Natwest - 5x Missed Payments

Celtikah

At the time of the event back in March, our mortgage was paid through a joint account which we top up each month.

We unfortunately missed 1 Payment in March, due to not topping up our account in time. Covid then struck, and although we were able to make every other scheduled mortgage payment throughout the Pandemic, we had no way of actually giving them the missed Payment (The website stated that missed payments could only be paid via the phone, and we clocked up almost 24 hours on-hold through attempts without ever getting through to an Operator). We eventually managed to get through to an Operator a few months later - and paid in full.

Upon looking at my Credit Report, i can see that Natwest have stung me for 5X Missed mortgage Payments. I called them up and explained that i felt this was a bit harsh, as it was just one payment missed, and took longer to resolve due to Natwest failing to answer their phone. The operator said there was nothing they could do, as they had no record of us calling, as they only record calls which actually go through to an Operator.

We have now sorted out our financial housekeeping so this will not happen in the future, however we are looking to move to a larger house, and now have (What prospective Creditors will think) 5 recent, consecutive missed mortgage payments.

Help would be much appreciated.

Shakin_Steve

They have obviously been allocating the payments you made to the previous month, which I don't think is the right way to report to the CRA's. If this was normal practice one missed payment on a loan or credit card would generate a late payment every month, instead of just the one that was missed. 

You'll have to contact them again and, if they refuse to budge, lodge a complaint. You'll have to hang fire on the new home until it is sorted, if it goes to the ombudsman it could take months. Either way, you're going to end up with one missed payment.

Celtikah

Thanks Steve,

And fully agree - I'm happy to take the hit on 1 missed payment. And i also think that it's better to fight it for a few months and (Hopefully) get it removed - rather than have it sat on there for 6 Years.

I guess the comment regarding the CRA is also a good point. The purpose of the CR is to give a clear picture on the candidates Credit suitability...and Natwest have a responsibility to ensure they are supplying accurate information. However, the way they have chosen to report this case is misleading to any prospective lenders.

The Coronavirus/Jammed Phone lines almost become a moot point.

D3xt3r5L4b

I find it hard to believe it took you 5 months to get through to someone on the phone

molerat

I assume they are reporting 1-1-1-1-1 and not 1-2-3-4-5, the former being correct as you were consistently 1 month behind until you made up the missing payment. I would though lodge a formal written complaint, supplying evidence of your abortive phone calls, stating that at a very early stage you tried to make up the payment but were thwarted by their only method to make that payment being unavailable.  That said, are you sure that there is no way to make payments other than over the phone ?

D3xt3r5L4b

Their website states:

If you have missed a monthly Direct Debit mortgage payment, we will automatically try again to collect the Direct Debit payment ten working days after our first attempt. So, there is no need to make an additional payment. Please note there is a £35 charge for missing a mortgage payment that will be added to your mortgage balance.

If you do need to make a payment before your Direct Debit takes effect, you can do an online transfer into our account (ACC: 98390031 SC: 60-06-57) using your mortgage account number and surname as the reference for your payment.

So I’m sure a manual payment could have been made as well as the DD being taken again within 10 days.

So exactly how long was the account left without sufficient funds?

SpreadableToast

molerat said:

I assume they are reporting 1-1-1-1-1 and not 1-2-3-4-5, the former being correct as you were consistently 1 month behind until you made up the missing payment. I would though lodge a formal written complaint, supplying evidence of your abortive phone calls, stating that at a very early stage you tried to make up the payment but were thwarted by their only method to make that payment being unavailable.  That said, are you sure that there is no way to make payments other than over the phone ?

This is correct.  Showing one month in arrears each month is the correct way of reporting this and any other lender who knew what they were doing would report it in the same way.

Celtikah

D3xt3r5L4b said:

I find it hard to believe it took you 5 months to get through to someone on the phone

Thanks for taking the time to respond,

To answer this, in conjunction with your previous question - 
It may well have been just over 10 days before we put the money into the account - and i don't really feel i am disputing the fact that the initial payment was due to fault on our part.

It certainly did take  5 months to get through to somebody. We were both working full-time and attempting to raise our 1 Year Old Daughter (Who would usually have been in Nursery 4 Days a week) in the midst of a global Pandemic. We could only dedicate X amount of hours a week to trying to give Natwest their money, and they specifically stated on their website at the time that the only way we could rectify was by calling them.

D3xt3r5L4b

Their website stated to call them if you were having trouble making payments and required a payment holiday.
All other aspects remained the same.