A few months back I used Klarna for the first time to to purchase some clothing over two retailers.
It all went fine- payments taken automatically and all getting paid off.
In September ds needed a new phone. The option to pay with Klarna interest free was cheaper than a new phone contract so we went with that.
A couple of days ago, I received a credit alert to say my credit rating had changed. For 20 years it’s been “good/ excellent” so panicking I logged in.
It said that I’d missed a £5 payment to Klarna.
Confused, I looked at my Klarna app and it said all payments up to date.
I contacted Klarna and after some digging it turned out to be over this phone.
What happened is they class the phone as “finance” not “order” in a different section of the app you had too click through several times to find the missing payment.
Because it was “finance” apparently I was meant too press “ enable auto pay”.
How on Earth was I meant to know this? Not once had Klarna said “by the way for this phone order you need to comb through the app to find auto pay”. The other payments had been automatic so why think different.
At no point did Klarna tell me this before, during or even after ordering the phone. Infact, if it wasn’t for the credit alert I’d still have no idea.
Klarna have also added interest and told me to pay a fee or my account will revert to 18% interest.
I strongly believe it was in Klarna’s interest to not inform me as much as possible to able charge fees and interest.
I have immediately paid the missing payment and contacted them again to request removal on my file but they point blank refuse.
How can they get away with wrecking someone’s 20 year old good credit rating over £5?
Are they not meant to have told me to set auto pay up? Are they not supposed to have informed me at any point?
Is there anything I can do?
Oh and if this post stops one person getting into this situation then it did something. Please do
NOT use Klarna, despite the glossy marketing I think they are totally untrustworthy. If you do already have finance with them make sure auto pay is on- EVEN if you auto payed before.
If anyone knows who I can write too to get my credit rating back, I’d be so grateful