Got duped into agreeing to an Arrangement to Pay, considering my options

CreditusScorus

Hi all,

Long time lurker here! Hope you’re all well.

So, my case is rather odd and I could really use some guidance. Yes, reader, I have indeed written that I got myself into entering into an Agreement to Pay. I truly mean that and I am now afraid of the consequence of that (I was told by the creditor that there’d be none) Here’s the context:

1. I am no longer living in the UK (only lived there for 1 year) and frankly do not consider going back to the country on a permanent basis. I am, however, someone who pays his debts and you never know where life takes you.

2. Upon my imminent departure from the UK back in August, I contacted E.On and cancelled my electricity contract. I was advised by someone in the call centre to cancel my direct debit, submit my meter readings for the last day, and await for final bill, and then settle said bill as an one-off payment. I was told that, bearing in mind I was staying only for 10 days in August, the excess direct debit from the previous month would probably cover that, but that I should nevertheless keep an eye out for a bill.

3. With a move to the other side of the world, and with all that that entailed, E.On simply vanished from my mind and I simply figured I’d wait for that e-bill (I used to receive e-bills). That never arrived. What did arrive, though, was an email on 30th of September saying the following:

——
We’ve sent you a reminder to pay your balance of £59.76 for your final bill as it’s overdue
Our payment terms are that you need to pay your energy bills within 14 days. We’ve sent you a final bill and a reminder but you still haven’t paid us. Click the link above to pay your bill.
——

Al

CreditusScorus

For some reason I can’t edit my text above

So here it goes again:
——

Long time lurker here! Hope you’re all well.

So, my case is rather odd and I could really use some guidance. Yes, reader, I have indeed written that I got myself into entering into an Agreement to Pay. I truly mean that and I am now afraid of the consequence of that (I was told by the creditor that there’d be none) Here’s the context:

1. I am no longer living in the UK (only lived there for 1 year) and frankly do not consider going back to the country on a permanent basis. I am, however, someone who pays his debts and you never know where life takes you.

2. Upon my imminent departure from the UK back in August, I contacted E.On and cancelled my electricity contract. I was advised by someone in the call centre to cancel my direct debit, submit my meter readings for the last day, and await for final bill, and then settle said bill as an one-off payment. I was told that, bearing in mind I was staying only for 10 days in August, the excess direct debit from the previous month would probably cover that, but that I should nevertheless keep an eye out for a bill.

3. With a move to the other side of the world, and with all that that entailed, E.On simply vanished from my mind and I simply figured I’d wait for that e-bill (I used to receive e-bills). That never arrived. What did arrive, though, was an email on 30th of September saying the following:

——
We’ve sent you a reminder to pay your balance of £59.76 for your final bill as it’s overdue
Our payment terms are that you need to pay your energy bills within 14 days. We’ve sent you a final bill and a reminder but you still haven’t paid us. Click the link above to pay your bill.
——

4. I immediately logged onto my E.ON account and saw the bill I was waiting for. It was completely apocryphal (apparently they were fixing an undercharged bill from a previous quarter) and I was charged about gbp 30 more than I expected. I called the E.ON number in that “chaser for payment” email later that week (before the 14 days), explained them I had only seen the bill now, and asked for a few clarifications regarding the readings used for the bill.

5. Frankly, the man I talked to barely spoke English, and I quickly realised he knew nothing of how to read the bill. He was chasing me for the money and that was it. I told him I wanted to go through the bill in detail and I wouldn’t be paying for something I wasn’t sure I owed. Again, I had a substantial direct debit and the readings suggested I’d pay about 20-ish pounds that last month.

6. Upon hearing this, he said he could set up an arrangement with E.ON by means of which I’d pay E.ON the 50 quid by the 1st of November, or else they’d pass on the details to a CRA. I said “fine, as long as you don’t pass on my details. I just need to go through the bill first and make some sense out out of it”. He said nothing would pop up on my record as long as I settled everything by the 1st of November.

7. Today, I logged onto E.ON, checked the bill, and, man, I have no idea what’s going on there. However I’ve had a very busy month at work and just said to my self to get on with it and just pay E.ON whatever they think I owe them, after all, it’s not like those bills are made to be readable or anything like that.

Before paying the bill, though, I googled around to confirm whether this really did not have any impact on my credit score and, lo and behold, I found a bunch of threads here on MSE. Looks like an arrangement to pay is worse than a default!!! 6 years after you settle the debt.

Also, apparently, an arrangement to pay implies a deferred payment and a change to the debt owed?! That surely did not happen with me! I just asked some time to go through the bill that I had just been made aware of!

But more importantly, never have I been warned that this would have an impact on my credit score. Had I known and I would just have said f* it and given the 50 quid to this slimy company who can’t even produce a readable electricity bill.

Mind you, it’d would have been easy for me (I) not to call E.ON (ii) ignore the bill and (iii) not even bother to write this post here, but I actually want to make things right and, frankly, I have no way or saying I’m overpaying for that electricity.

But now that I’ve read I got schmoozed into an AR marker that is lasting for at least 6 years I frankly feel like ignoring these guys and calling it a day. In fact, hilarious as it sounds, it seems like default doesn’t last as long as an AR! Ridiculous.

But, anyway, above all, I do think my situation did not even qualify for an AR in the first place. Mind you, if they told me they’d remove the AR marker for good / cancel the arrangement I’d pay for those 50 pounds right away. But the idea of paying 50 pounds to a company who quite literally lied to me by treating me (worse than) a defaulter is something I do not entertain. And, again, I do not think my UK credit score will matter in the slightest for the foreseeable future.

