Accidental 5 day late amex payment impact on mortgage application

hedged

Hi all,

Completely accidentally, I neglected to pay my American Express bill for one of my cards which I thought I had a direct debit set up on but did not.

After paying for something on the card today, I got a text notifying me that a payment was required on my account and then went to check my account, which said I was over 30 days late for payment. I then called them to find out what was going on and was told there was no direct debit set up. I paid the balance immediately and was told that it was not actually over 30 days late, but 5 days.

I asked if there is a 'grace' period as well as if it could not be marked as a late payment given it was a complete accident and at no point was I informed that my payment was overdue - the text I received said "Prior to making further transactions, please arrange a payment to your account". Even more bizarrely, I've used this card in the last 5 days but only received this today. I was told that it is done on an individual basis, but they would email the credit team and let me know what the response was, but they did not sound particularly positive.

Not really concerned about the late fee, but I am looking to buy a house in the next 6 months and will be applying for a mortgage. What are the chances that it will be marked as a late payment given it was only 5 days and was a complete accident?

If it's the case that they need to mark it as late, is there anything I can do to reduce damage? I remember reading that blemishes on credit history can be annotated by banks etc - would this be an option? I've been a moderately 'heavy' user of amex cards (c.£3k spend a month) for the last three years and I always pay all my bills on time so was hoping there might be some goodwill they could extend.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

One late payment won't be an issue on an otherwise well managed history.

Don't add any NoC's to your files. They do more harm than good.

Amelina

hedged said:

Hi all,

Completely accidentally, I neglected to pay my American Express bill for one of my cards which I thought I had a direct debit set up on but did not.

After paying for something on the card today, I got a text notifying me that a payment was required on my account and then went to check my account, which said I was over 30 days late for payment. I then called them to find out what was going on and was told there was no direct debit set up. I paid the balance immediately and was told that it was not actually over 30 days late, but 5 days.

I asked if there is a 'grace' period as well as if it could not be marked as a late payment given it was a complete accident and at no point was I informed that my payment was overdue - the text I received said "Prior to making further transactions, please arrange a payment to your account". Even more bizarrely, I've used this card in the last 5 days but only received this today. I was told that it is done on an individual basis, but they would email the credit team and let me know what the response was, but they did not sound particularly positive.

Not really concerned about the late fee, but I am looking to buy a house in the next 6 months and will be applying for a mortgage. What are the chances that it will be marked as a late payment given it was only 5 days and was a complete accident?

If it's the case that they need to mark it as late, is there anything I can do to reduce damage? I remember reading that blemishes on credit history can be annotated by banks etc - would this be an option? I've been a moderately 'heavy' user of amex cards (c.£3k spend a month) for the last three years and I always pay all my bills on time so was hoping there might be some goodwill they could extend.

Thanks

Hi, 
I know it has been over a year since you posted this. Did Amex UK report your late payment to the credit score bureau? 

I had one day late payment yesterday and I am think as you did about my re-mortgage which is going to be in few weeks. Thanks

Amelina

Hi, 
I have accidentally missed my Amex credit card due date payment on Friday and paid it straight away in the morning the next day. I am happy to pay any interest and late fee. My main concern is if Amex UK will report it to the credit score bureau as I am remortgaging my house in few weeks. 

Would the one day late payment be reported to the credit score bureau by Amex UK and if yes how heavy/light would be the impact on it? 

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

It depends on timing.

It's impact is then dependent on the rest of your file and your chosen lender   A single transgression needn't be the end of the world.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Amelina said:

Hi, 
I have accidentally missed my Amex credit card due date payment on Friday and paid it straight away in the morning the next day. I am happy to pay any interest and late fee. My main concern is if Amex UK will report it to the credit score bureau as I am remortgaging my house in few weeks. 

Would the one day late payment be reported to the credit score bureau by Amex UK and if yes how heavy/light would be the impact on it? 

Thanks.

Generally speaking, credit reports are made on one date every month. So in the unlikely event that you were unlucky enough to miss a payment in the last few dates of this window it might make it in the report to the CRA. Usually they are happy to tell you if that is the case, do give them a call.

Regarding the impact on your upcoming remortgage (do you already have an offer or are you going to apply in a few weeks?), it depends on the lender and the rest of your credit history. If the late payment will hit your CRA and you are going to apply in a few weeks, do make sure you inform your broker about the same so they can take this into account. If this is a one-off with the rest of your credit history looking good, it should not stop you from accessing mainstream rates.

If you are talking about a product transfer (ie staying with the same lender), this will have no impact on that happening as no checks of your credit history are done.

Amelina

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser said:

Amelina said:

Hi, 
I have accidentally missed my Amex credit card due date payment on Friday and paid it straight away in the morning the next day. I am happy to pay any interest and late fee. My main concern is if Amex UK will report it to the credit score bureau as I am remortgaging my house in few weeks. 

Would the one day late payment be reported to the credit score bureau by Amex UK and if yes how heavy/light would be the impact on it? 

Thanks.

Generally speaking, credit reports are made on one date every month. So in the unlikely event that you were unlucky enough to miss a payment in the last few dates of this window it might make it in the report to the CRA. Usually they are happy to tell you if that is the case, do give them a call.

Regarding the impact on your upcoming remortgage (do you already have an offer or are you going to apply in a few weeks?), it depends on the lender and the rest of your credit history. If the late payment will hit your CRA and you are going to apply in a few weeks, do make sure you inform your broker about the same so they can take this into account. If this is a one-off with the rest of your credit history looking good, it should not stop you from accessing mainstream rates.

If you are talking about a product transfer (ie staying with the same lender), this will have no impact on that happening as no checks of your credit history are done.

Thank you so much for your answer. Very helpful. 
I have called Amex and waiting for them to call me back as they are contacting the dedicated team to confirm if they would report it or not. 
I am re-mortgaging from Natwest to Lloyds and Lloyds have already done their hard Credit Check on 22/02/2020 before I missed the payment on 28/02/2020, I don't know if they will check this again when the date of the mortgage transfer is nearer (01/05/2020). We have not received our offer yet from Lloyds they are checking other staff (income, house valuation done this morning...). So waiting for the offer letter. 
I have checked my Credit Score with the 3 UK bureaus during the weekend: one says 'good', the other one says 'excellent' and the third one says 'Looking Bright'. So worst case scenario, from what you have confirmed to me, one-off with the rest looking good would not harm. 
I will inform Lloyds Mortgage team in case Amex confirm they will report the one day late payment. 
Many thanks again