Personal Finance

PC Financial reports 73 cents as late payment

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  • Oct 11th, 2017 3:03 pm
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Nov 18, 2002
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PC Financial reports 73 cents as late payment

Or maybe it is the usual thread and I need to vent a little. :) And let this be a lesson to everyone.

So I'm usually pretty good at paying off all my credit card accounts and LOCs in full monthly. I have/had a pretty good credit score (over 850) for the longest time. Scroll forward to a couple of months ago when I fully discharged (or at least I thought it was) my President's Choice Financial LOC (40k limit). What appears to have transpired is that I had accrued 73 cents interest subsequent to this which put the account in negative balance. It's an account that I very seldom use so of course I completely neglected to double check any statements I may have received.

Yesterday I received an equifax alert of a credit score downgrade. Yep, PCF reported a $1 (I assume minimum amt) 30 day overdue balance which I suspect wiped off 80 points off my credit score.

I instantly called PCF to clarify and indeed there was 73 cents outstanding on the 40k LOC. I did receive a statement but alas by my own silly omission did not check. I immediately escalated to a supervisor but no go, they cannot remove the late payment report as technically it is accurate. No goodwill there (or perhaps no technical way of reversing this?).

I fully concede that I should've checked up but at the same time this is a 12 year old account in good standing and I did not receive a single phone call or alert that it was in arrears which would've been the nice thing to do before reporting it.

Has anyone been in this kind of situation and have you managed to get it resolved? I'm thinking of escalating this to their Office of the President but I'm not able to find information on what that process is.

Apologies for the vent.
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Jan 2, 2015
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I thought 850 was the max for at least one credit rating agency.

I once had a vaguely similar issue with PCF and ended up getting a message from CIBC saying they weren't going to change things. (It wasn't exactly the same issue so I couldn't determine the damage to my credit rating, but it's over 800 and never actually went down...) PCF isn't flexible, and apparently neither is CIBC.

There is an auto-pay option for the line of credit. I don't even use mine (beyond the once per year requirement to avoid paying a fee) but I still have that set up ... just in case.
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Even though you admit it was you're own fault (good on you!), they could have at least been understanding and did a goodwill for you.
I would definitely escalate, and get the late payment note removed.
Front line staff are so limited on their knowledge and ability to get things done.
Last edited by coolintheshade on Apr 15th, 2017 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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FoFai2015 wrote: I thought 850 was the max for at least one credit rating agency.
U.S Fico score max is 850.
AFAIK all Canadian scoring models max at 900
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coolintheshade wrote: Even though you admit it was you're own fault (good on you!), they could have atl east been understanding and did a goodwill for you.
I would definitely escalate, and get the late payment note removed.
Front line staff are so limited on their knowledge and ability to get things done.
I went to a supervisor today who claimed nothing could be done. I'll call them back on a working day next to escalate further or at least get someone from the President's Office to hear me out if there is such an escalation path.
Also technically the late payment is reported as $1 with equifax which is incorrect so that's another contentious point.
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ichpen wrote: I went to a supervisor today who claimed nothing could be done. I'll call them back on a working day next to escalate further or at least get someone from the President's Office to hear me out.
Also technically the late payment is reported as $1 with equifax which is incorrect so that's another contentious point.
Isn't everything with the bureaus in rounded whole dollars?

It's shitty, but at least it probably won't negatively impact you in any real way. Credit score is just a number, until you actually need to apply for something. If that's the only blemish on your file I doubt it'd make the difference on anything.
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Mike15 wrote: Isn't everything with the bureaus in rounded whole dollars?

It's shitty, but at least it probably won't negatively impact you in any real way. Credit score is just a number, until you actually need to apply for something. If that's the only blemish on your file I doubt it'd make the difference on anything.
Many automated credit card systems these days analyze more than just credit score.
That's why most applications will state "get a response in 60 seconds" it takes mere seconds for score alone.
They analyze total debt and monthly payments, late payments, inquiries etc...
Lenders took a long time to realize credit score isn't everything. Mostly used as an approve/decline cutoff now.
Last year my son in law was declined for an MBNA card due to a late payment that occurred almost 3 years prior! Mind you it was a more serious late than 30 days.
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Mike15 wrote: Isn't everything with the bureaus in rounded whole dollars?

It's shitty, but at least it probably won't negatively impact you in any real way. Credit score is just a number, until you actually need to apply for something. If that's the only blemish on your file I doubt it'd make the difference on anything.
You're right, not the end of the world and I have more credit facilities open to me than I could ever hope or want to use but really poor business etiquette from PCF. I get that it's an automated report, but not to call me ahead of time or tell me on the phone that technically it's true and they won't do anything about it is a little bit of a poor show on their behalf.

I'm not a robot and have missed due dates before and received a polite call back from other banks to remind me.

Personal venting aside my question still stands if anyone is aware of the escalation process with PCF to get to someone with a bigger say. My call today ended abruptly with the supervisor so I will be calling back. If there's an Office of the President or some other hotline I'd be interested in reaching out to them.
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ichpen wrote: You're right, not the end of the world and I have more credit facilities open to me than I could ever hope or want to use but really poor business etiquette from PCF. I get that it's an automated report, but not to call me ahead of time or tell me on the phone that technically it's true and they won't do anything about it is a little bit of a poor show on their behalf.

