Alleged late payment

Essar

Hello all,

I've had trouble with eon, as a number of other people around here seem to have had.

A month and a half ago I closed my account. I was more than £80 in credit. Less than a week later, they drew another charge from my account, meaning they owed me £120 since I had already settled. Obviously miffed, I phoned them up to get the full £120 reimbursed. They paid back and advised me to close my direct debit agreement, so I did.

I don't know the exact details yet but a letter arrived at my parent's house (the forwarding address I gave), saying that a payment was overdue, even though I should be completely settled, and was reimbursed at the end of last month after I had closed my account.

Do you think this sort of thing, which is plainly their fault, would affect my credit score? I signed up for an Equifax free trial but surprisingly no information about eon showed up at all, even though other people on the forum have said it does for them. (I also had a very low credit score, despite the only mark against it being the fact that I'm not yet signed up for the electoral register in my new house, but that's unrelated to eon, I'm sure.)

Also phoned eon today and as a further testament to their competence, they said their computer systems were down, so thought I'd come here since I know they have a few representatives who roam the forum, and since some other savvy people might be able to advise.

So do you think a single illegitimate late payment could affect a credit score?

National_Debtline

Hi Essar

It sounds here as if there is no reason for any E.On-related info to appear on your credit file, legitimate or otherwise. I'm a bit confused about the timing of this letter you refer to - are you saying it has just arrived? Hopefully the innocent explanation is that it was generated in error.

If any information does appear on your credit file as a result of this confusion, you will be entitled to query it and demand its removal if it is the result of clerical error on E.On's part.

Regardless of what your credit "score" indicates, until you appear on the electoral register any credit applications you make are likely to fall at the first hurdle.

Dennis
@natdebtline

Essar

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for the information. I did inform of the recent move for the electoral register so hopefully it updates soon. I should probably check with the council to see where they have me registered (I didn't move far).

The letter did arrive some time in the last week, looking at bank statements it appears I was doubly reimbursed. So first they charged me extra when the account was closed, then they gave my money back twice.

2-3 weeks after that, they mailed to say there was an overdue payment! In fact, the letter is apparently dated before my usual monthly payment would have been taken out had I not closed the contract. Quite absurd.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Essar wrote: »

Hello all,

I've had trouble with eon, as a number of other people around here seem to have had.

A month and a half ago I closed my account. I was more than £80 in credit. Less than a week later, they drew another charge from my account, meaning they owed me £120 since I had already settled. Obviously miffed, I phoned them up to get the full £120 reimbursed. They paid back and advised me to close my direct debit agreement, so I did.

I don't know the exact details yet but a letter arrived at my parent's house (the forwarding address I gave), saying that a payment was overdue, even though I should be completely settled, and was reimbursed at the end of last month after I had closed my account.

Do you think this sort of thing, which is plainly their fault, would affect my credit score? I signed up for an Equifax free trial but surprisingly no information about eon showed up at all, even though other people on the forum have said it does for them. (I also had a very low credit score, despite the only mark against it being the fact that I'm not yet signed up for the electoral register in my new house, but that's unrelated to eon, I'm sure.)

Also phoned eon today and as a further testament to their competence, they said their computer systems were down, so thought I'd come here since I know they have a few representatives who roam the forum, and since some other savvy people might be able to advise.

So do you think a single illegitimate late payment could affect a credit score?

Essar wrote: »

The letter did arrive some time in the last week, looking at bank statements it appears I was doubly reimbursed. So first they charged me extra when the account was closed, then they gave my money back twice.

2-3 weeks after that, they mailed to say there was an overdue payment! In fact, the letter is apparently dated before my usual monthly payment would have been taken out had I not closed the contract. Quite absurd.

Hi Essar

I'm sorry our systems were down when you phoned yesterday. Thought it might help if I speculate a bit as to what could've happened.

When accounts close and a final bill to actual meter readings is raised, any credit balance is automatically refunded. This is usually within 7 working days of the final bill.

If the account closed around the same time as the next payment was due, it may have been too late to stop the extra collection. This would've gone on to your account and then refunded along with the remaining credit balance.

Sounds like the advisor you originally spoke to sent your money back as a manual transfer at about the same time as the automatic refund was going through. Sorry about this. The advisor should've checked further before manually refunding.

As it went through twice, it will now be showing as an outstanding balance. The letter will be to alert you to this and to ask for the overpayment back.

Every month we share payment information with Equifax. When we share, we give a true reflection of the status of an account at the time of the share.

Sorry again for our system issues and if my speculation is off beam but hope it's of interest.

Malc