British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

fclarke123 · 20 October 2017 at 10:15AM

Hoping for some advice on this extremely frustrating situation I am in. British Gas were my supplier of Gas & Electricity from November 2015 until May 2017. All my monthly Direct Debits were paid on time until May 2017, when they kept estimating my usage at £300.00 when I had previously been paying £50.00. I immediately raised a complaint with them and asked for an explanation of how they had calculated my bill. I had a smart meter which was working and showing that my average daily usage was 0.50p. I explained to them that I would make payment once they had sent me a correct bill that reflected my actual usage. I have been going back and forth with them for the last three months as their customer service is TERRIBLE.

Last week we went to our mortgage adviser to submit our application to re mortgage, and found that we had failed credit check as British Gas have put FIVE late payment marks against my credit rating. I was completely shocked, as they have never notified me of this and they are aware that I have a complaint open.

We have been advised that until this has been resolved with British Gas and the marks removed, it is unlikely that we will be able to re mortgage as no lender will accept us. I am absolutely devastated.

I immediately contacted British Gas and spoke to a lady in the complaints department, who acknowledged that the complaint should never have been closed (by closing it, they automatically put late payments against my credit report), and that she would submit a case to have these removed. I have since called back to find out what is happening and have been told that the person I spoke with (my complaint handler) is not available until Saturday and that no one else can deal with this other than her !?!?

Mean while I am completely stressing out and each day that passes I am getting more concerned about my situation. I have also contacted Experian who have contact British Gas directly to dispute this on my behalf.

Is there any other action I can take?

Richey_ · 20 October 2017 at 10:22AM

I think that’s an exaggeration that no lender will accept you if the sole concern is 5late payment markers on a disputed account. If your mortgage application is urgent, then contact a whole market broker and if you have already spoken to a broker consider a broker that specialises in adverse credit. People get mortgages with defaults and ccj’s all the time which is worse than late payment markers.

If it is not urgent or you want to stay with your current mortgage provider then submit a formal complaint in writing and if they do not resolve, request their final response. You can then take this to the ombudsman.

Good luck, don’t panic, if that’s the only issue I’m sure you will get the mortgage with or without the British Gas issue being resolved

fclarke123 · 20 October 2017 at 10:42AM

Hi Richey, thanks for your reply. I have seen a whole market broker and yes, we can look at getting a mortgage through a lender that specialises in adverse credit but the interest rates are going to be significantly higher than the original offer we were looking at. This is what frustrates me, as we are potentially going to be paying a lot more each month, just because of an error on my Credit Rating.

Candyapple · 20 October 2017 at 10:53AM

Do an advanced search on this forum for BG, there are so many threads offering great advice on what to do as I have read so many of the same stories - person goes to apply for a mortgage to find BG have trashed their files.

fclarke123 · 23 October 2017 at 9:21AM

UPDATE : I received a phone call from British Gas on Saturday and was told that they had made an ERROR and that the late payments should never have been placed against my account and that I was in fact due a CREDIT! They have finally acknowledged what they did wrong and have apologised. The late payments have been removed from my account and I know have a "good" score, as opposed to the "very poor" one I had last week.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am !!!!!!!!

nic_c · 23 October 2017 at 9:52AM

Glad its sorted. So you have checked your credit reports then. Just it might take time to be updated on all, depends if BG tell them now or as part of their usual update procedure.
I was shocked that your broker said you would need an adverse credit mortgage with no defaults, no CCJ, etc, just the late payment markers. Are you sure they are a whole market? Personally from the what I've read on here, I'd be looking at other brokers if I had been told that. Not all whole market brokers are the same.

British Gas are stopping me from being able to re mortgage

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