utility company have marked my Credit file

uppy21

Hi, has anyone had there credit file marked for a late payment. I can understand if it was credit from a loan, this would be something expected. Just because i was 4 weeks late, they put the late payment on my credit file and i am now worried, it will have an adverse effect with my rating.
Any advise will be much appreciated

tinkerbell28

Some utilities do report to credit files as you've found.

Yes it will affect your credit file. Utilities are essential so it won't look good to a lender if you're not paying priority bills on time.

Utilities are a form of credit. As you're either being billed after usage or given a payment plan when the years payment is due upfront.

uppy21

But the bill has been settled, when the bill arrived i paid a portion of it, then made 2 other smaller payments. Then i received an email message saying there has been a change on my credit file. I was shocked, and i feel that it is nothing more than bully tactics

tinkerbell28

uppy21 wrote: »

But the bill has been settled, when the bill arrived i paid a portion of it, then made 2 other smaller payments. Then i received an email message saying there has been a change on my credit file. I was shocked, and i feel that it is nothing more than bully tactics

No it's a factual representation. You paid the bill a month late. You didn't pay it in full by due date. Even if it's been settled, the late marker is still valid.

Time will see it have less of an effect. However utilities do report to CRA's now, the ones who don't are falling into the minority.

It's not bully boy tactics, if they report to CRA's they've got a legal obligation to make sure the data is correct.

mattyprice4004

uppy21 wrote: »

But the bill has been settled, when the bill arrived i paid a portion of it, then made 2 other smaller payments. Then i received an email message saying there has been a change on my credit file. I was shocked, and i feel that it is nothing more than bully tactics

Yes, but you paid it late. It's not bully tactics - pay it on time and it won't happen again.
Why should we all pay our bills on time, when we can get away with paying them a month late? Because we can't.