British Gas default that BG know nothing about.

Moneypenny83

Hi all,

My husband and I are in the process of applying for a mortgage and upon checking our credit file on Check my file, my husband found he had a default he wasn’t aware of, of £200 to British Gas. It was for September 2016 for a property he sold in January 2016. He knew nothing about the bill. He rang British Gas today and they have nothing on their system. Has this been passed to a debt collector & if so how do we find out how to pay the debt? British Gas have no record of it or who’s taken the debt over. New to this site, so any help/advice appreciated!

Willing2Learn

I am assuming you have evidence that the property was sold in January 2016?

On your credit file, who is reporting the debt to the CRAs?

Moneypenny83

Yes, we have evidence the house was sold in January 2016. British Gas have said they have no record of the debt (they have my husbands profile still). We have contacted Checkmyfile and they have said it was reported on Equifax and have given us a file number. They have said it is British Gas who have reported it to the agencies.

Willing2Learn

Contact British Gas in writing with an official complaint.

In your written complaint I suggest you include:

• Evidence that the property was sold and when it was sold.
• Evidence that you gave a closing meter read to BG.
• Evidence that you told BG the account and contract was being terminated.

Who is your current gas & electricity supply with?

[Deleted User]

Did you inform BG when you sold and moved out the house?

If not they would have carried on supplying energy to the property

PixelPound

There is a lot of info on Ofgem website about this, if you've sold the house but never informed BG then you are deemed still liable, as was any adult at the property. The next people in may have at some point taken over the supply at which time a final bill will have been produced. You need to get in contact, just because the default is from 2016 does not mean that the bill period is from after the house was sold as the default date is likely to be after the final bill date when it remained unpaid.

Moneypenny83

Thank you for your advice.

Yesterday, while generally tidying up his credit report (financial associations, etc) my husband noticed that the default status had changed to ‘settled’ on Equifax. We thought this odd, so this morning we called Equifax, who informed us that on 9th February 2019 British Gas updates the account to ‘Settled’.

To be clear, we have not paid any monies in relation to settling the account. In fact, when we tried to do so, they said they had no information on it and so we couldn’t settle it.

Why do you think they have done this, and is it conceivable that we could persuade them to go further and completely remove the default?

Willing2Learn

If you have the evidence that shows you gave a closing meter read, closed the account and that the property was sold, then I would still raise the written complaint with British Gas. The complaint can be escalated to the ICO, if British Gas do not remove the Default marker from your file.

sourcrates

As, above, written complaint to british Gas, then escalate to the ICO if not satisfied, the ICO have the power to get your file corrected.

supernoodles

Former manager at BG Home Movers here- it's been a while so the process may have changed but if you contact the Home Move team and explain what's happened they should be able to raise a task with credit resolutions to have the default removed after confirming some of the details. Be armed with as much information as possible- it's obviously been some time so you may not have the closing meter readings..etc now but see what you can dig up. When somebody moves into a property they enter into what's called a deemed contract for the supply of certain utilities so the new owner/occupier would have been liable from the date they moved in- but without the departing homeowner contacting their supplier to let them know they're leaving the account will remain active in their name and not revert to an occupier account. It does take a few weeks to have the default removed so you'll need to be patient.

Also- couple of handy hints for future home moves- 1. Take photos of your meter (showing the readings) on the day you move out/move in- so you won't be charged for someone else's use. 2. Don't use BG.