I do want to make things right, though, so other than calling E.ON tomorrow (and stay on the line for 1h calling from overseas and paying half-a-bill-worth of phone calls) and try to get some sense into them, what can I do? Is there someone I can contact if this AR was not valid as it’s not really an AR (I’m paying the same amount in just one month)? What should I tell E.On other than the obvious fact I’d never have taken the extra month to check my bill if I had known this? And what evidence can I take from them in that they’ll remove my AR?

Thanks a lot guys

Ben8282

If you have left the UK and don't intend to return what does it really matter?
Just pay the bill and there will be no more arrangement.
Also, its an AP marker not an AR marker.

CreditusScorus

It matters in the sense that the only reason why I’d want to pay them before the 1st of Nov. is because that’s the deadline in which they’d theoretically communicate what’s going on to a CRA and, although I do not consider moving back to the UK at this stage, you never know where the future leads you.

Because otherwise, if I’m already in some register somewhere, I sure as hell am going to sit down and conduct a literal audit on that “recalculated” bill before paying anything to a company who literally could not care less for me, to the point of possibly ruining my credit score because of their lax approach to my call and questions.

I might not need my credit score forward, but it’s *my* credit score (and name)!

DCFC79

CreditusScorus wrote: »

It matters in the sense that the only reason why I’d want to pay them before the 1st of Nov. is because that’s the deadline in which they’d theoretically communicate what’s going on to a CRA and, although I do not consider moving back to the UK at this stage, you never know where the future leads you.

Because otherwise, if I’m already in some register somewhere, I sure as hell am going to sit down and conduct a literal audit on that “recalculated” bill before paying anything to a company who literally could not care less for me, to the point of possibly ruining my credit score because of their lax approach to my call and questions.

I might not need my credit score forward, but it’s *my* credit score (and name)!

Your score no, only you can see your score, your credit history is seen by lenders etc.

CreditusScorus

Indeed, I meant credit history - in other words, this bluster with E.On.

Ben8282

I am confused as to where an arrangement to pay fits into any of this.
The problem appears to be that you have received a bill and the payment due date is 1st November.
If you pay late you get a one month late payment marker on your credit files, not an arrangement to pay which is something completely different. It is unclear how overdue the bill is and if the account has already been reported as in arrears An arrangement to pay would be if you were unable to pay the £59.76 and asked to be allowed to repay it over time, for example by repaying £5 per-month which is not the case here.
It appears that you are disputing the amount of the bill.
Unless your financial situation is dire and in view of your obvious great concern at the possibility of an adverse entry appearing on your credit files, I would suggest that you just pay the amount asked (£59.76) now.
Should you wish to dispute the amount later you are at liberty to do so and request a refund. You seem intent on making a problem for yourself for the sake of £59.76.

boo_star

CreditusScorus wrote: »

Indeed, I meant credit history - in other words, this bluster with E.On.

If you don't pay they may well default you, the AP markers will remain and the default will be very bad.

If you pay now you may have some AP markers but avoid the (very bad) default.

Of course, there is the question of if you're a decent human being who owes money should you pay it back regardless, but it rarely gets to that point in these forums. Being morally correct is often not "moneysaving" after all.

You were late in paying, you probably won't be back before 6 years is up anyway so stop wasting everyone's time and pay it.

Sorry to be blunt but you're just making excuses.

CreditusScorus

@ Ben8282, that’s precisely my point - I wonder how this could even qualify as an arrangement to pay. But just to be more precise, the timeline was as follows: apparently the bill go issued and I was not aware of it sometime in the second half of August, with a due date in end of August. I was made aware of this bill by email on the 30th or September (the email I quoted above). Called EON immediately and they gave me “another month” to go through the bill and pay them.

No discounts were made, and I was told this wouldn’t mark against my credit history.

The day before yesterday I just figured I had better things to do after a very busy month and I’d just pay the bill without questioning the figures there. The bill is frankly unreadable, an absolute mess. That’s when I realised, upon googling around, that instead of granting me time to go through the bill, they put me on an AP - where I’m paying the exact amount I originally owed them, so I don’t think this could even qualify as an AP!

Again, at this stage, had they not put an AP mark against my history, I’d just pay it and call it a day. But now that they’ve already done it I frankly can’t help but think that, if I’m screwed anyway and there’s no safety valve in this mad credit history system, I might as well leave them hanging out to dry.

And this @boo_star, might indeed strike as immoral and look bad on me, but frankly, I don’t think Eon cares much about morality either. How else can one explain the purposefully messy bills and the call centre attendants tricking you into ruining your credit history when, quite literally, I only wanted to go through the bill that they had just made me aware of?

You’re 100% right in being blunt, so no worries! I share your exact understanding - trust me, gbp 59 is not worth this headache! Had I known this’d be the consequence of their “extra time” to go through the bill, I’d have paid it outright. But if they already screwed me over, my instinct tells me I’d have nothing to gain from handing them over this figure - it’d adding injury to the insult.

boo_star

CreditusScorus wrote: »

And this @boo_star, might indeed strike as immoral and look bad on me, but frankly, I don’t think Eon cares much about morality either. How else can one explain the purposefully messy bills and the call centre attendants tricking you into ruining your credit history when, quite literally, I only wanted to go through the bill that they had just made me aware of?

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Or in this case, likely poor training, poor pay and poor systems.

It just isn't in E.ON's interest to screw you around to the point that they're dishing out AP's, is it?

All they want is your money, and issuing late bills isn't going to help them get it.

Pay it, move on with your life and enjoy things abroad.

Andyjflet

Just pay your bill, simple, its not as if its thousands, but it will become that.