I'm not a robot and have missed due dates before and received a polite call back from other banks to remind me.

Personal venting aside my question still stands if anyone is aware of the escalation process with PCF to get to someone with a bigger say. My call today ended abruptly with the supervisor so I will be calling back. If there's an Office of the President or some other hotline I'd be interested in reaching out to them.
1. Talk to us. We constantly strive for excellence in customer service, however, despite our best efforts, errors occasionally do occur. If you have a concern, let us know right away by:
Calling 1-888-723-8881 and discussing with one of our Personal Banking Representatives or with a Team Leader
For President's Choice Financial Mortgages: 1-888-276-3744 (before funding) or 1-888-866-0866 (after funding)
Submitting an easy Open Dialog online feedback form
Writing to us at:
President's Choice Financial services
P.O. Box 603, Stn. Agincourt
Scarborough, ON M1S 5K9
The above mailing address can only receive mail sent through regular post. Couriers such as UPS and Purolator cannot deliver to a PO Box.
Courier delivery address:
CIBC, Attention: PCF
305 Milner Avenue, 5th Floor
Scarborough, ON
M1B 3V4
2. Contact our Customer Care Centre. If your concern is not resolved to your satisfaction by any of the above means, you can:
Call us at 1-888-723-8881 and ask to be transferred or referred to a Customer Care Manager or
Write to the attention of our Customer Care Centre at the address indicated above.
3. Your right to an independent review. Assuming you have followed the complaint escalation steps outlined above and you remain unsatisfied with Customer Care's resolution, you can contact the CIBC Ombudsman. Then, if the matter falls within the CIBC Ombudsman's mandate (www.cibc.com/ombudsman), and providing legal action has not been taken on the matter, the Ombudsman will conduct a further investigation. You can reach the CIBC Ombudsman by:
Phone: 1-800-308-6859
Toronto area: 416-861-3313
Fax: 1-800-308-6861
Toronto area: 416-980-3754
E-mail: ombudsman@cibc.com
Mail:
CIBC Ombudsman
P.O. Box 342, Commerce Court
Toronto, ON M5L 1G2
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ichpen wrote: Thanks. Couldn't find that in an earlier search.
Of course this assumes CIBC is servicing the LOC department. I know they do the banking division. No idea about the LOC.
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Jul 21, 2005
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My guess is that by the time you paid off the LOC, more interest has ran up, and thus you should have really checked your following balance. I know with TD, when my parents went in to pay off their LOC in full, I asked the lady specifically how to make sure we account for all the interest that still hasn't been reported, and they were able to pull up the exact number as of that point in time that would account for every single penny owed. Really your mistake here, so live and learn. It sucks but the effort required seems not worth it, unless you are about to borrow lots of money or apply for other loans. Just keep paying your bills on time going forward and the credit score will correct itself over time. The drop isn't permanent thing, it will recover.
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Without a 850+ credit score, how do you know you are special ?
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For anyone else worried about this situation, you can ask PC Financial to set up your LOC so it automatically pulls the minimum payment from your chequing account.
I set this up right away when I first opened my LOC many years ago.
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ichpen wrote:

I fully concede that I should've checked up but at the same time this is a 12 year old account in good standing and I did not receive a single phone call or alert that it was in arrears which would've been the nice thing to do before reporting it.
The phone call is more expensive than your debt.
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iamthebest wrote: The phone call is more expensive than your debt.
The cost of reporting it to the bureaus is probably more expensive than the debt as well...

IMO PC Financial didn't do anything wrong here, but they should also cut the OP some slack. Small things like this are what cause long-time customers to terminate business relationships. It costs more than 73 cents to get a new customer!

This is why some people switch to credit unions. Big banks don't really have souls or functioning brains.
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Yep...I *had* an Apple Financial Card (TDBank Financial). I paid it off, but apparently I missed some of the interest charge. Keep in mind, Apple financial sends you a notice regardless if you owe or not. My fault for not checking, but I did get dinged by this, and lost my Apple Card. Oh well. Lesson.

I think I owed like $0.25, but it is what it is.
Why can't we all just get along?
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Jucius Maximus wrote: The cost of reporting it to the bureaus is probably more expensive than the debt as well...

IMO PC Financial didn't do anything wrong here, but they should also cut the OP some slack. Small things like this are what cause long-time customers to terminate business relationships. It costs more than 73 cents to get a new customer!

This is why some people switch to credit unions. Big banks don't really have souls or functioning brains.
Obviously "It is not about the money. It is about sending a message." People need to check and pay their debts on time so they don't have to whine on RFD.
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Jucius Maximus wrote: The cost of reporting it to the bureaus is probably more expensive than the debt as well...
A phone call with a human has a direct cost. Them reporting to the bureaus is a computer automatically sending who's current, who's 30 over, who's 60 over, etc. Sure the information system costs money, but there's no marginal cost.

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