Removing potential late payment fees from credit file

Jedi1873

Hi all 

How do you go about appealing late payment fees from your credit file? and will this cover all credit search agencies, or just specific ones. 

In short, I set up a Direct Debit via a credit card company (Virgin Money), however they haven't set the Direct Debit up correctly (According to TSB, anyway), and haven't attempted to take payment from my bank account, even though the payment has debited, and then credited my credit card statement. 

I don't really care who is to blame (Virgin is the most likely here!), I just do not want the late payment to show up on my credit score, especially when I am planning to apply for a mortgage next year (first time buyer). 

What is the best way to go about removing this from my credit file, if will even show on there, as I've paid via debit card as soon as I got a notification that payment was missed. 

Thanks for any help.

Ebe_Scrooge

If you missed a payment, then the late payment marker is a true reflection of the facts.  If you believe the late payment was as a result of an error by Virgin, you will need to contact them - they are the only ones who can remove it from your file.

You'd need to clarify where the fault lies though.  Was it really an error on their part, or did you provide incorrect information when setting up the DD?

As a slight aside, and for future reference, the general advice is always to carefully check when you set up a new DD to pay credit card debts - it's not unheard of for the first month's DD to encounter problems.  Did your card statement say that the balance would be collected by DD?  If not, you need to assume the DD hasn't been set up, and make a manual payment instead.  I realise this doesn't help your immediate question, but worth bearing in mind for the future.

Jedi1873

Thanks for the reply. I've double checked the account details on the mandate, and there is no error on my part. My latest statement confirmed that payment will be taken via direct debit for the amount that I set the mandate up for. 

This is very frustrating, as I've done everything right on my end, and either my bank or Virgin have not processed the direct debit correctly, and I am the one suffering the consequences for it. 

Caz3121

Jedi1873 said:

 My latest statement confirmed that payment will be taken via direct debit for the amount that I set the mandate up for. 

was that shown on the statement for the missed month?

Jedi1873

It says;

24.10.2021 - Payment DD - Thank you
24.10.2021 - Payment reversal 

Then I have a late payment fee of £12, together with a returned payment fee of £12.00

As soon as I realised payment had now been taken, I paid via debit card. 

Ebe_Scrooge

It may be a daft question, but was there enough (cleared) money in your bank account to honour the direct debit?

Jedi1873

Not a daft question - yes, there was more than enough! As far as I can tell, there is no reason as to why this payment was not taken. TSB are adamant that Virgin haven't tried to take the funds from my account, they have no record of it. Surely there'd be something on their system showing Virgin have requested payment?

RandomUserID

Jedi1873 said:

Not a daft question - yes, there was more than enough! As far as I can tell, there is no reason as to why this payment was not taken. TSB are adamant that Virgin haven't tried to take the funds from my account, they have no record of it. Surely there'd be something on their system showing Virgin have requested payment?

When did you set up the DD?

[Deleted User]

Send a formal complaint to both of them for not setting it up and not taking payment

request removal of the late fee, late payment marker etc

RandomUserID

Deleted_User said:

Send a formal complaint to both of them for not setting it up and not taking payment

request removal of the late fee, late payment marker etc

Surely the first step should be to actually speak to Virgin Money, the ones who, as of right now, appear to be the ones who bounced the payment, before starting with a formal complaint, to find out exactly what has gone on?

In fact, it appears the OP has spoken to everyone except them, somewhat bafflingly.

Jedi1873

RandomUserID said:

Deleted_User said:

Send a formal complaint to both of them for not setting it up and not taking payment

request removal of the late fee, late payment marker etc

Surely the first step should be to actually speak to Virgin Money, the ones who, as of right now, appear to be the ones who bounced the payment, before starting with a formal complaint, to find out exactly what has gone on?

In fact, it appears the OP has spoken to everyone except them, somewhat bafflingly.

I have spoken to Virgin. Their stance is that they have sent the mandate to TSB, and TSB have failed to process the payment. Basically both are blaming each other.