Credit rating and late payment of bills

JSJS

Hello. Hope this hasn't been asked before:

I am currently living with a student who can't afford to pay her bills on time. We had a water bill on 30 June 2012, and as of today (13 Sept 2012) she has yet to pay her share of the bill. Both my name and hers are on the bill, and according to ST Water, we are both jointly liable for the bill. ST Water has recently sent us a "Finial reminder" to pay the bill.

I have paid my share of the bill, and have taken on reminding my flatmate about paying her share of the bill. Apparently I was too "aggressive" (as you would if your name was also on the bill) and my flatmate went crying to her mother about me asking her to pay.

My query is this: her mother called me up and claimed that a missed payment such as ours will not affect my credit score. Is this true? I have called ST Water and they confirmed that we are both jointly liable for the bill, and as far as I understood it, having a missed payment is detrimental to your credit score. The flatmate's mother disagreed and said that "everyone" in this country pays their bills late. I'm not sure if this is pure poppycock because I was always brought up to pay my bills on time.

I did a google search but cannot find anything relevant to my situation / to the UK. Please can someone advise or point me in the right direction? Many thanks.

Joseph

Cardew

Firstly you are both 'jointly and severally' liable for the whole bill. This means if the account is passed to a Debt Collection Agency(DCA) they can, and will, chase either of you for the whole amount. If they suspect you are more likely to be able to pay they will chase you, and put their fees on top of the full amount of the bill; and of course it will then reflect on your credit rating.

When your credit score is affected and/or the account is passed to a DCA is dependant on ST's policy in these matters.

If your flatmate still won't pay, it is probably in your interests to pay the outstanding amount and take steps to recover her share - in the small claims court in the last resort.

You can always check if your credit score has been affected with a Credit Reference Agency.

JSJS

Thanks for the reply Cardew.

That was my initial reaction, which was why I was so insistent on her paying her bills. I've been assured by her mother that the flatmate will pay her outstanding bill by this week but she has been regularly late with bills in the past.

I was completely aghast at the flatmate's mum's opinion that repeatedly paying late will not affect my credit rating and was trying to establish if there is some element of truth in this.

I have called ST Water in the past (on their ridiculous premium number, no less!) and have been told different things in the past about CCDs and credit ratings.

But thanks for your suggestion, I'll give them a call again to establish their policies on credit ratings. Thanks.

macman

If you have joint accounts for the other utilities, gs, electricity, council tax etc, then I would think seriously about getting a new flatmate...