Unjust black mark

Black_Mark

Hi ya all.

I have a problem. Last year i got a Sainsbury bank credit card filled in the direct debit section on the form with the details of my Santander bank account and received the credit card a week after. I bought some furniture as it was 0% card, so far so good, however a month later i received a letter saying my minimum fee had not been paid and a black mark was put against my credit score basically i had no knowledge of this. I immediately paid off the full balance off £750 and thought nothing of it until my bank Santander removed my overdraft facility and another card(virgin) i use for business expenses reduced my credit limit by £4k taking the outstanding £3K as the upper limit making it useless as a general expenses card.

I phoned Sainsburys bank credit card department asking for the reason they put the black mark against my credit score and basically they said that Santander had rejected the direct debit application despite having a large balance in the account. I then phoned Santander and they denied ever receiving the application from Sainsburys.

So does anybody know how i get this black mark lifted as it is clearly unfair? I don't seem to be getting anywhere with Sainsburys.

Ben8282

Removal of the overdraft facility by Santander and a reduction in credit limit by Virgin is highly unlikely to be the result of an isolated late payment on a credit card account which was subsequently repaid in full a few days later.
I also very much doubt that you received a letter from Sainsburys stating that 'a black mark has been put against your credit score'. Could you please clarify the exact nature of this 'black mark'.
Are you saying that Santander rejected the direct debit mandate in the sense of refusing/being unable to set up the direct debit or that they failed to pay the direct debit when Sanisburys requested the first payment?
What is the current situation with regard to the 0% purchases offer on the card and the Sainsburys credit card account?

Nebulous2

What do your credit files show for the Sainsbury card? They'll give you the details of what the black mark is. Once you know what it looks like you can get more specific advice.

You can check your reports free from different companies, it would be worthwhile getting them all as information held might vary. Companies offering free reports are;-
Noddle
Clearscore
MSE credit club

MEM62

Unjust black mark

Credit history reporting is neither just or unjust, it is purely factual. If the data on you report is inaccurate you can ask for it to be changed.

There is no such thing as a 'black mark'. You will probably have a late payment marker or, less likely if you paid straight away, a default marker. Which is it?

Gaz83

MEM62 wrote: »

Unjust black mark

Credit history reporting is neither just or unjust, it is purely factual. If the data on you report is inaccurate you can ask for it to be changed.

Point of order: the facts themselves can be just or unjust.

MEM62

Gaz83 wrote: »

Point of order: the facts themselves can be just or unjust.

Unfortunate maybe but unjust. How so? The facts just record the history.

Black_Mark

MEM62 wrote: »

Unjust black mark

Credit history reporting is neither just or unjust, it is purely factual. If the data on you report is inaccurate you can ask for it to be changed.

There is no such thing as a 'black mark'. You will probably have a late payment marker or, less likely if you paid straight away, a default marker. Which is it?

I have never defaulted on a payment before so I have no idea why they would put a default on the credit score on a single first missed payment which i was unaware of because i had filled the details in correctly. I fully understand the rating is based on many factors but I earn 3 x the average salary and like i said earlier have never missed a payment. The only thing i can think it has something to do with is because i travel a lot with my job. It can be months between my business expenses getting paid but i have direct debits that are set at well over any possible minimum payment to stop any late payments.

Black_Mark

Ben8282 wrote: »

Removal of the overdraft facility by Santander and a reduction in credit limit by Virgin is highly unlikely to be the result of an isolated late payment on a credit card account which was subsequently repaid in full a few days later.
I also very much doubt that you received a letter from Sainsburys stating that 'a black mark has been put against your credit score'. Could you please clarify the exact nature of this 'black mark'.
Are you saying that Santander rejected the direct debit mandate in the sense of refusing/being unable to set up the direct debit or that they failed to pay the direct debit when Sanisburys requested the first payment?
What is the current situation with regard to the 0% purchases offer on the card and the Sainsburys credit card account?

I have the feeling that Sainsburys simply didn't actually process the direct debit at all despite having the details. I paid off the card in full it now actually shows a £9 credit. When i look at the Experian credit score the late payment is against the Sainsburys card. My Santander account actually had £6K in it at the time.

Ben8282

Have read the last 2 replies.
I don't think that the account has been defaulted and I don't think your credit files are showing a default. I think they are showing a late payment marker (status 1). Not the end of the world and certainly not enough, in itself, to have caused the problems you mention.
Out of curiosity, how is the credit balance of £9 shown on the credit report?
The next thing to do is to check your Sainsburys statement to see if there is any mention of a direct debit, wording such as '£X will be taken by direct debit on ...'.
What is the current status of the direct debit? Has it now been set up?
Have you lost the 0% promotional purchase rate on the card?