Cheap Prepay Gas & Elec Article

Experian_company_representative

Hopefully the new mortgage will help strengthen your credit record. Are your Amex and Visa account showing on your credit history too?

James

n00dles71

I can understand where you are coming from with the previous 2 cards not being accepted. This must have been a case of me being an unprofitable customer who clears things in full each month for Santander to not want to play ball back in 2010. No doubt the climate at the time with banks needing to reduce liabilities had a lot to do with this. Halifax were trying to push a more expensive card in the end and I made an appointment with the same personal banker who signed me up after being a customer for a month and asked him I wanted to move the 15k savings I brought with me elsewhere if I didn’t get the Clarity card which worked in the end. I’ve only used this sparingly abroad and cleared in full each time. The Amex I got right after Santander were being difficult and have used it since 2010 and have saved over 72000 points on it so far, clearing it every month.

My report says I have £14500 available credit but am using 8% which is the normal amount on my Amex each month before it gets paid. I have 7 providers and all 7 show no missed or late payments for 3 years. The ones that show 72 months of history also have all zeros. This is how the state of my finances have been for a long time so even if someone wants to sniff around from years 3-6 they would find the same albeit with probably only half the available credit in this time. I’m a Citibank Gold customer as well so you have to have a considerable sum invested with them to be put on this level. It’s just a shame that Experian don’t seem to share the level of savings you have as well as the credit.

I appreciate the comments regarding no settle credit but I’m not searching for a loan which I would take a knock back on the chin. I’m just after the same utility services I have always been able to get. If I can demonstrate over 3 years of no late payments for everything, including managing an Amex which is regularly over £1000 spend per month you would think that a utility company could take the risk also. To reiterate, the Experian person I spoke to said the lack of “settled credit” wasn’t a problem and there was nothing else on my report he could see which would be flagged by another institution, even down to gaming the promotional rates by credit card hopping of which there is no evidence as I’m happy currently getting two Avios points per £1 on my BMI Amex.

It will be interesting to see when BG get notification from EDF I’ve started the moving process if their position changes.

suecanning

I recently moved house and inherited a prepaid electricity meter. Both my gas and electric were with British Gas so I called to set up DD's for them both, as I prefer to know what is being paid each month so I can plan my money. I was told they could set up a DD for the gas without problem because it was monthly paid already.
However, in order for me to swap the meter to monthly paid I had to be credit checked!
This was shocking to me as they had not credit scored me for the gas DD and even admitted that had the electric not been a meter they would not have credit scored me either but simply set up a DD!
This is an unacceptable double standard. Why should I be credit scored to have a meter removed that I had inherited from the previous tenant???
Needless to say I did not go ahead and have moved provider to N Power, where I have kept the meter for now as it will cost £60 to have it removed.

[Deleted User]

I moved into a rental property with prepayment meters for both gas and electric. The provider was British Gas. I found that my fuel charges here went up immediately (£25 for electric and £15 to £25 for gas depending on the season per week). I had had credit meters in my previous property.

British Gas ran a credit check on me and wouldn't change me to a credit meter. I ran a price comparison and found Npower to be the cheapest. They also had a savings scheme I could join because I have a disabled son and as a carer am on benefits. They also said they could install credit meters for free. The meters were installed after I switched providers but I found somehow I hadn't saved a lot of money when I calculated my actual monthly charges. The savings I was promised through having a disabled son, apparently I just missed for that year. Within 8 months I swopped to EDF and my payments have now been reduced thank goodness, it saves me about £20 a month. It might not sound like much but it all helps.

I am the sort that only turns central heating on when I absolutely have to (cardigans/jumpers are good) to save money so its nice to finally be getting lower charges that show I am careful. I'm not sure what happened with Npower as I did run our spending through a comparison site, reality just didn't work out as the comparison site promised though.

Now if only I could sort our water charges out lol (yes I do have a meter and yes I am careful - bathwater gets used to mop the floor and then its used to clean the back yard lol - my kids prefer baths to showers so I'm stuck with that one but we don't bathe every day of the week - sometimes I feel like I am going back to WWII lol).

[Deleted User]

Sorry post duplicated.

j00lie

hi , im just posting to let people know that although b g claim they will change prepay meters i have had a problem with them credit checking me and because i have no loans or credit cards or debt of any kind i failed the credit check , despite being a b g customer for 5 years prior to moving to my current address , its realy annoying because surely experian is not the correct tool for the job ? is there anything anyone knows i can do ? i dont want to get a credit card , its a nonsense that i cant pay my bills , i think b g use it as an excuse to keep people on these expensive , no chance to switch tariff s my only option is pay to remove the meters or move house again , i didnt know there were key meters untill i moved in . has anyone lobbied thier m p about this ?

j00lie

not all suppliers change the meter for free , british gas say they will but it depends on a credit check , u have a mortgage so i would think ude b ok , best to phone them and get them to check u first

dish2trish

Please can anyone advise me? I've just completed on a house, which I'm hoping to refurbish, new bathroom, gas boiler, extra radiators etc, within 3 months, then let out for the foreseeable future. I have just found the gas supply is on a prepayment meter and the electric on credit from British Gas. When I enquired if the prepay meter could be changed BG said it might be better to leave it like that as then tenants couldn't run up big bills and leave me in the lurch by not paying them before leaving. I can see the advantage of this but the tariff is very high and the tenants may want to change anyway. Martin is advocating switching to a fixed tariff asap but I'm not sure if I can do that with a prepayment meter. Being a landlord will be a new experience for me and I would appreciate any advice. Many thanks.

jessie-jane

Hi,wondering if I can pick your brains,we moved into a property that has prepayment meters,they were with eon but we wanted to change to BG,to go on the credit meters which we had been in with BG for the last 23yrs,however we failed the credit check by BG so have to stay on the per pay,what I would like to no is are we tied in with BG or can we change to another supplier? We would like to go back to eon because I've heard you can get club card points with them ? Thanks, sorry for it being long winded.

dude89

jessie-jane wrote: »

Hi,wondering if I can pick your brains,we moved into a property that has prepayment meters,they were with eon but we wanted to change to BG,to go on the credit meters which we had been in with BG for the last 23yrs,however we failed the credit check by BG so have to stay on the per pay,what I would like to no is are we tied in with BG or can we change to another supplier? We would like to go back to eon because I've heard you can get club card points with them ? Thanks, sorry for it being long winded.

You can change provided you are not in £500 + of debt which I'm sure you haven't considering you have just moved in