2 Late Payments - will my credit rating be affected ?

charlies_mum

Last month for the first time ever, I was late making payments on two of my credit cards and was charged £20 by each company. I phoned to explain and was told as I had never been late before, they would refund these charges.

This month, I paid on time, but mistakenly underpaid the minimum amount by £20, and HSBC has charged me £20 again and it appears as another late payment strike.

Will this affect my credit rating, and can I have something changed to show that this was not actually a late payment, but an underpayment ?

Chadsman

As I understand it...
CC cos may look at an underpayment slightly worse than a late payment since you havnt even managed to make the min payment amount... that said they possibly dont distinguish between the two when sending info to CRAs.Try ringing up again and grovelling asking for a 'final last chance' and if they dont play ball say you are going to take your business elsewhere.
Depending on how confident you feel you could try the line that such charges are actually illegal as they are a penalty clause and do not reflect the expenses they have incurred.
Once you have written a hundred lines 'I must pay my CC bill on time' set up a direct debit from your current ac to pay the minimum amount due.

MarkyMarkD

I don't see that a £20 underpayment *of the minimum* is anything other than a late payment, honestly, and if I was in your bank's position that would be the view I would take.

As Chads says, pay the minimum by DD and you won't have the problem again.