can disputed utility bill affect my rating?

london-dog

-issue solved-

HappyMJ

london-dog wrote: »

Hi all

I'm being chased by EDF Energy for allegedly £700 of gas debt, at a property I rent out. I've only owned it since last year and as far as I'm aware, there is just a prepayment token card meter that the tenants use. This is how the previous owner had things set up and I didn't change it.

According to the tenancy agreement the tenants are liable for any utilities used, save for a short void period where I WOULD be liable.

As I have no credit agreement with EDF and it's not proven that the money is owed (the amount owed is being disputed), can I assume that this can't affect my credit rating unless we were to go to court?

Best!

Some utility companies do report to CRA's so yes not paying a bill on time can be detrimental to your credit rating.

However, a bill in dispute should never be reported as being in default.

CKhalvashi

HappyMJ wrote: »

However, a bill in dispute should never be reported as being in default.

However credit providers (or utility companies) often claim that there is no dispute on their end, and will report it anyway, so what 'should' happen is different from reality often.

chanz4

ask them to check for suspense topups on siemens if gas, check for the same on token on electric

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

My Rule is to never give your real name to utility companies - then they can't report any negative data about you to CRAs should you have a dispute.

GingerBob_3

EDF, as far as I know, don't report their customers to the CRAs, but your situation is somewhat different, given that - I assume - you don't even have an account with them. The only way this would affect your credit status is if it went to the county court and you didn't pay any judgement against you. However, if EDF sold the debt to a debt collector maybe they, the debt collector, could report you to the CRAs. The CRAs will generally accept anything from debt collectors without question and will even try and guess the identity of the alleged debtor if there's insufficient identifiable data.

chanz4

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

My Rule is to never give your real name to utility companies - then they can't report any negative data about you to CRAs should you have a dispute.

That's called fraud, better not to give than lie. However landregistry can help them locate data