M&S default - help

born_again

johnweir123 said:

Yes I did tell them the missing payments issue was connected to the technical logging on problem.  I even wrote to them about this.  I was unaware that there were a plethora of options for payment available and the only time they mentioned alternatives was well after the damage had been done.  It's a case of expecting ordinary folks like me to be an expert on all their facilities, terms and conditions when I actually have kids, a house, a job and a life to look after alongside spending hours and hours dealing with a mistake from a credit card company.  I just don't have the resources to devote myself to learning the relevant things they could have told me at the right time.  

After they refused to listen to me, I tried really hard to get them to listen and to reason with them but they wouldn't so that's when I started to ignore them.  What else can you do?  I was never going to pay for them to mistakenly cut off my access to my account and I didn't think they would do what they did as it just seems excessive. 

Thank you to all who've pointed out that a default is not the end of the world.  I was turned down for credit on that basis recently and it is the main thing on my file which is dragging everything down but I can do some further research and look to see if I can compensate by making improvements elsewhere. 

It is as simple as going to their website.

https://bank.marksandspencer.com/credit-card/card-support/ways-to-pay-credit-card/

That took less time than this post to find. A simple google "How to pay M&S credit card.

I'm sorry for the mess you are now in. But end of the day not paying and saying you did not know about other methods is a very poor excuse & will do nothing to help you get the default removed.
Especially as you were speaking to them at the time. 

johnweir123

born_again said:

johnweir123 said:

Yes I did tell them the missing payments issue was connected to the technical logging on problem.  I even wrote to them about this.  I was unaware that there were a plethora of options for payment available and the only time they mentioned alternatives was well after the damage had been done.  It's a case of expecting ordinary folks like me to be an expert on all their facilities, terms and conditions when I actually have kids, a house, a job and a life to look after alongside spending hours and hours dealing with a mistake from a credit card company.  I just don't have the resources to devote myself to learning the relevant things they could have told me at the right time.  

After they refused to listen to me, I tried really hard to get them to listen and to reason with them but they wouldn't so that's when I started to ignore them.  What else can you do?  I was never going to pay for them to mistakenly cut off my access to my account and I didn't think they would do what they did as it just seems excessive. 

Thank you to all who've pointed out that a default is not the end of the world.  I was turned down for credit on that basis recently and it is the main thing on my file which is dragging everything down but I can do some further research and look to see if I can compensate by making improvements elsewhere. 

It is as simple as going to their website.

https://bank.marksandspencer.com/credit-card/card-support/ways-to-pay-credit-card/

That took less time than this post to find. A simple google "How to pay M&S credit card.

I'm sorry for the mess you are now in. But end of the day not paying and saying you did not know about other methods is a very poor excuse & will do nothing to help you get the default removed.
Especially as you were speaking to them at the time. 

yes, but you have to know that's what you're trying to do.  You don't know what you don't know.  I can't google other ways to pay my credit card bill if I'm only aware of the normal way.  I should mention I have 4 other credit cards that I maintain without issue. 

In terms of knowing that this default was the reason for not being able to get credit... they told me during my application on the phone.  They said there's a default on your credit file.  That was the first I knew of it. 

jon81uk

johnweir123 said:

born_again said:

johnweir123 said:

Yes I did tell them the missing payments issue was connected to the technical logging on problem.  I even wrote to them about this.  I was unaware that there were a plethora of options for payment available and the only time they mentioned alternatives was well after the damage had been done.  It's a case of expecting ordinary folks like me to be an expert on all their facilities, terms and conditions when I actually have kids, a house, a job and a life to look after alongside spending hours and hours dealing with a mistake from a credit card company.  I just don't have the resources to devote myself to learning the relevant things they could have told me at the right time.  

After they refused to listen to me, I tried really hard to get them to listen and to reason with them but they wouldn't so that's when I started to ignore them.  What else can you do?  I was never going to pay for them to mistakenly cut off my access to my account and I didn't think they would do what they did as it just seems excessive. 

Thank you to all who've pointed out that a default is not the end of the world.  I was turned down for credit on that basis recently and it is the main thing on my file which is dragging everything down but I can do some further research and look to see if I can compensate by making improvements elsewhere. 

It is as simple as going to their website.

https://bank.marksandspencer.com/credit-card/card-support/ways-to-pay-credit-card/

That took less time than this post to find. A simple google "How to pay M&S credit card.

I'm sorry for the mess you are now in. But end of the day not paying and saying you did not know about other methods is a very poor excuse & will do nothing to help you get the default removed.
Especially as you were speaking to them at the time. 

yes, but you have to know that's what you're trying to do.  You don't know what you don't know.  I can't google other ways to pay my credit card bill if I'm only aware of the normal way. 

