Totally screwed up

[Kennykenkencat]

I missed a payment on a credit card. I have never missed a payment before and as I am going for a mortgage (it was always going to be difficult because of my age) I think this has put any plans in huge jeopardy or just made them an impossibility

In mitigation in the last 9 weeks after selling our house which myself and teenage dc had to pack up and put in storage because we couldn’t get a removal company. I didn’t want to sell but felt forced to. (Whole other thread)
We have moved 6 times into various holiday lets around the country before we found a rental that was willing to accept pets and had the right amount of bedrooms.
I wanted to be in a strong position when I found the right house.

I have always maintained a really good credit score and always make sure that I keep up to date with payments.

I was relying on that to help me get a mortgage which I knew was going to be hard given my age.

However on the day we were moving from one Airbnb to another I went into my bank account and paid all my bills for that month.

I was absolutely certain I paid everyone.
So certain that when one credit card company texted me to say I had missed a payment on the date that my next statement came out I went into my bank account to get the date I had paid it. There wasn’t a single doubt in my head that this bill hadn’t been paid. I remember typing the amount to pay into the bank payment page.

What I can only assume happened was that my bank has a submit the payment page and then confirm page and I know it was the last of the payments I had to make and I must not have pressed confirm.
I immediately rang them up after realising my error and explained it was a complete mistake on my part and how I was convinced that I had paid it and how upside down my life was especially on the date I had sat down to pay everyone.
My biggest fear was that they would report it as a missed payment
I have now been informed by the credit reference agency that despite paying and getting up to date in October they have in November told the CRA I am in arrears and put a missed payment on my credit file.

I accept I did miss a payment but I have decades of never missing a single payment to anyone.
I can’t believe that one error could really screw over your life. I have asked them if they could remove it as technically when they informed the credit file company that I was in arrears I actually wasn’t.

Can anyone suggest a way I could get it removed or is that it for me and I won’t get credit again on anything that involves a credit search as by the time it has worked it’s way off my file I will (given the panic attacks and stress and insomnia) be dead or too old.

I think you can apply to have a comment put on your credit file. You can also set up automatic payment of your credit card I think. I don't think this is as bad as you think - speak to your mortgage broker.

Sorry it is so long. I tried to keep it as brief as possible

UnfinishedBunting

I am worried because a friend was trying to remortgage her house for a better deal and was denied because she accidentally did something similar and had 1 single missed payment and friend is much younger than me.

All you can do is see a broker to find out if its possible to get you a deal for those with impaired credit. Then set up a direct debit on your credit card.

I am just trying to get my mind round going from a perfect credit file to an impaired one because of 1 stupid, stupid error.

It isn’t like I didn’t have the money to pay. I just forgot to press one button to pay the bill.

I was just waiting till I had actually bought a place and then maybe paying all of any outstanding credit card debt off.
I just didn’t want to find the perfect place and then because I had paid off my credit cards I didn’t quite have enough to buy the place I wanted

Is there no way of getting this missed payment removed.

Looking at the terms and conditions of the credit card company the wording is “could” and not “would” result in a missed payment being added to the credit file. It sounds like it isn’t automatic.

Sometimes if you pay the missed payment before the next statement is generated it isn't reported as being late.

I agree that your credit record shouldn't be destroyed because of one minor error, but why are you paying all your bills manually? Get everything including credit cards on direct debit and it makes everything happen automatically so payments don't get missed and if something does go wrong, it isn't your fault. For the credit card, you can set the minimum payment, full monthly balance or a fixed amount of your choice each month.

If you worry about having the money available or whatever, you could run one bank account for your direct debits and a separate account for monthly spending, so it's all separate.

It depends on the mortgage company but 1 missed payment won’t necessary mean refusal you may be asked to explain it if it pops up when they do the credit search as above recommend deriving up direct debit for paying any credit cards

BarbaraofSeville I don’t pay all my bills manually. It is just my credit cards and things like car tax, I own all the vehicles in the family and if dc have paid for anything large during the month or one off payments for anything. On this date it was repaying Ds who had managed to secure us our next Airbnb and paid for it with its own bank card and dd who had paid for the Airbnb we were going to later in the month as well as a tax disc and the credit cards.

Normally I would have made sure it was showing on my bank account that everyone had been paid but we were in such a rush and I had driven out of the Airbnb to get internet as there was no internet in the holiday let, you couldn’t even get a tv signal there.
I was in a car that needed to be loaded with pets and our stuff and we were under time pressure. I know I should have left it till later but I knew if I did it would have completely forgotten about it and no one would have been paid.

