Barclaycard straight away and explained that I was upset and that I'd only got the card to improve my credit, and about my previous prompt and full payments. The guy on the phones was very nice but didn't offer to do anything so after a bit of asking he refunded half the late payment but said he couldn't do anything about the interest I paid off the full amount right then over the phone as I wasn't so bothered about the extra money as the effect on my Credit History and he explained that my account hadn't been marked as in 'dereliction' (I think that's the term he used) and so it wouldn't have had any effect on my rating.

Anyway, I know this is a bit rambling but I feel sick with worry and am now so paranoid I check the barclaycard website twice a week to make sure my payment isn't due. I can't believe it hasn't been put on my record somehow as me being a 'non-payer' so I would love someone to tell me that what the customer advisor is true and that I still have a good rating.

Joe

jonesMUFCforever

One late payment will not be a disaster (provided you had a fairly clean credit history beforehand).

Why don't you set up a direct debit to pay your bill in full each month?

stacey21_2

Hi

I was in a similar situation to yourself the other week and called Barclaycard who said it would not show on my credit history. I'm assuming that if goes past a certain time frame (1 week? 2 weeks?) that they then report it to the credit ref agencies?

TheFlyingGerbil

ejones999: As far as I can work out you can only set up DD to pay the minimum amount not the full amount. You can't even set it up so they send you an email when you have a new statement ready - it's pretty awful but I'm not sure if I can move now as I may be 'blacklisted'.

stacey21: I hope you're correct! Good luck to you too.

Joe

Stephen_Leak

This one-off "hiccup" won't have any effect.

However, it is up to the customer to know when their last monthly bill arrived and was due to be paid, and therefore when the next one is due to arrive and due to be paid. The simple way to cover yourself against late or non-delivery of bills is to set up a Direct Debit for either the minimum payment or preferably the full amount.

PS. Some banks and CCC are very sneaky about not offering the option to pay the full amount by DD. Ring them up and ask to be sent a DD mandate form. This has to show both options (altho' the print may be just this side of microscopic!). If it doesn't, the FSA would be very interested.

Fill it in for the full amount, take a photocopy and send it back to the CCC. When they send you their confirmation, check that it had been set up for the full amount. If it isn't, or doesn't say which option it is, ring them up and check. If they've put you on the minimum payment option, "unleash hell" and let them know that you requested it in writing and you've got a copy. GE Capital tried this trick on me, and I got a very well worded "apology" and a £5 credit as well.

TheFlyingGerbil

Stephen Leak: Awww, I thought I was being very good and just set up a DD over the phone to pay in full. I'd better check the confirmation letter they send me very carefully. I guess I need to get my head into MSE mode a bit better and realise everyone and everything is evil and after my money!

Joe

YorkshireBoy

TheFlyingGerbil wrote: »

I'd better check the confirmation letter they send me very carefully.

Check also your statements very closely. Look for the wording "your direct debit payment will be collected from your nominated account on xx/xx/xx".

Because DD's can take up to a month to set up, it's quite possible that you will have to make your next payment by other means.

Re the late payment, you could wait a month or so and order your £2 statutory credit reports* (from Experian and Equifax) to check if Barclaycard have reported it.


* 30-day free trials are available, but you must remember to cancel. Details elsewhere on the site.

sicker

A lesson to be learned here is to KNOW when your mailed statement is due and do something about it if you don't receive one. This is not a critisism but a nudge to get folk to be aware of the pitfalls.

John

Stephen_Leak

TheFlyingGerbil wrote: »

Stephen Leak: Awww, I thought I was being very good and just set up a DD over the phone to pay in full. I'd better check the confirmation letter they send me very carefully. I guess I need to get my head into MSE mode a bit better and realise everyone and everything is evil and after my money!

Joe

You're learning! Most are perfectly OK, but every once in a while a "mistake" happens.

MSE will also cure your paranoia: paranoia is the irrational belief that everyone might be out to get you. The more you learn about personal finance, the more you will know that everyone (especially banks, credit card companies, insurers, utilities, retailers, etc.) is out to get you!

They're not evil: they're just looking after their shareholders, as they should. Its all just part of the great game we play with each other.