minimum payment markers on CRA (0% cards)

anna42hmr

Hi, i have a credit card currently on 0% which I have the direct debit set to pay the minimum payment at the moment, and as such the months i only pay the minimum on that card, it is marked accordingly on the reports.

I appreciate that lenders will see from the report its on a promo deal, but can this negatively affect how they see my account conduct even if it is on a promo 0%? and if so, how much above the minimum payment does this stop reporting as such, for example if i only paid a few quid above the promo at this time, will that remove the minimum payment marker? 

p3ncilsharpener

It's up to each individual lender but I'm sure there are at least some lenders who will see minimum payments on promo rates as still being negative.

Paying a penny more than the minimum should prevent the markers (some people say a pound but as far as I'm aware as long as it's not the minimum it'll be fine.)

[Deleted User]

I'd suggest checking your free credit reports and see what they report. I make a fixed payment above the minimum (some let you do this yourself e.g. Barclaycard, some you have to ask e.g. Natwest) on both the BT I have running, one Barclaycard one Natwest, both pay a fixed sum albeit quite a bit above the minimum

Experian shows both as "up to date" same as my 2 main cards that are paid in full every month but both have a promotional rate flag, same as TransUnion. Equifax just shows mine as on time but maybe it shows more on a full report.

anna42hmr

thanks, i have checked the report and the 0% cards all show as up to date and has the promotional flag on all the reports, but noted the MSE credit club also has a letter on that report on one of my accounts which states M, which their explanation states as followsPayment Code

"An 'M' shows that the amount you paid in reponse to your last statement was equal to the minimum payment shown on the statement. If you paid more or less than the minimum payment, no letter will be shown."

The other cards (non 0% deals) that are paid in full indeed does not have the M flag and neither does the 2nd 0% card i have as well.  On the 2nd card on 0% I pay more on and make higher payments to (that 0% deal clears sooner, so paying more on that one at this time to clear in its remaining term, will be increasing the payment on the card in question once card 2 cleared).  Both of BT cards on 0% so not increasing the balances)  

I am thinking of increasing my direct debit with the other one paying minimum on to a small fixed amount above the minimum.  But I'm worried doing so could affect the direct debit that is due out on 20 August, so think i have a  small window to contact them to change (I.E. after the next direct debit as stated on the most recent statement, and the date of when the next statement is due - usually around 26th).  

Otherwise i may just set up a small manual payment each month for once the direct debit has been claimed, to remove the marker in case (as it is a card that can reduce/not claim the direct debit if a manual payment has been made within a certain timeframe of the dd being due.   

[Deleted User]

If you can pay more, then just up the direct debit, it'll be changed often in a day or less

Lot depends on what you want to achieve, if you wanted to try and increase your chances of getting another BT card in the future to move over the debt, it's better than you are clearing down the debts and paying more than the minimum. If you can pay them off before the deal ends then your other cards being paid in full and these being promotional rates shouldn't matter too much. I got a new Lloyds cashback card last week despite holding about £6k in BT debt which is being paid down monthly

anna42hmr

Thanks Farfetch.

I am currently in the process of clearing down my older credit card debts I have and trying to get it down as much as possible. I have never paid interest on the credit card debts over the years, but want to ensure that its gone for good before , rather than keep doing a BT from card A to BT card B each time the 0% ends.  Also concerned eventually that 0 % BT offers etc are used up or become unavailable for me and do not wish to be reliant on such offers going forward. 

I have already cleared one 0% BT card i had this year, a Barclaycard, which I managed to pay off in full earlier this year, throwing all spare cash, cash back, bonus, and a reduction in spending thanks to lock down ( for example in April 2020 i had around £15,100 in credit card debt, all on 0%, as at today, I am now down to £9,200). 

As such that left left me with two remaining 0% BT cards, the MBNA card that i am throwing as much as possible to now, which if all goes to plan will also be paid off in full before the end of the 0% deal ends next year, and the TSB 0% BT card which i am currently paying minimum payments on (that too ends next year on 0% but ends later in the year next year).

I am unlikely to clear both BT cards before the 0% is due so it may mean that i will be looking to BT one final time any remaining balance on the TSB card when that ends, i will be paying more to the TSB account once the MBNA is paid off, but is unlikely to be cleared by that point.  

As such at the moment I have retained the fully paid off Barclaycard and intend to keep the MBNA card as well, once thats cleared, up to the point of the end of the TSB 0% deal, as both cards often offer existing customers BT offers.  

As such hoping that i can BT the remaining TSB debt to either Barclaycard or MBNA on another 0% BT deal if available at the time (if not, to apply for one with another company). which is why i want to where possible reduce the likelihood of any negative affects of markers such as the minimum payment markers etc, in the event i need to go elsewhere.  Furthermore, i have kept the cards open to keep the card utilisation % low.  

I am kind of doing the debt snowball to get the cards balances gone, hence why threw everything i could to barclaycard initially paying minimum on MBNA and TSB, now thats cleared moved that throwing everything at MBNA and remaining minimum on TSB, and once MBNA cleared, moving all the payments to throw it all to the TSB card.