I have 2 credit cards that I have had for so long that when I got them I don’t think it was an option to take out a direct debit with them. I would still have to pay more manually as I might not repay all my expenditure each month but I would pay a large chunk of it and as I have never missed a payment ever, for anything, I thought that having a minimum payment go out and then having to still pay manually was just going to complicate things as then I would need to find out the minimum repayment and then deduct that from what I wanted to pay off.

It is made more complicated as for at least 2 years I have not been able to access one credit card account on line and this particular credit card I lost the ability to access my on line account a few months ago when they updated their security and made it impossible for me to access anything on line.
I have spent many many hours on the phone to tech support. Each month I would call up to try to get it sorted but although they were talking me through everything and I knew all my passwords, special code words and secret numbers I would just end up in a loop

I still have paper statements as it is the only thing that gives me some idea of what I have spent and how much I need to pay each month.

If I wanted to access this particular credit card on line I used to have to call up for a OTP number which took at the very least 45 minutes to get through. Now I don’t even have the ability to get to that page. It just takes me to a page that asks for my name, date of birth and postcode. Then says that they are wrong and I am stuck on that page as I don’t know what else I am supposed to put

As others have said, set up a DD to pay the credit cards and then you wont have all that palava. Seems like a lot of time, heartache and effort could be avoided by doing that

Agree on auto payment. I do auto payment of minimal and then usually pay the rest manually. Gives peace of mind.

As for the late payment if it was less than 30 days it might not be reported, plus it can take another 30 to show. It sounds like you missed it, bank notified next day. I doubt they will report that.

They have already reported it. It is on my credit file.
I was hoping for a gesture of goodwill and for them to remove it. Partly because it was a stupid error done at a really stressful time, I had a panic attack in Tesco the next day. I was also unmedicated because my doctor hadn’t prescribed me enough medication to last the month and then when I asked for more he didn’t get round to issuing a prescription till a week later and I really did think I had paid it and they could see by their records that I had never ever missed a payment and I have had the card for decades and just to be a bit understanding.
Also on the date they reported that I was in arrears and missed a payment I had already paid up to date.

I just feel really really awful and I know it is going to cost us in the end.

Yes o should have put it all on direct debit but the reality is I didn’t and the consequences of that mistake could end up being life altering.

Yes, but you don't know that yet, and it seems a bit unlikely - speak to your broker as soon as possible, and get an automatic payment in place so that it can't happen again.

@UnfinishedBunting

Yes, but you don't know that yet, and it seems a bit unlikely - speak to your broker as soon as possible, and get an automatic payment in place so that it can't happen again.

This thread is worrying me a bit Can one missed payment really screw up applications?

Hopefully the answer can reassure OP too?

They have already reported it. It is on my credit file. I was hoping for a gesture of goodwill and for them to remove it

But on what basis? A credit report is intended to provide an accurate reflection of your ability to repay credit. In this instance, what’s been reported is an accurate reflection of a single instance where you dropped the ball (for whatever personal reasons) and failed to make the required payment. It’s only right that this is reflected in your credit record and if it’s genuinely enough to make a particular lender reluctant to lend to you, then they should be able to see it and act accordingly. Indeed, they wouldn't be acting responsibly as a lender if they didn't.

What you have to remember OP is that all sorts of people take out credit and for all sorts of reasons they might ultimately miss a payment. Most of those people won’t ever have intended to do so, but life happens and mistakes are made. Your situation isn't special or unique, it's very unfortunate, but don't catastrophise either. Find a broker who specialises in helping people with less than perfect credit to obtain a mortgage and concentrate on moving forward.

There are many levels of non prime mortgages available and the extra interest can be minimal, especially if you have only a single minor indiscretion on your credit file.

This is because the loan is secured and they know that, unlike credit cards, they can repossess your house and sell it to repay the loan. Plus if people get into trouble, they tend to prioritise their mortgage over unsecured debt, so the chance of not getting their money back is very low.

My friend couldn’t get a mortgage because of 1 missed payment.

It really does impact you and given my age I doubt a sub prime mortgage provider is going to lend to me.

Only time will tell.

Go back to the credit card company, point out your strong payment history, and that this was a genuine mistake and ask for it to be removed. I’ve had late payment fees scrubbed that way before because they can see I usually always pay on time and it was genuinely a mistake.

Try to get a mortgage with a company that individually underwrites. They may be willing to look at the facts more than a big bank. Most building societies individually underwrite.

@lillg

Try to get a mortgage with a company that individually underwrites. They may be willing to look at the facts more than a big bank. Most building societies individually underwrite.

Most building societies also apply far stricter lending criteria thank banks, for precisely this reason. I say that as someone who currently works for a building society.