Eon & Equifax score - help please!

davebruno

Hi All,

So I've known E.on have screwed me royally with Equifax for some time.

Briefly - They didn't bill me for 4 years, I rung em up about it and they couldn't find my account, 4 years later they send me a bill for 3.5k, transpired that they had the address ect wrong it was with building company. I speak to citizens advice, they tell me I only have to pay for 12 months or maybe 24 I cant remember, I raise a complaint, E.on deadlock saying I didn't call them/chase it up (cannot prove this as it was 4 years beforehand and on a work phone). Admittedly (and regrettably) I give up chasing them rather easily as I figured its their problem.

Went to ombudsman after deadlock, this was slow so I set up an arrangement to pay them for usage during this time, something like £70/month. 2 months down the line I get an email saying something like: "Hi its E.on you're account is behind so we adjusted your DD from £70 to £600/month".

Anyway I didnt read my email for a couple weeks and spotted it a day or two before it was due to be taken. I called them to speak and resolve as obviously I cannot afford £600/month as I only work part time & Study plus the complaint was still at deadlock/ombudsman and not resolved. So I sit on hold for about 40 mins, (I can probably get proof of this from my phone provider). I have other things to do and cannot wait longer so I put it down and cancel the DD with the bank. I phone them back a week or so later and set up a new DD after explaining the problem and they agree it shouldn't have gone to £600 obviously.

Ombudsman sides with E.on as I cannot prove I phoned them (even though they didnt bill us for 4 years!) Months later I find out they marked my account as 6 months in arrears for the month that I cancelled the DD and couldn't get through. I had been paying them for the months prior to and after this single missed DD.

I phone them to complain and wait on hold for 40+mins, then speak to a front line adviser who says he needs to put me through to complaints. I hold for another 40 mins, same adviser comes back to me to say complaints are rejecting my call because it relates to the same issue as deadlock Ombudsman tells me I cannot speak to them because time to appeal has expired. I give up, continue paying E.on £100/ month on a 4 year plan.

Done this for almost 2 years now, spoke to them a couple times when I had to swap dates etc, every time I have spoke to them they have advised me that I cannot complain about the negative info shared with them and that no further negative info is being shared while the plan is in place. I signed up with equifax last month and have found my credit score is low (347) I check through it and everything is green I have 10 credit agreements and all my history is green the whole way with a single red mark saying 6 on E.on.

I run the credit score thing again yesterday to find out its dropped. 347 on 22/7/18, it is now 291 on 19/8/18. So I look through and everything is still in order/green except E.on has AP wrote all over in grey.

I google it and apparently AP is negative, first I'm learning of this. I thought it wasn't a problem as E.on on multiple occasions have assured me that having the agreement in place would not damage my credit file any further. So I'm left with a big headache and lots of questions which I don't know where to go for answers. Hopefully someone can point me to the right people if not answer them.

1. How bad is my file? Callcredit and Experian both rate me excellent, I have never disputed anything with any other credit agreement and always paid in time and have plenty of them so being rated almost "very poor" is a shock and got my back up..
2. Can E.on tell me they're not damaging my credit file when in fact they are?
3. What do I do to fix it? I read something about 4 years if I keep the account open and 6 years if I close it (I can move the debt to credit card but it will strain us financially) I just want my file/score to start going back up.. I will change my supply to them if that is better for file but they're ~£200 more than my current supplier (I moved house so don't have them any more).
4. Is there any way that I can complain to anyone about the origional 6 month arrears marker? E.on refuse to speak to me so I don't know what I can do, it wasnt part of my origional complaint but they say its related to it

Thanks for reading I know this is all very complex so if I need some professional advise please point me towards who to ask as I'm very confused by it all and last time I asked citizens advise I ended up in this mess by listening to them so I don't know who else to go to?

Cheers,
Dave

[Deleted User]

It doesn't matter how Experian, Equifax or any other CRA rates you. Their poor/excellent rating is worth less than second hand toilet paper, which is why no one looks at it apart from you.

An arrangement to pay will always be seen as a negative, as it means you're not keeping up with contractual payments.

To improve your file, you need to get up to date with payments and then ensure you're building good credit history going forward. Apart from ensuring you pay your bills on time, get a credit card, use that regularly and clear in full each month.

