Car finance confusion

balticupnorth

Hi,
This is the first thing I have ever taken out on credit and I’m really confused about it all.
long story short, the first payment was due on Christmas Day. Due to all the bank holidays and things it wasn’t taken, and I never thought to double check (which is my own fault I know).
letter had come today asking for payment which I’ve paid because the money was still there of course. How does this affect my credit score? It was paid on day 15 but I don’t know if it will affect it because of a 14 day rule or a 30 day rule - I’m a bit confused after reading online. 

Any help would be appreciated!

SaverRate

Contact the finance company and ask them? Have you ensured the direct debit has been set up for next month?

balticupnorth

HarryDavies01 said:

Contact the finance company and ask them? Have you ensured the direct debit has been set up for next month?

I have and it was just a case of Xmas and new year with added bank hols. Said there was nothing they could do. The direct debit is there they just never requested the funds from my bank, I’ve also changed the payment date now I’m just worried about my credit score 

[Deleted User]

Don't worry about your credit score, but look to see if a late payment has been recorded. You may need to check all three files if you're not sure which one(s) they report to.

Bank holidays wouldn't impact the DD being taken - what are the other 'things' you mention that would have prevented it?  Was there sufficient time for it to be taken? Had you received notification of the amount and date?

Ebe_Scrooge

balticupnorth said:

HarryDavies01 said:

Contact the finance company and ask them? Have you ensured the direct debit has been set up for next month?

I have and it was just a case of Xmas and new year with added bank hols. Said there was nothing they could do. The direct debit is there they just never requested the funds from my bank, I’ve also changed the payment date now I’m just worried about my credit score 

Are you sure the DD was in place and active?  A DD can take a while to churn through the systems, if you only set it up a few days before payment was due then it's possible it was not yet in place.  However, if it was active, then it's the lender's responsibility to call for the funds (a day early if the scheduled payment date falls on a bank holiday) - if they failed to do that, it's their error and you should ask them to remove any late-payment marker from your file.

Ignore your score, it's not used nor even seen by any lender.  However, if you have a (correct) late-payment marker on your file it will count against you.  One late payment in an otherwise healthy history will have very little impact, and any impact will quickly diminish as long as you have plenty of other positive markers to offset it.

balticupnorth

Deleted_User said:

Don't worry about your credit score, but look to see if a late payment has been recorded. You may need to check all three files if you're not sure which one(s) they report to.

Bank holidays wouldn't impact the DD being taken - what are the other 'things' you mention that would have prevented it?  Was there sufficient time for it to be taken? Had you received notification of the amount and date?

I just mean like companies closed and annual leave, as I know my own company was closed for 3 weeks. There was time for it to be taken, I move the money across at the start of every month so I know it’s there ready. 

Yes that was the letter, I have paid it but like I say it was 15 days out.

balticupnorth

Ebe_Scrooge said:

balticupnorth said:

HarryDavies01 said:

Contact the finance company and ask them? Have you ensured the direct debit has been set up for next month?

I have and it was just a case of Xmas and new year with added bank hols. Said there was nothing they could do. The direct debit is there they just never requested the funds from my bank, I’ve also changed the payment date now I’m just worried about my credit score 

Are you sure the DD was in place and active?  A DD can take a while to churn through the systems, if you only set it up a few days before payment was due then it's possible it was not yet in place.  However, if it was active, then it's the lender's responsibility to call for the funds (a day early if the scheduled payment date falls on a bank holiday) - if they failed to do that, it's their error and you should ask them to remove any late-payment marker from your file.

Ignore your score, it's not used nor even seen by any lender.  However, if you have a (correct) late-payment marker on your file it will count against you.  One late payment in an otherwise healthy history will have very little impact, and any impact will quickly diminish as long as you have plenty of other positive markers to offset it.

I’m absolutely positive, I checked it myself online and called them. Thank you though for saying that, everything else is good this is the first ever thing.

[Deleted User]

balticupnorth said:

Deleted_User said:

Don't worry about your credit score, but look to see if a late payment has been recorded. You may need to check all three files if you're not sure which one(s) they report to.

Bank holidays wouldn't impact the DD being taken - what are the other 'things' you mention that would have prevented it?  Was there sufficient time for it to be taken? Had you received notification of the amount and date?

Yes that was the letter, I have paid it but like I say it was 15 days out.

I don't think that was the letter. Your earlier post suggested the letter was asking for payment, not notifying you of the amount and date of the DD.

Check to see whether you received notification.

[Deleted User]

balticupnorth said:

Hi,
This is the first thing I have ever taken out on credit and I’m really confused about it all.
long story short, the first payment was due on Christmas Day. Due to all the bank holidays and things it wasn’t taken, and I never thought to double check (which is my own fault I know).
letter had come today asking for payment which I’ve paid because the money was still there of course. How does this affect my credit score? It was paid on day 15 but I don’t know if it will affect it because of a 14 day rule or a 30 day rule - I’m a bit confused after reading online. 

Any help would be appreciated!

What is the 14 and 30 day rule ?

If 'paid on day 15' you mean it left your account 14 days after it should then that would have made it the 8th of January, and with all the non working days inbetween it would have actually been credited to your account on January on January 11th.

If the payment was due Christmas Day you could have paid it on the 29th December when business hours resumed - resulting in fewer days late.
By leaving it 15days after CD the delay was going to be worse anyway.

Your credit score means nothing to anyone but you, it is not seen by anyone else.
Your credit file, several pages long, contains minute detail about your money management. 

For example, how you run your own lifestyle and spending, financial affairs, etc ...... this tells the business world just how you operate !
It is that you need to concentrate on, run it like a business instead of just some numbers and it'll repay you well.

penners324

A finance company won't close for 3 weeks at Xmas.