Mortgage offer received, then received a debt collection letter

catinajacuzzi

As above - I've just been given a mortgage offer and I'm waiting for the paperwork to come through. However, I have, days later, received a letter in the post from a debt collection agency about an old energy account. The meter readings in a flat I lived in back in 2014 differed from the next tenants', and they thought the meter readings we'd been using may have belonged to another flat in the building. I was in contact with the energy supplier in 2017 about it and heard nothing since, - I just said that they accepted the meter readings at the time, they gave me a refund, I thought all was fine. That was the last I heard from them. The amount is £900. I do think it is likely something went awry with the meters and I will owe money, but it's annoying they didn't try and tell me direct. My question is - is this going to affect my mortgage? I could pay it all off tomorrow, and the debt is in my maiden name, not my married name, but is it going to count as a change in material circumstances and affect my actually getting the mortgage when it comes to exchange?

Mortgage_Adviser

If I was you I would now start monitoring your credit reports almost on a daily basis. There are a few possible scenarios:
1. The lender will never see this issue reg the debt anywhere because it is nit on your credit file

2. It is on your credit file but on a different one as to the one of the credit reference agency that this particular lender is using.
3. The lender finds out about it but would still be happy to continue with your mortgage.
4. The lender finds out about it and withdrawas their offer at the last minute causing you all sort of troubles.


Are there any other conatct details that the utility company should have for you athat are still the same as in 2014? Eg phone number and email address?


If yes and the point 4 was to happen, I woukd probably look at suing the energey company for not attempting to ask you for the money they believe you own them in a nice way first before passing your details to the debt collectors and as a the resuklt you having your mortgage applciation affected and as so suffering financial losses.

catinajacuzzi

Yes my email address was the same and they'd been in contact via it initially, which is how I knew they'd been looking into things - but they never came back to me and seemed satisfied with what I had said. It's madness. I've been through my credit reports with a fine tooth comb and it's definitely not there - YET. My mortgage broker has said to just pay it now, and then if the mortgage lender queries it, they'll explain. They seem very relaxed about the whole situation, but maybe they get their money on exchange, not completion? I don't know. I'm waiting for my wife to come home so we can decide together the best course of action but I'm basically one for sorting things before they come to a head. Annoyingly this was not an option for me this time, evidently.

MrsR1234

Look at backbilling. As you left In 2014 and you still hadn't received a bill in 2017, I'm not sure they can actually charge you now.

Might be worth investigating before you pay for something that potentially they have no legal right to ask you to oay