DCFC79

zx81 has covered everything I was going to say.

davebruno

Deleted_User wrote: »

An arrangement to pay will always be seen as a negative, as it means you're not keeping up with contractual payments.

Hi Thanks for the reply, E.on told me it wouldnt put anything negative on my account. They made a billing error and I agreed to pay back what I owe but I have never refused to pay them anything.. The OfGem policy says they have to give me as long as the billing error to pay it back and I'm still within that timeframe so I was under the impression that I am within the contractual agreement, they have never told me otherwise is my main concern otherwise I would have paid them off..

Surely there is someone I can speak to/dispute this with as the error wasnt entirely on my part? They've put me under the impression I was just paying them it back not that I was doing anything negative..

Deleted_User wrote: »

To improve your file, you need to get up to date with payments and then ensure you're building good credit history going forward. Apart from ensuring you pay your bills on time, get a credit card, use that regularly and clear in full each month.

Would I be better to pay E.on off with my credit card and then pay the CC monthly? I dont have the 2 grand that is owed just in my account but could pay it off on credit..

Also I not sure If im better to join E.on as my supplier? When I was with them it was going down as a green payment, when I moved house and the new landlord had a different supplier set up I changed to the cheapest but the reports changed from green to a grey AP. And I read that a closed account takes 6 years to dissappear but open only 4? Should I join them for 4 years will this be better than paying it off..?

Thanks again,

Dave

macman

Why would you swap debt at 0% interest with .E.On for debt at 19.9% or whatever you are paying on your credit card?

[Deleted User]

Some companies won't accept a credit card payment to clear a debt - so E-On might not take the CC payment to clear the £2000 odd

davebruno

macman wrote: »

Why would you swap debt at 0% interest with .E.On for debt at 19.9% or whatever you are paying on your credit card?

I have a 0% period until October currently and I would change it because every month my credit score is going down, I graduated last month and will be applying for some jobs that want to do checks, also need to try and get some money together for a car so I can travel for the same reasons..

!!! wrote: »

Some companies won't accept a credit card payment to clear a debt - so E-On might not take the CC payment to clear the £2000 odd

I paid by credit card for £100 last month when i couldnt afford to pay them the monthly amount so I imagine I'd be okay, any idea if CC company can tell its for a debt and it might break my promo offer though?

Willing2Learn

If you are saying you are willing to pay Eon, then I suggest you write to them. You would need to attach a copy of your monthly budget so I suggest you do an SOA (Statement of Affairs) to send to them. Use the letter template provided by National Debtline
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Ask-your-energy-supplier-to-accept-payments-you-can-afford-on-a-gas-or-electricity-debt-%28sole-name%29.aspx


http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

[Deleted User]

davebruno wrote: »

I have a 0% period until October currently and I would change it because every month my credit score is going down

A random number changing to a different random number isn't a bad thing.

davebruno

Willing2Learn wrote: »

If you are saying you are willing to pay Eon, then I suggest you write to them. You would need to attach a copy of your monthly budget so I suggest you do an SOA (Statement of Affairs) to send to them. Use the letter template provided by National Debtline
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Ask-your-energy-supplier-to-accept-payments-you-can-afford-on-a-gas-or-electricity-debt-%28sole-name%29.aspx



http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I have already been paying them for 2 years, if I do this will it make the plan any better in the eyes of creditors?

Deleted_User wrote: »

A random number changing to a different random number isn't a bad thing.

Not sure if you're trolling, this is a serious post. From what I've read an AP is negative, I'm trying to find the best way to fix this and make sure I don't run into any issues with employment/future mortgages etc. I am not someone who refuses to pay for things and want to hold a company to account for trying to make me appear this way when they're the ones who failed to bill.

[Deleted User]

davebruno wrote: »

Not sure if you're trolling, I mean from what I've read an AP is negative, I'm trying to find the best way to fix this?

Of course I'm not, but you don't seem to be listening, so I was starting to wonder if you were trolling us.

For the third time. Ignore the score. It's fictional and useless. It's the missed payments and APs which are the issue. I've already told you that APs are seen as negative.

You can improve your credit history over time but don't try to change the score. It's distracting you from the real issues. Get the debt cleared and move forward.