Horrified mum denied mortgage over £3.99 payment
A mum was horrified to find out she couldn't get a mortgage after she forgot to pay a £3.99 fee.
Portsmouth woman Kelly Miles, 33, was refused a mortgage and found out she couldn't get one for six years because she'd bought an iPad mini on a 'buy now, pay later' scheme which she planned to give to her partner as a gift.
Kelly paid the £500 for the iPad in the six month time window but was given a 'red mark' because she didn't pay the £3.99 delivery fee for the gadget itself, and that tanked her credit score.
The mum explained this had happened back in 2016, and that when her landlord served her notice she and her then partner decided they'd look at buying a house together.
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It was then that Kelly learned she couldn't get approved for a mortgage because of the 'red mark' the missed £3.99 delivery fee had left on her credit score.
Kelly said she 'never had notification' that she'd not paid the delivery fee as she said she didn't 'remember seeing a single letter' about it.
"Basically this £3.99 charge that I hadn't paid for delivery had been put on as a mis-payment so I'm meant to have paid it," she explained in a recent social media post.
"But each time I've missed the payment, it's put that massive red mark on my credit file.
"On that basis I couldn't get accepted for a mortgage and my ex-partner had to buy the house without me."
The 33-year-old said even though it happened a decade ago the whole thing has left her checking her credit score every month to make sure there isn't some missed payment raising red flags about her ability to pay things back.
Kelly said she was 'disappointed', 'really surprised' and 'frustrated' when she learned that not paying a £3.99 fee she didn't even know she hadn't paid meant she couldn't get a mortgage for a long time.
She said: "I was really surprised - it didn't spring to mind at all, I had to do some investigating through my file to find out what it was.
"I was frustrated because it was out of my control, I couldn't go in and suddenly edit it or something.
"I was disappointed and I was annoyed in the sense that someone could put that mark against my name without me having any knowledge or awareness of it."
On top of being 'unable to take out a mortgage for six years', Kelly also had to be careful about every other part of her finances to avoid picking up more red marks.
She said it had put her off using buy now, pay later schemes and told people: "Frequently check your credit score - especially if you've taken out a new product, like a buy now pay later, or a finance product like a credit card or loan.
"You need to check quite soon after you've taken it out how that has been placed onto your credit file - checking that the information on there is correct."
Topics: Money
Joe Harker