Had a credit card late payment, Help please.

Had a credit card late payment, Help please.

Author
Discussion

Vyse

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

123 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
I was checking my credit card bank statement this month and noticed a £12 late fee. Normally I normally quite good at payments. I dont tend to pay on a set day but roughly the same time each month. But due to this episode I have now decided to set a direct debit so this cant happen again. However my issue is I cant seem to work out why my payment was late. Here is a break down of the past month and a bit, bearing in mind that its one of those cards were if you pay the £25 minimum you don't get charged.

August statement:

Period 24 Jul 2014 - 23 Aug 2014
Minimum payment by 12 Sep 2014
I made a £150 payment on the 25 Aug 2014

September statement:

Period 24 Aug 2014 - 23 Sep 2014
Minimum payment by 13 Oct 2014
I made a £400 payment on the 22 Sep 2014

The late payment date was applied to my account on the 13 Oct 2014.

Thanks

bugmenot

129 posts

132 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Your £400 payment (intended for September) was made before your September statement was produced.

Seems like you just made an honest mistake so it could be worth calling them to see if they will refund the charge (and also ensure that a late payment marker is not recorded on your credit file).

Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
bugmenot said:
Your £400 payment (intended for September) was made before your September statement was produced..
^This.

Your payment was received before the statement was even produced..........

Vyse

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

123 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Ah thanks, so I should have paid a day later.

If I paid before the statement was produced how could it be a missed payment because I don't even have the next statement which should arrive sometime later this week?

Thanks

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Vyse said:
Ah thanks, so I should have paid a day later.

If I paid before the statement was produced how could it be a missed payment because I don't even have the next statement which should arrive sometime later this week?

Thanks
The system needs to see a payment between the statement date and the "due by" date shown on that statement. If there is no payment and an outstanding balance, it automatically counts it as a late payment.

Vyse

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

123 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Thank feck that direct debits set up now.

Sheepshanks

32,519 posts

118 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
I'd certainly call them and object - I've done that a couple of times in the past but the late fee used to be £25 and was reduced by card providers some years ago under pressure from the regulator.

Your payment window of 20 days is pretty tight - we run 4 credit cards and they're all near enough 30 days. Yours spans the end of a month so that would be a good point to pay - I set the payment date manually each month using online banking as soon as I get the bills.

Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
Why not just set up all cards to pay the minimum payment? Guarantees you never miss a payment and then you can pay anything additional manually?

I'm a bit paranoid and have DD's set up on all my cards with zero balances to ensure there's never a balance due a payment that I'm not aware of, such as a recurring payment like an annual RAC subscription payment that I've forgotten which card details I've given!

firemunki

361 posts

130 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Call them, I've done this once and they saw it came in a day early and it was clear I was never late before and had tried to pay on time. They refunded the fee and cleared any marks on the history.

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Sooo - if you pay early it appears as a late payment (and fks up your credit score). Terrific, well done computers.

ben5732

763 posts

155 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Depends how much money you make them if you get it back or not. If you pay your bill in full each month or rarely use your card good luck...

Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Sooo - if you pay early it appears as a late payment (and fks up your credit score). Terrific, well done computers.
If you pay before the payment is due then it's simply taken as an overpayment for that month, they obviously can't forsee that the payment received has been accidentally sent early and should therefore be taken as next months minimum payment instead.....

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Sarnie said:
they obviously can't forsee that the payment received has been accidentally sent early and should therefore be taken as next months minimum payment instead.....
Then the bloody computer should be programmed to work out what a human can see in half a second.

jammy_basturd

29,775 posts

211 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Then the bloody computer should be programmed to work out what a human can see in half a second.
A computer can't be programmed to read minds, nor should a computer ever make assumptions on your behalf.

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
A computer can't be programmed to read minds, nor should a computer ever make assumptions on your behalf.
It might be able to compare credit with debit though.

As in 'The amount owing is £5,000, oh look here's £4,000 credit, so there is now (clunk grind whirr) £1,000 owing.'

If I lend someone a tenner until Friday and they pay it back on Thursday, I don't go round on Saturday and demand my tenner back.

Vyse

Original Poster:

1,224 posts

123 months

Friday 24th October 2014
quotequote all
Tesco gave me back the money. They said that first time they would refund, 2nd time no chance. Lesson learnt I guess.

carreauchompeur

17,830 posts

203 months

Friday 24th October 2014
quotequote all
I had similar a while back when I paid the month early. I did get it refunded but had to admit defeat talking to the call centre operative and explaining that it was clearly early, and her warnings that I shouldn't pay late again!


Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Friday 24th October 2014
quotequote all
Set up a DD.