Citi Cards UK today admitted to me that they had failed to collect direct debits on a number of customer credit card accounts the result of which was that a £12 late payment fee has been applied.

Fortunately I noticed the fee when checking my account on-line and was able to contact Citi straight away to get them to put it right. The Direct Debit should have been collected on 29 December and the Citi employee claimed that Citi were aware of the problem and would be putting it right. He also assured me that my credit reference agency report would not show a late payment or default. Lets hope so but if you hold a Citi card (particularly a now defunct Shell Citi MasterCard) then you may want to check your account.