Credit card direct debit cost me to miss a payment.

[Rick_1138]

This was my own fault, assumption being the mother of all foul ups, but still bloody annoyed, more at having a missed payment on my file.

Only ever had one missed payment before, and that was Barclaycards fault as they charged me twice by accident about 6 years ago and as a result put me over my limit, i was charged £12 but was all sorted but still classed as a missed payment.

I have never missed payments on loans, cards etc apart from that one time until today.

The long and the short of it is, i have a virgin card with about £3k on it on 0%, its for some debt i got a few years ago during a bad time when my spending and paying didnt quite balance out, and a few emergencies requiring cash.

anyway its going well and got from £10k down to about £6k so its going well for being debt free in about 18 months .

However i set up a direct debit on the virgin card rather than paying it from my debit card manually each month, just for peace of mind, just the minimum payment to prevent me missing a payment etc.

I set the direct debit up on the 5th of the month with the understanding that payments are taken off on or around the day of the setting up (5th May in this case)

However this never happened, and the payment was taken on the 27th of june, the day before i am paid, normally this wouldnt have been an issue, but june was very expensive and a 5 week month to boot, so i was tight, unfortunately my broadband D\D (which they wont change the date on!!) came out early and the direct debit came out same day but chronologically after it.

As a result i had the direct debit show up as paid on the card, but the next day (but cri=ucially the same transaction day i.e. the day before i was paid) so the payment was rejected.

As a result, the card was shown as not received payment, charged £12 for not paying, £12 for having D\D rejected, the £35 min payment lumped in again for next month and £60 interest, plus my next months min payment. So about £150 was to be taken out at the end of this month.

I got a hold of Virgin and they were helpful, as it was my issue not having cash in the bank (by £1!) but losing my 0% rate and getting some £60 of interest whacked on was painfull. They gave me £12 back as a goodwill gesture, and changed my D\D to the correct date (start of the month). I paid off the £150 on my debit card there and then, so no surprises for next month.

BUt my rate is now 4.2% rather than my 0% and i will have had 2 non payments on credit cards over the last 5 years, so bit worried how much that would effect any loan applications or mortgage apps etc.

I earn well and continuously in employment etc, and seem to be okay for loans etc, but always worried if a second mark would become very bad or as long as i am always normally paying etc, it would be okay.

Really annoyed though as i hate to miss payments, especially as i set the D\D up to avoid this very thing.

/Rant]

[Nickyboy]

It wont always go as a missed payment on your credit report, i missed a payment (didn't allow enough time for it to clear) on my Mint card a couple of years ago and no mark was put on my credit report.

[Maxf]

I had a similar issue and made a complaint. They sorted the DD and refunded the charge. As they'd refunded their charge I also successfully argued that the 0% rate should still apply - which they agreed with. This was Virgin too.

[Rick_1138]

I think the problem i would have is at the end of the day, cash wasnt available, albeit only a couple of £ short, but its not the end of the world, still on course to get rid of my debt in about 18 months

[e8_pack]

As above, complain, phone up, write a letter and complain again, they'll listen eventually and persistence will pay off. Don't take the 4% on the chin.