Tesco bank failed to take DD; threatening my credit record

kaMelo

phillw is spot on.
Did you amend the DD between the statement date and when the DD was due to be taken?
The problem is that you cannot amend a DD as such, any amendment you make creates a new one and cancels the old one.

If the timeline is that you amended the DD between statement date and collection date the amended DD (new DD) will only take effect on the next statement using the new DD details. Your old DD is cancelled therefore leaving the current statement with no payment method and requires a manual payment. This is normal.

It really should have made this point clear when you amended the DD that you would need to make a manual payment for the current statement. I don't have a Tesco CC so don't know their systems but if you are sure this wasn't pointed out to you and you have incurred any extra costs because of it (have you incurred any costs?) then this is maybe the angle to take in making a complaint and what redress you require.
Baring in mind they have already refunded the non payment fee, if you haven't incurred any other costs then there isn't really anything to complain about.

The worst they will do is show a £0 or missed payment on your file, one of them is not going to hurt you, certainly no more than 16 months of minimum payment markers anyway.  

jamiewakeham

Thanks, all.
kaMelo - I've incurred no costs, because they immediately refunded their late payment fee.  The only thing I am unhappy about is the missed payment being reported to credit agencies.  My record is otherwise utterly perfect.

I appreciate that there's a delay in altering a DD mandate - I hadn't understood that it's effectively deleting the old one and setting up a new one as you suggest.  But 17 days is surely enough?  

And if it's not, then they needed to tell me.  Loudly.  With flashing lights.  In fact I remain almost certain that they didn't tell me at all.  The only way I can confirm this is to wait till the 7th April and try to vary it again, and see exactly what it shows me.   If it gives me the same message (merely saying that the previous mandate might be applied rather than explicitly telling me to make a manual payment) then I will kick up a fuss with the ombudsman.  If it turns out that it did tell me to make a manual payment then I'll reluctantly let go.

born_again

One missed payment is not a big issue. If you a lot, then that is a different story.

Swoosh84

Strange one, I would rightly be annoyed with this too. I would try and complain further and then the ombudsman. Your post actually triggered a bit of a panic check at my account as I am in a similar situation.

In my case, I have a First Direct CC and I called to change the DD to take the full balance due to the end of the interest free period. Was told that it was too late to change it for this month but would be changed and taken the following month.

Just checking the call history, I called them on the 15/03, payment due 20/03. My minimum payment came out on the 22/03 as expected (20th was weekend) and now I anticipate the full balance coming out on the 20/04. This is exactly what I would expect from any provider, with the existing DD remaining in place until such a time that the new one comes into force.

J

User_101122

I’d give them another call and ask them to reconsider.  If they fail to do so I’d be going to the ombudsman. One missed payment is unlikely to affect you, but to me that’s not the point it’s the principle.  If you are adamant that there was no warning for the requirement of a manual payment, I would also be blaming Tesco for the late payment.

If they refuse to budge you’ve nothing to loose by going to the ombudsman. Worst case scenario is they side with Tesco and you’re no worse off.  I honestly can’t see Tesco wanting to run up fees with the ombudsman over something which is a clear misunderstanding and arguably because they misinformed you.

Alex9384

One missed payment may not be an issue but if it was me, I would be really p*ssed off as I have immaculate credit history with almost 20 accounts and each of them nice green tick every month over years.
I was just thinking maybe I should get the Tesco CC later this year but now I'll think twice about it. Seems to me like their system is rubbish, something like NatWest when it comes to updating anything...

Alex9384

kaMelo said:

Baring in mind they have already refunded the non payment fee, if you haven't incurred any other costs then there isn't really anything to complain about.

Apart from the late payment on your reports?  I personally would prefer to have the late payment removed and pay the fee rather than vice versa (if I had to choose between the two options)

Alex9384

kaMelo said:

one of them is not going to hurt you, certainly no more than 16 months of minimum payment markers anyway.  

What if the minimum payments are on 0% promotional rate? I know promotional rates are reported on your credit files so I assume lenders assess minimum payments differently while on promotional rate. At least I hope they do so.

kaMelo

Alex9384 said:

kaMelo said:

Baring in mind they have already refunded the non payment fee, if you haven't incurred any other costs then there isn't really anything to complain about.

Apart from the late payment on your reports?  I personally would prefer to have the late payment removed and pay the fee rather than vice versa (if I had to choose between the two options)

Alex9384 said:

kaMelo said:

one of them is not going to hurt you, certainly no more than 16 months of minimum payment markers anyway.  

What if the minimum payments are on 0% promotional rate? I know promotional rates are reported on your credit files so I assume lenders assess minimum payments differently while on promotional rate. At least I hope they do so.

Like all things on a credit report, when looking at them different lenders place different weights on different categories.  I mentioned the minimum payment marker for a reason. Some lenders will view that the person is merely making the most of the offers available to them to minimise costs, financially savvy and even though we won't make much out of them they are a good bet to lend to.
Others may take the view the person is in dire straights, owes money all over the place and only paying minimum payments, a risky prospect to lend to and so decline.
Both views are valid but without further information it's impossible to know which one it is The further information is what a lender uses, such as income and expenditure, to decide whether your a good bet or in dire straights. One missed payment marker may "spoil" your credit history as does minimum payment markers, but if you are strong in income and expenditure no lender will care about either.

You are always free to complain if you want to and take to the ombudsman too. Certainly if you had incurred any extra costs it would be worthwhile. Their view generally is to place you in the position you would have been in had the wrong not occurred.  Tesco have refunded the non payment fee, if you had incurred costs they may well have refunded them too. An Ombudsman would make those recommendations if found in your favour but I don't know what extra they would do and so question if it's worth the effort but, that's your decision to make.

phillw

jamiewakeham said:

I appreciate that there's a delay in altering a DD mandate - I hadn't understood that it's effectively deleting the old one and setting up a new one as you suggest.  But 17 days is surely enough?  

It doesn't matter what we think is enough. It's what is in their T&C that is important as that is all you can really complain about.

I'm not convinced that changing the payment amount would require setting up a new mandate & I would have expected the DD to go out, but if the T&C say that when making changes to a direct debit that you are responsible for making sure the payments go out until the next time a DD is taken then it would be hard for you to argue that they did anything wrong. Even if normally their system would have taken the DD after changing from minimum payment to full balance, but due to an issue at their end it did not go out.

You don't have anything to lose pushing it onto the ombudsman, but you might have to chalk it up to experience.

I have most of my DD set to go out at the start of the month and check them off, if they then fail you can complain before anything bad happens. Sainsbury's calculated a due date for good friday but DD won't go out until Tuesday. I already placed a call where they told me they are trying to figure out how to make sure that customers aren't impacted by it.