Sky and missed payments

kyliet

Sooo this is the first time I have posted but I am at my witts end!!

The story is, I was living in a shared house (me and one other girl) we took Sky tv, broadband and phone out and I stupidly put it all in my name. I moved out and the place I was moving to was a listed building so I couldnt take it with me. I spoke to sky who have said they will not permit a name change on an account so I couldnt transfer it over to my old housemate!:mad:

The only options I had were:

1. buy myself out of the 12 month contract - which i couldnt afford to do as at the time we were only 2 months in!

2. leave it in myname with the direct debit coming out of my account every month and then i would have to chase my old housemate for the money monthly - which, moving into a place on my own i couldnt afford to do that either

3. leave the account in my name but have the bank details for the direct debit changed to my old housemates so she was paying it - this seemed to be the best of a bad bunch of options so this is what I did.

However, on 3 seperate occassions now I have had emails/texts from sky advising me that the direct debit wasnt paid due to insufficient funds. This as you can imagine is getting to me as I dont even live in the property anymore and my old housemate cant seem to pay her blasted bills, so I have to keep chasing her to get it paid!!!!

My question really is......with her missing payments, will it show badly on my credit as the accounts in myname or will it show on hers as its her bank account its being paid (or not) from??

Im so fed up of it and I just cant find a way out unless I cancel the service and buy out the contract just to get rid of the stress. Cant believe Im stuck in a contract with a service I cant even have!! Please help!

Thanks xx

Gordon_Hose

The account is in your name, and, as such, is your responsibility. If they report anything to the CRA's it'll be in your name.

I am currently paying a Sky TV bill that I don't use as well. However, I understood I was tied into a minimum term and would be responsible for paying until the term ends in February. I dropped that package to the bare minimum and pay it monthly rather than having to pay a lump sum in one go.

Either speak to your friend and get her to pay, or bring the account back into the black by paying yourself. Then I suggest you get Sky Box and viewing card off her so she can't use it (it is yours afterall) and drop the package to the lowest option and wait until the minimum term ends and you can cancel it. She can sort her own Sky out if she wants it.

Sky have done nothing wrong here.

Tiddlywinks

Moral of this story?

Read and make sure you understand the contract before entering into the deal.

You signed up and agreed to pay them XXX amount for XXX months... Sky is just asking you to keep to that agreement and reporting to CRAs accordingly.

simeyb

I agree the morals of the story completely, but can see how the OP got into this mess and having trusted her old housemate to do the right thing has made the OP sadly more cynical in the future - human nature is to let other people down on a regular basis unfortunately - all good advice above for you OP - hopefully if you can rectify it going forward the adverses on your CRA file won't be too damaging - I assume that SKY haven't actually defaulted you? If they have you should have a real go at them as that would have meant the end of the contract too and so you shouldn't be paying anymore.

DCFC79

kyliet wrote: »

Sooo this is the first time I have posted but I am at my witts end!!

The story is, I was living in a shared house (me and one other girl) we took Sky tv, broadband and phone out and I stupidly put it all in my name. I moved out and the place I was moving to was a listed building so I couldnt take it with me. I spoke to sky who have said they will not permit a name change on an account so I couldnt transfer it over to my old housemate!:mad:

The only options I had were:

1. buy myself out of the 12 month contract - which i couldnt afford to do as at the time we were only 2 months in!

2. leave it in myname with the direct debit coming out of my account every month and then i would have to chase my old housemate for the money monthly - which, moving into a place on my own i couldnt afford to do that either

3. leave the account in my name but have the bank details for the direct debit changed to my old housemates so she was paying it - this seemed to be the best of a bad bunch of options so this is what I did.

However, on 3 seperate occassions now I have had emails/texts from sky advising me that the direct debit wasnt paid due to insufficient funds. This as you can imagine is getting to me as I dont even live in the property anymore and my old housemate cant seem to pay her blasted bills, so I have to keep chasing her to get it paid!!!!

My question really is......with her missing payments, will it show badly on my credit as the accounts in myname or will it show on hers as its her bank account its being paid (or not) from??

Im so fed up of it and I just cant find a way out unless I cancel the service and buy out the contract just to get rid of the stress. Cant believe Im stuck in a contract with a service I cant even have!! Please help!

Thanks xx

The missed payments will affect you (if shy have reported them) and not the housemate as its in your name.
You were a bit naive to think the housemate would pay it monthly.

kyliet

Thank you all who confirmed it is my credit it affects. Thats as I thought.

Id just like to point out though I was not blaming sky and yes I was aware of what I was signing upto (the minimum term contract) I was simply explaining the situation and asking for advice on which one of us it would affect. Im aware that trusting my old housemante to pay was stupid as clearly she isnt, but that is not what i was asking for advice on.

kyliet

thanks you for sticking up for me there simeyb x:)

simeyb wrote: »

I agree the morals of the story completely, but can see how the OP got into this mess and having trusted her old housemate to do the right thing has made the OP sadly more cynical in the future - human nature is to let other people down on a regular basis unfortunately - all good advice above for you OP - hopefully if you can rectify it going forward the adverses on your CRA file won't be too damaging - I assume that SKY haven't actually defaulted you? If they have you should have a real go at them as that would have meant the end of the contract too and so you shouldn't be paying anymore.

stclair

Do sky actually report to credit reference agencies?

Gordon_Hose

kyliet wrote: »

Thank you all who confirmed it is my credit it affects. Thats as I thought.

Id just like to point out though I was not blaming sky and yes I was aware of what I was signing upto (the minimum term contract) I was simply explaining the situation and asking for advice on which one of us it would affect. Im aware that trusting my old housemante to pay was stupid as clearly she isnt, but that is not what i was asking for advice on.

If it's not relevant then you shouldn't have mentioned it. The way your OP is written is that you're trying to shift the blame onto your housemate. Where that may be the case from your point of view, it wouldn't be from Sky's point of view.

stclair wrote: »

Do sky actually report to credit reference agencies?

They don't but if they pass the debt onto a DCA then chances are it'll get recorded.

There's plenty who will say nothing will happen, but it clearly states in Sky's Ts&Cs that they can report account activity to CRA's.

If one values their credit file it's not a chance I would take.

kyliet

I dont actually know. I just assumed they would as they credit check you to take out the service? x

stclair wrote: »

Do sky actually report to credit reference agencies?

Gordon_Hose

The checks they carry out when you open an account are more for fraud purposes. You pay up front for your service so there is no credit supplied.