Late Payment, Mortgages & Avoiding Santander..

JBreen07

Good Afternoon, 

I wanted to ask the question on how will a late payment marker on my credit card affect my chances of renewing my mortgage to go to a different provider? 

I accept following my statement that I should have taken more care when changing the date I paid my credit card but my story is as follows: 

 Previously I would make my payment on my credit card around the 1st of the month although I changed this in January to coincide on the date, I get paid which is the 20th. Unaware that the procedure in place was that I would need to make a payment 26 days after my statement is produced on the 22nd each month. Resulting in myself making a payment on February 19th clearing on the 20th which was over the threshold which would have been the 17th. This was not due because I was unable to afford the payment, I have always made payments on time on a monthly basis it was my error for not being aware of the 26 day period after the statement is produced and how this would coincidently affect my credit score sadly. 

I contacted Santander who advised there was nothing they could do, as the fault was not theirs. I explained how Barclays have in place a procedure where even if you make a payment within 2 weeks it will not affect your credit score, also that this way of operating contradicts your marketing usage of the flame which is to represent people evolving and now me making a small mistake has such a large affect on my credit score. 

The customer care over the phone was quite shocking, I have in result now closed my account and paid off the credit card and would strongly advise to avoid them as a bank. Back to my original questions please advise how this will affect me, I have never missed a payment before this and have always had a healthy credit score. I registered with Experian who were very helpful and advised I should add a notice of correction to my profile which I have, would you advise I need to add this with other credit reference agency’s also, if so who? 

[Deleted User]

One late payment isn't a huge problem on a well managed file. Just don't make a habit of it. Any change in your credit score is irrelevant, as it's not seen or used by lenders.

Don't add any notices of correction to your files as that will simply slow down decision making and not be in any way beneficial.

It would have been better to have kept the card open as it now looks as if your card may have been closed by Santander, but it's too late to change that.

I'm not sure Santander's use of a flame logo in any way informs their CRA reporting.

2021BJ

JBreen07 said:

Good Afternoon, 

I wanted to ask the question on how will a late payment marker on my credit card affect my chances of renewing my mortgage to go to a different provider? 

I accept following my statement that I should have taken more care when changing the date I paid my credit card but my story is as follows: 

 Previously I would make my payment on my credit card around the 1st of the month although I changed this in January to coincide on the date, I get paid which is the 20th. Unaware that the procedure in place was that I would need to make a payment 26 days after my statement is produced on the 22nd each month. Resulting in myself making a payment on February 19th clearing on the 20th which was over the threshold which would have been the 17th. This was not due because I was unable to afford the payment, I have always made payments on time on a monthly basis it was my error for not being aware of the 26 day period after the statement is produced and how this would coincidently affect my credit score sadly. 

I contacted Santander who advised there was nothing they could do, as the fault was not theirs. I explained how Barclays have in place a procedure where even if you make a payment within 2 weeks it will not affect your credit score, also that this way of operating contradicts your marketing usage of the flame which is to represent people evolving and now me making a small mistake has such a large affect on my credit score. 

The customer care over the phone was quite shocking, I have in result now closed my account and paid off the credit card and would strongly advise to avoid them as a bank. Back to my original questions please advise how this will affect me, I have never missed a payment before this and have always had a healthy credit score. I registered with Experian who were very helpful and advised I should add a notice of correction to my profile which I have, would you advise I need to add this with other credit reference agency’s also, if so who? 

The thing is, if you try and play "gotcha" with people over the phone like this, you'll often just get their backs up and get the response that you're now complaining about.  How Barclays deal with a missed payment is irrelevant, it's a bit like moaning to an Asda checkout operator that they don't do Clubcard points. It's a different company, with different processes and as long as what they're doing is above the minimum required by law, you can't expect that to be mirrored by every other company in that industry.

As zx81 says, one missed payment is unlikely to make much of a difference anyway.  I'd generally avoid NOC's as they rarely do any good and force all applications to be manually reviewed, slowing things down. Although I'm sure someone will be along with an anecdote of how I'm wrong because their mother's friends sisters cousin got a mortgage and an NOC was the difference between a decline and an accept....

MalMonroe

Hello! The three major CRAs in the UK are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (previously Callcredit) and you can add notices of correction to all three. 

Did you contact Santander and tell them that you were changing your date of payment in advance? Either by phone or online - you can usually login to your credit card account online and change dates, direct debit amounts, etc.  I'd always advise contacting a credit card company in advance of making any changes, otherwise you end up being charged for a late payment and it appears, as you have discovered, on your credit report.  On this occasion, sadly, it seems that Santander was right.

However, I don't believe all is lost as you say you have a healthy credit history and this is just one of those blips most of us have from time to time. Had you had a history of late payments, defaults, etc., that would not appeal to lenders but just the one minor late payment shouldn't deter lenders. Especially as you have obviously handled your current mortgage responsibly. 

Try not to worry about it, it's just one small error - and you can always explain what happened to another lender or mortgage provider as and when necessary. After all, nobody's perfect! 

dr_adidas01

MalMonroe said:

Hello! The three major CRAs in the UK are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (previously Callcredit) and you can add notices of correction to all three. 

Did you contact Santander and tell them that you were changing your date of payment in advance? Either by phone or online - you can usually login to your credit card account online and change dates, direct debit amounts, etc.  I'd always advise contacting a credit card company in advance of making any changes, otherwise you end up being charged for a late payment and it appears, as you have discovered, on your credit report.  On this occasion, sadly, it seems that Santander was right.

However, I don't believe all is lost as you say you have a healthy credit history and this is just one of those blips most of us have from time to time. Had you had a history of late payments, defaults, etc., that would not appeal to lenders but just the one minor late payment shouldn't deter lenders. Especially as you have obviously handled your current mortgage responsibly. 

Try not to worry about it, it's just one small error - and you can always explain what happened to another lender or mortgage provider as and when necessary. After all, nobody's perfect! 

Under no circumstances take the first line of this seriously, don't add a notice of correction as this will make it worse and will slow down any application for credit you make and ultimately deter lenders from offering you any credit products.

You should have kept the card open as one late payment marker isn't going to have made that much of a difference if otherwise you have a perfect payment record on all of your other credit accounts. It may now look to lenders that Santander decided to close your account based on the late payment you made, but its to late now to change that.

While you think people should avoid Santander myself and others would say you shouldn't, to me it seems you've made a mountain out of a mole hill and cut your nose off to spite your face.

Every financial organisation has its own rules on how they deal with late payments and within what time frame they allow before reporting it as a late payment, quoting what Barclays do won't have done you any favors either, since you know what barclays do have you also done it with them?

You made the mistake so ultimately its your own fault not Santaders, so suck it up and use it as a learning point so it doesn't happen again.