British Gas ruined my credit rating!

sshnuke

Last year I made a few late payments and BG have recorded this with Experian as missed payments. This has actually ruined my credit rating.

At no time on the phone when requesting a delay to the payment has anyone ever said to me that it would affect my credit rating. I now know that this is implied in the red letter.

Has this happened to anyone else? Were you able to get them to amend your credit file. With the double whammy of a credit crunch and gas prices sky high i think BG are kicking their customers when their down.

KimYeovil

So you failed to pay a creditor on time. (Repeatedly, it seems.) This has affected your credit rating. 'Duh', as the young'uns are wont to say.

It is you and only you who has ruined your credit rating.

Well done, British Gas. As awareness of this spreads perhaps more people will bother their rears to pay on time bills they have had four months to save up for. Consequent savings to all will be good news.

Antispam

In future set up payment by direct debt therefore preventing late payment and spreading costs of payment, this is assuming BG will now allow you to have credit

ollski

To be fair your credit record is just that.....an accurate record of your credit history which seems to be what you have got. Bg, as most companies, are fairly tolerant of a late payment and may not record it especially with a good reason. If they were simply late but bg recorded them as missed they can directly write on your file to rectify the mistake but if they are accurately recorded they wont alter.

grahamc2003

sshnuke wrote: »

Last year I made a few late payments and BG have recorded this with Experian as missed payments. This has actually ruined my credit rating.

At no time on the phone when requesting a delay to the payment has anyone ever said to me that it would affect my credit rating. I now know that this is implied in the red letter.

Has this happened to anyone else? Were you able to get them to amend your credit file. With the double whammy of a credit crunch and gas prices sky high i think BG are kicking their customers when their down.

What basis would you think allows you to change your credit history from your actual history to a ficticious one? What possible use would your credit rating be to anyone if that were possible?

You paid some bills late, Bgas informed the agency. When you want someone else to lend you money, they probably want to assess their risk of doing so (I certainly would). You may get lucky, and find someone to extend credit towards you even though paying your debts doesn't seem importatnt to you, but then again they may prefer to lend to someone else who recognises the importance of doing so.

Joyful

The days of waiting for a red letter are gone for most companies. Credit cards mark your file as late as will many others. The difference with an energy company is you can pay after 3 months. There is no reason to be late for this. When a bill arrives that you have problems paying you should contact immediately to set up a payment plan.

Experian_company_representative

If there is a good reason for the late payments you can add a note to your credit report explaining this.

James Jones

Gerrard_8_lfc

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

If there is a good reason for the late payments you can add a note to your credit report explaining this.

James Jones

what if " A just want to go dancin" does that help sod the gas

sshnuke

I'm not sure why some people assumed there wasn't a good reason for the late payments?! Sorry but all this finger wagging doesn't help.

I've had a decision reversed before with another company and wondered if anyone had any experience with British Gas with this. After being a BG customer for over 20yrs with no problems I'm disappointed BG do not make this explicit either in phone calls you make to them or the red letter they send to you.

Ollksi... That makes sense. I made a few late payments but there is only one recorded with Experian. I always called BG to advise of late payments and set up a payment plan, perhaps I missed an agreed date on one of them. I'll give them a call and see if anything can be done.

James... Will definitely add a note to my credit report if BG think the default(?) should stand. I think a comment will be helpful as it will be obvious from other debt repayments at the time why the payments were late.

Many Thanks!

undaunted

As you don't give any reasons it's difficult to form an opinion as to whether circumstances justified the late payment. However (& for once?) I find myself basically agreeing with Kymm, ie you paid late (regardless of the reason) on several occasions & that is recorded (once). Presumably you have now paid this bill & that has also been recorded?

This hardly seems an unfair refelection of the facts, or something that has ruined your credit rating, nor seemingly was it British Gas's fault / error. I can't really see that you have much grounds for complaint personally

chanz4

sshnuke wrote: »

I'm not sure why some people assumed there wasn't a good reason for the late payments?! Sorry but all this finger wagging doesn't help.

I've had a decision reversed before with another company and wondered if anyone had any experience with British Gas with this. After being a BG customer for over 20yrs with no problems I'm disappointed BG do not make this explicit either in phone calls you make to them or the red letter they send to you.

Ollksi... That makes sense. I made a few late payments but there is only one recorded with Experian. I always called BG to advise of late payments and set up a payment plan, perhaps I missed an agreed date on one of them. I'll give them a call and see if anything can be done.

James... Will definitely add a note to my credit report if BG think the default(?) should stand. I think a comment will be helpful as it will be obvious from other debt repayments at the time why the payments were late.

Many Thanks!

You said in your first post " I now know that this is implied in the red letter. "

If your late, your late end of they did inform you in the letter and it would also be in there t&cs