Failed British Gas credit check, can't understand why

ripailles

Hello, am in need of a little urgent advice. I've just bought a new flat, and upon moving in started doing the usual administrative things - including asking British gas to change the existing prepay meter to a credit meter (the property had previously been a long term rental, hence the prepay).

I called the British Gas prepay line, gave them the meter details, they said that I needed to open an account with them, for which they would do a credit check, and then there would be no problem switching to a credit meter.

For reasons I cannot understand, I failed the credit check.

I have excellent (pretty much perfect) credit. I am obsessively careful about my finances. I have been paying for Experian's CreditExpert for the past six months or so, because I wanted to make sure that everything was in order for my new mortgage; they say my credit profile is excellent. Indeed, I got one of the most competitive mortgage deals on the market because of my financial history.

I have been in the same secure job for 7 years, and have full address history for 10 years, since I moved to the UK.

I have been with the same bank for 10 years, and my account has always been in excellent standing (overdraft facility on the account which is never used, or at most a few pounds) and normally a relatively high (£1000+) credit balance.

I have two credit cards with high limits, which I never carry a balance on, using both each month for around £500 each and paying the balance in full by direct debit. I have no defaults, and no late payments. I have no debt apart from my mortgage.

I called Experian's helpline and asked if there was any reason that this should have happened. The very helpful person I talked to said that there was increased activity on my account (because of the mortgage application and completion) but that my credit profile was excellent and she could not understand why I would have failed.

British Gas have told me that I need to wait 60 days before applying again.

Are there any reasons that this could have happened?

The only thing I can think is that the woman on the phone did not seem to speak very good English and I wonder if she got an address or my name (which is not a British name) wrong.

I did this the same day that I completed on the property, so I am not on the electoral register at the new address, but surely this cannot be the reason?

Any advice would be really helpful - I'm completely baffled, and very worried by this.

Thanks.

Buzby

Could be they misspelt your name, incompetence runs high at BG. I'd select a different provider and negotiate with them.

Norman_Castle

Find another provider.

macman

And get back on the electoral roll at the new address-that's fairly fundamental when it comes to credit checking.

ripailles

macman wrote: »

And get back on the electoral roll at the new address-that's fairly fundamental when it comes to credit checking.

Already done, but I only completed the purchase on Friday, so it will take a while for the electoral roll to be updated by the council and filter through to the credit checking databases unfortunately!

chanz4

are you a first time buyer?

ripailles

First time buyer yes. I'm not really going on the "number" score Experian use, just the ability to see my full credit report. My lender advised me to check it and said that for them the Experian score is a good indication of how they will view an applicant's credit.

Fire_Fox

Which address at your being scored at by BG? If the new address you probably have no credit history there, you need to change everything over from current accounts to electoral register. It takes a couple of months for everything to be updated. When you were scored for the mortgage you will have been using your old address with all your paperwork registered there.

Little_Mo_70

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Which address at your being scored at by BG? If the new address you probably have no credit history there, you need to change everything over from current accounts to electoral register. It takes a couple of months for everything to be updated. When you were scored for the mortgage you will have been using your old address with all your paperwork registered there.

Have a look on here. Apparently not all providers use the same CRA. See the bit further down which says:

"You need to apply to all three credit reference agencies, because different financial companies use different agencies and it is possible for an error to occur in one that does not show up in the others."


http://www.saga.co.uk/money/experts/check-your-credit-record-annie-shaw.aspx