British Gas ruined my credit rating!

KimYeovil

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.

There are no good reasons for not paying your utilities bills. Not that the goodness or badness of the reason is a criterion on the credit report anyway.

sshnuke wrote: »

I think a comment will be helpful as it will be obvious from other debt repayments at the time why the payments were late.

How will highlighting being overstretched on discretionary debt help you explain away not being able to handle predictable essential outgoings?

Armengar

how about "mitigating circumstances".

If there are genuine reasons for not being able to pay your bills then talk to the companies. This will slow them from putting bad marks on your records. Burying your head in the sand is the worst thing that you can do - apathy is not a good reason. Losing your job and not having the ability to pay will get you a bit of help from most companies providing you chat with them and explain/back it up *NOT* rant at them. Be nice to the advisors and you will get help.

It is rare that a credit record will be altered AFTER the fact. You can append a note to your file should there be a genuine mitigating circumstance - again, better to do this rather than TRY to argue afterwards.

jadex

Before you lot jump up on somebody, do you ever realise that for majority of their customers British Gas has no consent to pass the data to third parties (CRAs included)?
Especially as OP has been with them for 20 years, it is hardly possible he/she has ever given BG such a permission.
BG register many unlawful marks on customers' credit files, but by simple pointing out the fact of luck of consent, they are quickly to remove everything from credit files before case go to ICO (as they simply are in breach of DPA to pass someones data to third party).
This is not to say, OP shouldn't pay on time, but to point out the underhanded tactic BG use.
Two wrongs don't make right - it is wrong to be late with payment but it doesn't mean it is right to unlawfully register adverse data on someone's credit file.

eurmalian

jadex wrote: »

Before you lot jump up on somebody, do you ever realise that for majority of their customers British Gas has no consent to pass the data to third parties (CRAs included)?

Ummm... It's in the Terms and Conditions. Which everyone agrees to as part of their supply. Section 10.8(d) if you really want to go and look it up. Full permission to share data with credit-reference and fraud prevention agencies.

jadex

eurmalian wrote: »

Ummm... It's in the Terms and Conditions. Which everyone agrees to as part of their supply. Section 10.8(d) if you really want to go and look it up. Full permission to share data with credit-reference and fraud prevention agencies.

it's not in all contracts so not everyone agreed
go over to the debt-free wannabe board and you will find out

vuvuzela

jadex wrote: »

it's not in all contracts so not everyone agreed
go over to the debt-free wannabe board and you will find out

I thought that legally by continuing to use the supply after the T&Cs have been changed is considered acceptance of them.

bobbydazzler2

I have had a similar issue and think that the effect on the rating is disproportionate. As I have combined Gas and electricity with British gas and was out of the country my bills were not paid for 3 months, no excuse for this other than a mistake on my part. This one bill though has resulted in 6 red / amber defaults on my credit rating. ( one each for gas and electricity for each month that the bill remained unpaid ) this has resulted in my credit rating changing from 960 to 620 marking me as one of the worst 30% for credit in the UK....... for one missed bill. Self righteousness on the part of others on the forum is all very well until an unforseen circumstance obliterates 30 years of positive history.

KimYeovil

Were you abducted? Probed? Hardly 'unforseen'.

eurmalian

300 points in three months does sound rather harsh. I'd say that it's more the fault of Experian for deciding that being three months late on your bill equates to that many points though. After all, the supplier just lets Experian know the facts. Experian then decide how much that affects your credit rating...

vuvuzela

eurmalian wrote: »

300 points in three months does sound rather harsh. I'd say that it's more the fault of Experian for deciding that being three months late on your bill equates to that many points though. After all, the supplier just lets Experian know the facts. Experian then decide how much that affects your credit rating...

The credit 'rating' Experian provides is a complete and utter waste of money. It is NOT your 'credit rating', it is how THEY interpret your data. Every company has a slightly different algorithm to calculate how they rate you, they do not all use the Experian version. Spending 7/8 quid or however much it costs is not worth it, IMO.