Incorrect EON markers on credit report stopping a mortgage

MWT

emily_dutton_ said:

I agreed a fixed DD to pay my EON bill. This was the 1st of every month and always on-time. The DD was not a plan set up for dept with EON.
If I had accumulated 'dept' due to not paying enough each month, why would I not have received any letters? also how come April, May, June, July 2020 do not hold late markers, yet I have never paid anymore than the direct debit amount. 

Have a look at your bill for the months where there is a marker and see if that shows you have not covered the charges to that date...

Also look at the months without a marker and see if those show that you have a credit balance ...

You may not get a separate letter if you are falling behind, but the notes on the bill each month should show if that is the case.

matelodave

Have you made an official complaint to Eon and asked  them for a deadlock letter so you can report it to the ombudsman. Does your bank statement show all the outgoing DD's to Eon.

Have you checked and downloaded copies of all your bills and meter readings and bank statements over the disputed period to prove that payments have been made on time and that the account is running normally. Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix. Do you usually send in monthly meter readings & check your bills  & stataements to ensure that everything is OK

You need to gather up all the evidence (bills, statements and any letters etc) and stop phoning - do it in writing with all the details and ideally send it both by e-mail AND recorded delivery snail-mail.

RelievedSheff

Have you got an online account with EON? Check in there for any correspondence they have sent you.

EON clearly think that they have a reason to put the late payment markers on your account as they have declined the dispute. You need to convince them that they are wrong and to do that you need to provide evidence and facts.

Check back through your bills. Find out what payments were allotted to your account and on what dates. Check that these tie in with your payment due date. Are they before the due date or after it.

MWT

matelodave said:

Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix.

This is the bit that bothers me in this case, if the OP is paying EAC/12 and E.ON have not tried to raise the DD then they shouldn't be putting late payment markers on the account, but the pattern of those markers suggests otherwise.

It will be helpful to see if those markers follow the accumulated credit/debit balance on the account, or if this is simply a payment date issue, although that would be strange too as it is a DD so unless there have been problems collecting on the due date, the actual date is in the hands of E.ON. 

emily_dutton_

matelodave said:

Have you made an official complaint to Eon and asked  them for a deadlock letter so you can report it to the ombudsman. Does your bank statement show all the outgoing DD's to Eon.

Have you checked and downloaded copies of all your bills and meter readings and bank statements over the disputed period to prove that payments have been made on time and that the account is running normally. Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix. Do you usually send in monthly meter readings & check your bills  & stataements to ensure that everything is OK

You need to gather up all the evidence (bills, statements and any letters etc) and stop phoning - do it in writing with all the details and ideally send it both by e-mail AND recorded delivery snail-mail.

I have made a complaint with EON. They have said that when reviewing the case they can see that I should have increased my payments at some point. They have agreed that they can see that I have paid on time every month. At this point I did not know what to say and the manager on the phone said that there is nothing else they could do and they was closing the case. Only when I got off the phone I realised that this wasn't fair and I wasn't told to increase payments back in March, in fact the opposite, as when I called in March I was told to keep my payment plan the same. I was also told the same, that accounts will drift, however the amount I am paying is sufficient. I have since re-opened the complaint (this took 5 phone calls) and I am waiting again for a resolution manager to get back in contact. 
I have never missed a payment 100% and they have checked and have confirmed that they have received all payments on-time.
I have sent them a 5 page formal letter of complaint 2 days ago via recorded delivery. I have sent them all my bank statements showing the regular DD's and also all the chat transcripts from EON representatives saying they can see I am not at fault. I have also contacted citizen advice who have told me they will contact them. 

emily_dutton_

MWT said:

matelodave said:

Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix.

This is the bit that bothers me in this case, if the OP is paying EAC/12 and E.ON have not tried to raise the DD then they shouldn't be putting late payment markers on the account, but the pattern of those markers suggests otherwise.

It will be helpful to see if those markers follow the accumulated credit/debit balance on the account, or if this is simply a payment date issue, although that would be strange too as it is a DD so unless there have been problems collecting on the due date, the actual date is in the hands of E.ON. 

Can I just clarify MWT. Do you think the following comment is correct?
'Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix.'

I have always had my DD set up to the 1st of every month as I am paid the 27th of every month. I have always had sufficient funds for my bills due to this set up. They have confirmed that I have never missed a payment. I have this in a written transcript from an EON representative sent to my email. 
This is also my argument, If my DD needed to be raised why did they not try to raise the DD? Also why did they tell me not to raise it when I called in March. 

MWT

emily_dutton_ said:

Can I just clarify MWT. Do you think the following comment is correct?
'Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix.'

Yes, this is why I asked if the markers were following the balance shown on the monthly bills...

It would be strange and, I believe, incorrect, if they were putting markers on a credit file while you were correctly paying 1/12th of your annual use each month...

MWT

Which tariff are you on?

I just wanted to check the 'small print' to make sure there is no obligation to keep your account in credit at all times...

matelodave

To clarify - if your EAC (annual estimated consumption) is about right then you should pay EAC/12 = about 8.33% per month, however most people use more energy in the winter than in the summer so although you pay the same every month you'll use more than you pay for in the winter and less than you pay for in the summer. (the split is generally about 65% between November and March and 35% in the other seven months)

If your DD was £100/mo that equals £1200 a year. You'll use nearly £800 in five months (£800/5 = £160/mo) and then only £400 in 7 months (400/7 = £57/mo) therefore your winter debit should be cancelled out by your summer credit meaning your account should balance after about 12 months. You can refine your profile down to months where the disparity is even greater in say Jan/Feb compared with July and August (I use about 16% in Jan  but only 4% in July - but it still balances)

It's not a difficult concept but a lot of energy companies and customers can't get their heads around it

emily_dutton_

MWT said:

emily_dutton_ said:

Can I just clarify MWT. Do you think the following comment is correct?
'Most accounts will drift in and out of credit or debit during summer & winter if you've got a fixed DD but they should generally balance out at the end of a 12 month fix.'

Yes, this is why I asked if the markers were following the balance shown on the monthly bills...

It would be strange and, I believe, incorrect, if they were putting markers on a credit file while you were correctly paying 1/12th of your annual use each month...

There was a balance on my March bill (generated on 1st March), however I was under the impression that as I had a payment plan set up with EON for £100 a month and I regularly called them up to check if it was okay that the fixed DD was sufficient enough. I was told that credit and debit fluctuates through summer and winter also. If I am paying £100 a month, on time, would this mean that the outstanding balance would have had to be 1/12th of this? therefore £1200? (which it was no where near this!) I am not very good with math / energy jargon. 
It says 'EON EnergyPlan' is this the tariff?