Kelli complained that the bank’s advice had been confusing, and that its reporting of her missed repayment was unfair. This was because she believed the payment would process the next day and be recorded on her next statement cycle.

Our investigation

In the call recording, the bank said it could process the transfer that day or the next and asked Kelli to check her internet banking and contact it again once the money had gone into her credit card account to ask it to reverse the payment. The bank had clearly told her that either day was possible. Regardless of which day the money went into her credit card account, Kelli was responsible for checking that the payment had arrived and then contacting the bank to instruct it to put the money back in her savings account, so she could make the credit card payment again. The bank told her she would need to get back in touch because it could not act on such an instruction until the money was actually in her credit card account. Kelli later acknowledged she had forgotten to contact the bank again about the reversal.

Kelli had more than three weeks to make the minimum repayment on her credit card for the next statement cycle but made it eight days after it was due. The bank allowed a five-day grace period before reporting a late repayment to credit-reporting agencies. Banks can observe a grace period of up to 14 days but do not have to apply this maximum period. We found the bank breached no obligation by applying a five-day period. The reporting was an accurate summary of Kelli’s account activity and did not create a misleading impression of her repayment history.

Outcome

We did not uphold Kelli’s complaint.