Failed credit check trying to change electricity meter

bobbybobbo

I posted this is the Energy forum but it's probably more appropriate here.

We just bought a property which has a prepaid electricity meter.

I called British Gas (the provider) to ask to switch to a regular meter. The guy ran a credit check and said it came back negative. He said that my score needs to be above 800 to qualify. I was surprised as I have always paid bills, credit cards on time, never late and have just been given a mortgage. He said that's odd as you need a score of 1300 to qualify for most mortgages, so I should have easily passed their 800 requirement.

I have just checked my experian credit score and it is 864, but out of 999. None of it makes sense really. He was talking about scores of 1300. Is there another type of experian credit score?
Can anyone offer me some advice?

Thanks!

TadleyBaggie

Who knows what score BG use as the theoretical max, how they work it out is not in the public domain. The Experian (and other CRAs) credit score can only be seen by you.

DCFC79

bobbybobbo wrote: »

I posted this is the Energy forum but it's probably more appropriate here.

We just bought a property which has a prepaid electricity meter.

I called British Gas (the provider) to ask to switch to a regular meter. The guy ran a credit check and said it came back negative. He said that my score needs to be above 800 to qualify. I was surprised as I have always paid bills, credit cards on time, never late and have just been given a mortgage. He said that's odd as you need a score of 1300 to qualify for most mortgages, so I should have easily passed their 800 requirement.

I have just checked my experian credit score and it is 864, but out of 999. None of it makes sense really. He was talking about scores of 1300. Is there another type of experian credit score?
Can anyone offer me some advice?

Thanks!

No theres only 1 type of Experian credit score.

You have either misunderstood what he said or didnt listen. Maybe he was on about the internal score for British Gas, if not I dont know what he was on.

Your credit score is only seen by you, same as mine and anyone elses. Everyone else can see the credit history. You have 3 credit files lenders can check and you can too, Experian via mse club is the first to check, clearscore is another and noddle is the last 1.

You say you have just bought the property, are you on the ER for there or is that not needed for a meter ?

bobbybobbo

Thanks for your reply

No it wasn't an internal check. He definitely said they check with Experian. He also said, as you've suggested, that they don't get a score or any information, just a yes or no answer. The 800, 1300 scores he mentioned were for my information only.

I actually just registered onto the ER today (I called British Gas some weeks ago). Do you think this could have had an effect?

[Deleted User]

Not being on the ER is always a big negative.

bobbybobbo

Deleted_User wrote: »

Not being on the ER is always a big negative.

I see. Now that I'm on it can I just try again with British Gas tomorrow? Or does it take a while before it will reflect with the agencies?

DCFC79

bobbybobbo wrote: »

Thanks for your reply

No it wasn't an internal check. He definitely said they check with Experian. He also said, as you've suggested, that they don't get a score or any information, just a yes or no answer. The 800, 1300 scores he mentioned were for my information only.

I actually just registered onto the ER today (I called British Gas some weeks ago). Do you think this could have had an effect?

Id be wanting to know why you failed, not sure what he was on when he mentioned about needing 1300 to qualify for most mortgages, what does know about mortgages.

I dont know whether not being on the ER would be a flat negative or not.

bobbybobbo

DCFC79 wrote: »

Id be wanting to know why you failed

Is there a way to find out? As he told me British Gas don't have any further info and after looking at experian today all I can get for free is my score. For more information I need to subscribe. Will subscribing give me this answer?

cjmillsnun

You can get your Experian report for free from MSE. Join the credit club.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub

Dribiddi

I work for BG and I have no clue what that fellow is talking about.
If you are confident you should have passed the credit vet ask for a manual credit vet to be performed. This is not something a frontline agent can do but they can call through to a debt team who can, if they tell you they can't ask to speak to a supervisor. Not saying you will get the answer you are looking for ultimately but worth a bit of pushing. If the agent searched you under a wrong address/DOB/name spelling this could have provided an incorrect result. Simply state you are not confident the correct info was used to generate your last credit vet hence you want a manual check doing. I can confirm it is definitely Experian used
Good luck

RichL74

I'm impressed that BGT are now giving out mortgage advice too