where has my money gone, EON ?

kittykath123

hi all,
A little advice needed, I'm a student nurse who stupidly ran up a debt with eon of £2,000 for gas and electric. I was visited by a representative of their debt management team or equivalent and agreed to pay £10 weekly which I have been doing since sept 2015 via standing order, however I have received a letter saying they haven't had a payment since Feb 2016 and now owe £3006.25, after ringing my bank and being reassured by them that the standing order is still up and running I rung the debt management team, and was told that if late the computer system automatically cancels out the agreement and I needed to speak with a local enforcement officer dealing with the area I live in. I have been late with payments but only on bank holidays. I was also told that I have been charged £2 a week interest since the agreement was set up? is this right ? if so why except £10 a week from me as I would never clear the debt also if the computer system has cancelled out my agreement where has my money gone and who am I paying ? Any advice is appreciated, thank you in advance

dogshome

Ouch !

Utility companies don't normally charge interest on debt re-payment plans, in fact they have a duty to agree payment terms that the customer can afford.


1) During the negotiations with the Debt Management Rep., were you advised that an interest charge would be added to the debt and that a payment default would trigger cacellation of the agreement, and/or do you have paperwork that states these details.?

2) You refer to payments being missed due to Bank Holidays - Was this due to payment dates falling on national holiday dates when the banks were closed, or was it that you could not pay money into the bank ?

3) Is your£10 Standing Order still, and has always been active

footyguy

kittykath123 wrote: »

hi all,
A little advice needed, I'm a student nurse who stupidly ran up a debt with eon of £2,000 for gas and electric. I was visited by a representative of their debt management team or equivalent and agreed to pay £10 weekly which I have been doing since sept 2015 via standing order, however I have received a letter saying they haven't had a payment since Feb 2016 and now owe £3006.25, after ringing my bank and being reassured by them that the standing order is still up and running I rung the debt management team, and was told that if late the computer system automatically cancels out the agreement and I needed to speak with a local enforcement officer dealing with the area I live in. I have been late with payments but only on bank holidays. I was also told that I have been charged £2 a week interest since the agreement was set up? is this right ? if so why except £10 a week from me as I would never clear the debt also if the computer system has cancelled out my agreement where has my money gone and who am I paying ? Any advice is appreciated, thank you in advance

Your money will still be going to Eon, but by you failing to keep to the repayment plan, your repayment plan (you agree you have been late paying) is no longer valid and the full amount becomes due.

You need to speak to them to see if they will give you a second chance.
Or they will look to install PPMs if a second chance is not available and you are unable to pay the full amount owed.

You need to understand the full details of how £2k grew to £3k in just over 1 year - even with £2 per week interest, it should still be less than it was (£10 paid less £2 interest = £8 off the sum owed)

There must be other charges being incurred.

I would suggest if you are offered a second chance, then ask for payments to be collected by DD, then you can't be late or if you are, it won't be your fault (assuming you have sufficient funds available to pay the DD when it is attempted to be collected)

Otherwise, it's up to you to ensure you pay the reapyments on time i.e the supplier needs to have received them by the due date.
Particularly important that you allow sufficent time over Christmas and new year.

kittykath123

Hi and thank you for your reply. No I wasn't made aware of any interest and yes the missed payments were I'm told by my bank because it was a bank holiday and the money was paid the following day and yes the standing order is still active. And they're charging £2 a day interest not £2 a week hence why the debt has now become £3006.26

dogshome

With a simple interest rate of 36% being applied, and I think it's probably compounded, my initial thought that this debt had been sold off to a third party lender seems likely.

However, with your £10 payments being continuosly made - Payments delayed by Bank Holidays do not count as defaults - You should complain to Eon now

Do this by WRITING a letter to Eon, headed Complaint - Just like that, BIG & BOLD
1) Asking why you were not informed when agreeing this deal with Eon's
Debt Management rep, of interest charges
2) Asking why they have considered payments delayed by bank closures on Bank
Holidays as a default
3) Asking why when this debt repayment plan is actually a loan, you have not
recieved any annual statements showing Monies Paid, Interest Charged and
Balance Outstanding.
4) Asking for Eons Licence No. to operate as a commercial lender


OK, haveing got that out of the way, it's my opinion that Eon somehow screwed up their own data of your history of unbroken payments that showed you were keeping to your end of the deal, then on their own false figures and without any furter communication with you, took the decision to sell the debt on to a Third Party.

Send in the letter and keep your fingers crossed that Eon will be so embarressed, they will unscramble the problem

footyguy

kittykath123 wrote: »

Hi and thank you for your reply. No I wasn't made aware of any interest and yes the missed payments were I'm told by my bank because it was a bank holiday and the money was paid the following day and yes the standing order is still active. And they're charging £2 a day interest not £2 a week hence why the debt has now become £3006.26

Do you have a complete statement of account showing all the credits and debits that shows the balance owed has increased from £2k to £3k?

If not get one.

Please post a legible image here. (removing any personal info first)

Good luck!

PaulW922

I agree that a payment not made because it was a non-banking day is definitely not late. I'd strongly suggest you do not concede otherwise.

trickytree1963

If they are charging £2 a day that £14 a week. How are you reducing the debt in this set of circumstances, sounds like there's some information missing?

Where's the EON rep?

bengal-stripe

kittykath123 wrote: »

......agreed to pay £10 weekly which I have been doing since sept 2015 via standing order, however I have received a letter saying they haven't had a payment since Feb 2016 and now owe £3006.25,

Are those £10 weekly solely for the reduction of the outstanding debt, or are they supposed to cover your new, current consumption of gas and electricity as well?

footyguy

trickytree1963 wrote: »

If they are charging £2 a day that £14 a week. How are you reducing the debt in this set of circumstances, sounds like there's some information missing?

Anything is possible once we enter the realms of fantasy

footyguy

PaulW922 wrote: »

I agree that a payment not made because it was a non-banking day is definitely not late. I'd strongly suggest you do not concede otherwise.

Its the payers responsibility to ensure the creditor receives their money on or before the due date. If payment due date is a non banking day, then payment needs to made before the due date.

I presume you don't have a mortgage (or if you do you pay via DD)

How would you like it if you were working and the agreement was to pay you on the last day of the month. If that's a Saturday, with a bank holiday following, would you be prepared to wait until Tuesday to get paid???