Is there much discretion for banks to remove missed payments on credit record?

WhosWho

I have just been given a missed payment on my HSBC credit card and I feel its a little harsh, although it is technically my fault.

This is a very simple version of what happened:

I had £500 on a credit card and the minimum payment was £50. I was refunded £200 by a company back to my credit card, which I thought covered the payment? I mean...  it brings the debt down? 

But further to that I paid an additional £40, just to get it down a bit more.. so i presumed that the credit card had £240 paid off that month.

Anyway, I get a letter through the post about a missed payment. I call them up and they said the refund doesn't count. I literally paid the extra money there and then on the phone and the woman said it won't affect anything.

2 months down the road it has popped up over a missed payment for a lowly £10.

I just feel its a tad harsh and will have un unreasonably high impact on me that isn't really justified.

Cheers

bradders1983

But its an accurate reflection of what happened: you missed a payment. By all means beg and plead with them (a written communication would be better than a potentially hysterical phone call to a minimum wage call centre monkey) but they certainly dont have to change it.

sourcrates

WhosWho said:

I just feel its a tad harsh and will have un unreasonably high impact on me that isn't really justified.

Please explain what form this "unreasonably high impact" is likley to take.......

WhosWho

You are right, it is technically a missed payment and my excuse is essentially I didnt understand how it works... which isn't really an excuse. I'm also surprised it has taken me this many years to realise that.

But I do feel it is a fair reason. In addition as I paid £40 I would have just paid the extra tenner realistically if I had known.

The card is actually sat in credit now due to paying too much off...

WhosWho

sourcrates said:

WhosWho said:

I just feel its a tad harsh and will have un unreasonably high impact on me that isn't really justified.

Please explain what form this "unreasonably high impact" is likley to take.......

Well, my credit record has taken a plunge over night now I have a missed payment on record for 6 years over a tenner which could have been paid.

bradders1983

You mean the fancy meaningless three figure score that the credit reference conpanies concoct has gone down?

WhosWho

Yes, that exact number. Maybe it won't do as much harm as I think it will do.

But itll do even less harm if its not there.

[Deleted User]

As long as your credit score still has at least one odd number in it, it's fine. 

It's only all even numbers which are a problem for lenders. 

bradders1983

Deleted_User said:

As long as your credit score still has at least one odd number in it, it's fine. 

It's only all even numbers which are a problem for lenders. 

I heard that if its a prime number you qualify for a 0.19% 20 year fixed rate mortgage.

SpreadableToast

There isn't any discretion.  The data reported must be accurate so technically, fudging the data is a breach.

Of course, in many cases, financial institutions will fudge small black marks as a one-off because the likelihood of this coming back to bite them is low.  It's not like the customer is going to shop them, is it?

macman

WhosWho said:

Yes, that exact number. Maybe it won't do as much harm as I think it will do.

But itll do even less harm if its not there.

A fictitious number that only you can see will do no harm, be it 0 or 999. Lenders do not see it. They see your credit history.