Will £5 affect my credit rating?

GoGirl

Hi,

After we bought our place we had British Gas as our new supplier for utilities which I swiftly tried to change but had to wait the statutory 30 days. They then refused to transfer the gas account due to 'outstanding' debt (£20!) which I paid over the phone. I then had to wait another 30 days to move.

To cut a long story short, when the final bill came through I took my time (about 40 days) before paying but only out of anger with the way British Gas had treated me. I explained this when they called to chase payment.

I have now paid what I owed them but they have added a £5 referral fee to their debt management company which I am not inclined to pay. If I don't pay this and continue to refuse to pay, will this affect my credit rating? I have a pretty clean bill of health until now.

cheers

JuicyJesus

You can have a default on your credit file for any amount, or missed payments for any amount. So yes.

The_Boss

Definitely not worth a default for a fiver. Missed payments are probably racking up. Ouch.

[Deleted User]

Check your credit reports to see what damage you've done. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's not showing as a default.

And definitely pay what you owe as soon as you can.

matttye

Your anger may have affected your creditworthiness for the next six years. Hope it was worth it.

You should pay the lot as soon as possible to mitigate the damage caused.

tinkerbell28

That was really stupid.

BRG report to cra's. So they would have marked the account as late or worst case defaulted it.

The_Boss

It's a little unfair that a £5 default is treated the same as someone that runs up thousands and then defaults, but that's just the way it is.

tinkerbell28

Yeah it is, but like you say, that's the way it is. Otherwise who'd decide the cut off. £100? £1000? You'd have people defaulting left right and centre to "prove a point".

matttye

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Yeah it is, but like you say, that's the way it is. Otherwise who'd decide the cut off. £100? £1000? You'd have people defaulting left right and centre to "prove a point".

And then you'd get into the sketchy territory of, why should someone who fails to pay back £99 get off scot free, whereas someone who pays £100 gets a default.

The only fair way is for defaults to be given for any amount.

The 'delinquent balance' is what differentiates between those who default on a £1000 debt and those who default on a £5 - so a system is already in place.

The_Boss

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

Yeah it is, but like you say, that's the way it is. Otherwise who'd decide the cut off. £100? £1000? You'd have people defaulting left right and centre to "prove a point".

Maybe in future 'small' defaults would be for 4 years instead of 6. Seems a bit more in proportion. But yeah, a default is a default. Reminds me of people complaining about levies when they 'only' paid a day late or went over their limit by a few quid - totally missing the point.

tinkerbell28

The_Boss wrote: »

Maybe in future 'small' defaults would be for 4 years instead of 6. Seems a bit more in proportion. But yeah, a default is a default. Reminds me of people complaining about levies when they 'only' paid a day late or went over their limit by a few quid - totally missing the point.

No I don't think it will, because if someone defaults from and agreement, they default. You'd then have the issue of where is the cut off and why.