Capital One grumble

Katey1980

Hi all, hope you can throw some light on this for me, please? This is my first question, so please be gentle!

Last month my Capital One direct debit was not paid as I had approx £25 too little in my account to cover it. When I noticed this (about 3-4 days after the payment should have gone through) I contacted them out of courtesy with the full intention to pay the missing payment in full over the phone with my debit card (at that point I had been paid, so I could cover it.)

The gentleman on the end of the line told me I didn't have to do anything, as the direct debit had already been processed and queued up for the following month and included the missing payment. I asked him several times if he was sure I didn't need to pay anything for the month and even told him I had my card ready for him, but he told me no.

Fast forward a month later (the day before the next direct debit was due to be exact) and I get a message that Capital One tried calling me twice at home. I call them straight away and another gentleman tells me that I need to pay some money off my card as I missed the previous month's payment. I told him that I had already contacted Capital One about this, and had been told that I didn't need to do anything about it.

I paid £10 on the spot out of courtesy, but told him I was very unhappy that Capital One had been ringing home after the first man told me I needn't do anything. He floundered a bit after that and kept repeating that he had nothing in his notes about it - surely my original call would have been recorded on the system?

Sorry - waffling now - my questions are: If the first man has accepted payment from me when I rang originally would it have cancelled out a negative record on my credit file? Will I now have a black mark against me because of the delay in payment? Do I have grounds for a complaint?

I'd appreciate any advice - thank in advance!!

exel1966

1. Your payment would still have been late even if you paid it when you called them therefore you'd still be late and liable for a £12 late payment charge.

2. One late payment has a negliable effect on your credit rating. Regular late payments are a cause for concern to creditors and will have a negative effect. I wouldn't worry at all about this.

Zebedee69

Wouldnt panic too much but let it be a lesson. Never 100% trust the bloke on the end of the phone and always double check the facts.

As for a late payment it might show on your credit file or it might not, either way it doesnt matter as its one tiny blemish.

Katey1980

Thanks for the info - yes, will be double checking if anything like this happens again!

Stephen_Leak

Katey1980 wrote: »

Thanks for the info - yes, will be double checking if anything like this happens again!

Never believe anything a bank or CCC call centre tells you, unless you have rung twice, got the same information each time and you have recorded both calls for when the statement arrives showing something different.

generallee

I've had similar problems with C'One. Having found myself with a late payment one month, due to a late salary, I had a charming phone call early the next month in addition to a letter asking me to pay the amount in arrears, lets say £200. The electronic statement showed the minimum payment for the next month as £400 (arrars and usual payment), and eventually recorded the arrears payment I had since made.

Thinking I only had £200 left to pay, I made sure that there was enough money in my current account to cover the remainder and I thought that would be the last of it.

However, when the time came, C'One did not charge me the difference, i.e. £200, they took the whole lot, i.e. £400, or rather they would have if there was enough in my current account.

This led to further charges for returned payment and again for a late payment, plus charges from my current account.

I thought this was a one off, but it has happened for a number of months, and C'One has just refunded me one months charge. A miserly £12.

They will be recieving a letter from me in due course, and hope will feel the pain from my lost custome. I have since moved to a new 0% with Virgin.