British Gas wrongfully put debt in my name

FrancesSmith

Hello,

Just wanted some advice and to see if this has happened to anyone and to see the outcome.

I have just received an alert from my credit file to state that a British Gas bill from an old property I sold over 5 years ago has put a new debt in my name from this year 2019. I phone the company immediately and they have said that a tenant hasn't paid a bill and they had me on file as a Landlord (even though I was never a Landlord) so switched it to my name, they realise that this is a mistake but said because of the Xmas period it may take weeks to clear my name and take the account off my file as it needs to go through various teams. I also phone Equifax and raised a dispute which they said could take 21 days.

Because of this careless mistake its now showing red on my report for an account in late payment and my score has gone from Excellent to just above Fair.

I'm just in the process of applying for a mortgage and time is of the essence. I'm worried now I wont be accepted if I apply now and it will need to be delayed.

I wanted to know that when this is cleared off my name will my score go back to what it was originally straight away or will this need to be built up again?

Any advice on this would be great.

Thank you

[Deleted User]

Your score will normally drop further when it comes off, but that doesn't matter.

As long as the negative data is no longer on your file, lenders won't see it.

[Deleted User]

If you have confirmation in writing from BG of the error you can use this alongside your mortgage application