Late / Not Late .. disputed credit marker

sb200

Hi all.

We had some family health issues last September so I contacted our mortgage lender and asked them how late I could pay before I got a late marker. 

They told me that provided it was paid by the end of the month, I wouldn’t get a ‘late’. I paid on the last day of the month, when I got paid, but still got a ‘late’ marker.. which I complained about, with proof that it had been paid by the end of the month, and they removed it. 

I had a similar issue the next month, paid on the last day of the month, and again got a late marker. 

I called them to apologise, told them that I didn’t see any further problems going forwards, but they refused.

I offered proof that the money left my account by faster payments on the last day, they still refused.

I reminded them that they’d previously told me that provided it was paid by last day of the month (emphasising ‘paid’ and not ‘received’, which is what their agent told me, they said they couldn’t locate the recording of that conversation. 

I appealed their decision, but they refused, again to remove it. 

This seems rather harsh. I had a clean record previously, and have since. 

Is it worth a complaint to the ombudsman, or does anyone have any other suggestions?

thanks in advance. 

BoGoF

Unless you have proof of what was said then I can't see how a complaint would be upheld.

sb200

I can prove date and time when it left our account, by faster payments, so would have been with them almost instantly. Surely they should apply some margin to allow for the latency of their systems registering it. 

Hoenir

The facts that were reported to the credit agencies were correct. You presumably weren't charged a late administration payment fee. 

Hoenir

The facts that were reported to the credit agencies were correct. You presumably weren't charged a late administration payment fee. 

eskbanker

sb200 said:

I can prove date and time when it left our account, by faster payments, so would have been with them almost instantly. Surely they should apply some margin to allow for the latency of their systems registering it. 

I suspect that their expectation is that you apply some margin to allow for latency, i.e. if they wanted it 'paid' by the end of the month then my interpretation would be that the payment would need to have reached their account by close of business on the last working day of the month.

sb200

It did reach their account by the last day of the month, but it seems their systems do not pick it up until the next day. 

I asked them a specific question on the basis that I get paid on the last day of the month, and they confirmed that this was ok. 

That is my point. 

etienneg

sb200 said:

I can prove date and time when it left our account, by faster payments, so would have been with them almost instantly. Surely they should apply some margin to allow for the latency of their systems registering it. 

A faster payment is only guaranteed to reach the recipient by close of business on the next working day after it is made (and in any case can be frozen if the bank suspects money laundering or similar). So your assumption that it "would have been with them almost instantly" is incorrect. The fact that much of the time FPs are virtually instantaneous cannot be used to show that you paid on time.

You are best to accept that it is your responsibility to ensure that money reaches the recipient in good time. If you insist on living so near the edge, don't be surprised if occasionally you fall off. It's just not a sensible thing to do!

sourcrates

Your payments are governed by the terms and conditions of your mortgage agreement, not what you are told over the phone by some random call handler, they made an exception once, as a gesture of goodwill, they won`t do it twice.

Never take advice from a call handler, the limit of their knowledge usually goes as far as what is displayed on their screen, just because they may sanction certain actions, does not mean there will not be consequences.