Credit card users incur late payment fees due to postal strikes

Following reports of credit card customers incurring £150 million of late payment fees due to the recent postal strikes, Rumina Hassam, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com comments: "A £12 late payment fees is not the only problem for these consumers as missed payments will also have a detrimental impact on credit records. This will of course have a knock on effect on future applications for credit and could further increase the 3.32 million people who have already had a credit card application rejected in the last year.

"If you are affected you must contact your credit card provider to explain what has happened immediately and ask for the £12 penalty to be refunded. Unfortunately, even if your provider agrees to this, the missed payment could still show up on credit records. This may not happen immediately as these reports as not always updated straight away so it's really important to keep an eye on this over the coming weeks.

"As a nation we are notoriously bad at keeping an eye on our credit reports. Although the recession has created more consumer interest in these reports, our research shows that 54% of consumers have never looked at their credit report. Alarmingly, of those who did check their credit record in the last 12 months, 13% found mistakes such as payments listed incorrectly as ‘missed' and inaccurate credit limits.

"Finally, as this seems to be an ongoing issue, it could be good practice to set up a direct debit to all credit card providers - that way you will never be caught out again. Already this year, 5.7 million credit card customers have been caught out by late payment fees incurring just over three payments each costing a total of £213 million - £37 each. This is already an extremely lucrative practice for providers, people shouldn't add to this growing pot of income."