Googling "How to pay M&S credit card" needs no prior knowledge I don't see why you couldn't search for that even while being aware of your usual method.
Note that is your usual method, not the "normal" way.

20-30 years ago the normal way was to take the slip from the statement to the cashier in the bank branch and pay off the credit card. Nowadays it is much more normal to use a direct debit, online banking. I think people paying off a credit card using a debit card is probably the minority .

flo22

M&S did not make it difficult for you to pay, you made it difficult for yourself and it reads to me that you are a bit like a dog with a bone. 

You could have phoned up and paid by Debit card. set up a Direct Debit, sent a cheque to M&S, paid in cash at a bank, paid via a cheque at a bank, paid via debit card at a bank, paid via your mobile banking as an FPS, paid via online banking as an FPS.  I find it difficult to believe that anyone could not know the multiple ways a bill can be paid and even if you didn't then would you not just ask your bank or google?

[Deleted User]

You're not going to get advice that tells you of something like a magic phrase to say that makes this go away because such a thing doesn't exist. The information here is factual - you defaulted on your payments by not making them, hence M&S applied a default. Indeed, though it might not seem like it, they did you a favour as that at least will drop off after 6 years unlike a long record of missed payments. The guidance for firms is to default after 3-6 missed contractual payments which it seems you did.

Arguing the toss about a "normal" way of paying isn't going to get you a different outcome at the bank as there are many normal ways of paying. When you set up the card, universally they will ask you to setup a direct debit to pay the balance in full, a minimum or a fixed sum, you can opt out of course but that was a way of paying. You can pay by balance transfer by paying a sum via your bank, quoting the card number as the reference. You can pay the statement from the app, they are setup now to take you through to your own bank's app and pay the balance through that (it's automatically filled in). You can ring them up and asking what the balance was and paying on the phone or use that information. Not paying on time because you didn't know the balance because of your online access simply isn't an excuse that the computer would understand - they're automated systems, to them you either paid or you didn't.

The only way you are going to get sympathy from M&S to ask them to remove it (which is unlikely it has to be said as you will have several months of missed payments which will be recorded already, so a default is correct, and better as above) is admitting you made a mistake rather than trying to blame them

johnweir123

You're basically all saying credit card companies can mismanage customer accounts any way they want. 

If that's what you all really believe then fair enough. 

Ebe_Scrooge

johnweir123 said:

You're basically all saying credit card companies can mismanage customer accounts any way they want. 

If that's what you all really believe then fair enough. 

I think you'd find that if they did that, they'd very quickly have their banking licence revoked.

User_101122

johnweir123 said:

In case any of you are unaware of the fact.  I should point out that every single comment along the lines of "it's your fault, you should have paid your bill" are extremely unhelpful and a complete waste of time.  I knew that before I got this credit card, everyone knows that.  From my point of view it feels like you're 'hatin' for no reason other than to stoke up some sort of superiority complex within yourselves.  That's what I think when I'm reading it.  

If anybody has any actual useful advice I'd be keen to hear it. 

You’re coming across as somebody who took advantage of a technical issue to not make your payments as they fell due and used the age old “you made it impossible for me to pay” excuse.  Creditors hear this day in day out and it gets their backs up.
The bottom line here is you didn’t pay, you got charges added and when you refused to pay those charges you ended up with a 6 year default for a £150 balance. Now you feel stupid for not paying and realise the consequences of having a default are far more detrimental than if you’d just paid up instead of trying to be clever.
So I’m sorry you feel the “it’s your fault” posts aren’t helpful but this whole mess really is “Your Fault.”
So my advice to you would be to contact M&S, drop your attitude, accept responsibility and appeal to their better nature, by stating the effect that a default has had on you.  There is a very small chance someone in their complaints team may take pity on you and have it removed.  If they don’t there’s also a chance that a FOS complaint may get you what you want if they’re keen to avoid paying the FOS case fee.
Creditors apply defaults on people with a lot more genuine circumstances than yours (bereavement, illness, redundancy etc…).  What makes you think you deserve to have yours removed when you wilfully refused to pay?

User_101122

johnweir123 said:

You're basically all saying credit card companies can mismanage customer accounts any way they want. 

If that's what you all really believe then fair enough. 

It’s you that’s mismanaged your account.
They’ve compensated you for their system being down, but the onus was on you to find an alternative method to pay but you didn’t.  You tried to be clever and it backfired!

born_again

johnweir123 said:

You're basically all saying credit card companies can mismanage customer accounts any way they want. 

If that's what you all really believe then fair enough. 

Who are you responding to with this comment?