Incorrect EON markers on credit report stopping a mortgage

stewie_griffin

Have you checked your bank statements to make sure that the direct debit was claimed by e.on every month. Have a look at your bills/statements and see if they ever say you need to make an additional payment. It's up to e.on to change your direct debit if it's too low. The onus isn't on you to change it.

emily_dutton_

matelodave said:

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

Now that makes more sense than what I have just been reading on my EON statements. 
However, I have always paid £100 on-time and when I call up I have never been asked to increase my monthly DD. I have also never been asked to pay off any outstanding balance. Never received any letters to say I'm not paying enough. I didn't even have late markers for April, May, June, etc yet never paid more than my monthly direct debit. Cant understand why march only has markers if I should have been paying more / in dept. 

stewie_griffin

You could try emailing the CEO. Have a look on !!!!!!.

stewie_griffin

Ceoemail dot com

emily_dutton_

stewie_griffin said:

Have you checked your bank statements to make sure that the direct debit was claimed by e.on every month. Have a look at your bills/statements and see if they ever say you need to make an additional payment. It's up to e.on to change your direct debit if it's too low. The onus isn't on you to change it.

I have checked and sent them all my bank statements. They have received every payment. They have also confirmed that they have received every payment and that I have never missed a month. I have checked all my bills around the markers and none of them state I need to pay additional monies to clear balance. 
I also remember calling EON at the start of COVID (March 20 when the late markers are on my report) and they did not tell me to increase my payments then. 

MWT

emily_dutton_ said:

Never received any letters to say I'm not paying enough. I didn't even have late markers for April, May, June, etc yet never paid more than my monthly direct debit. Cant understand why march only has markers if I should have been paying more / in dept. 

So your March bill had a balance on it and they put a marker on your credit file for March.

Did the April bill also have a balance left on it?

I'm not saying it is correct to treat these bills with a balance left on them as 'late' just trying to see if that is the trigger for the marker or if it is a 'red herring' and the reason is something else...

As for your tariff, you appear to be on their standard variable tariff, you should be able to do much better than that so aside from everything else, you really should look at the alternative tariffs from E.ON or switch elsewhere as you will be paying more than you need to right now.

I can't see anything in the T&C's for that tariff that requires you to keep the account in credit at all times though, so as long as your payments were all on time I see no reason for the markers.

Gerry1

Perhaps E.On company rep Helena will be along to advise....

emily_dutton_

stewie_griffin said:

Ceoemail dot com

I have just sent an email. I won't hold my breath for a response, but thank you for the idea!

emily_dutton_

MWT said:

emily_dutton_ said:

Never received any letters to say I'm not paying enough. I didn't even have late markers for April, May, June, etc yet never paid more than my monthly direct debit. Cant understand why march only has markers if I should have been paying more / in dept. 

So your March bill had a balance on it and they put a marker on your credit file for March.

Did the April bill also have a balance left on it?

I'm not saying it is correct to treat these bills with a balance left on them as 'late' just trying to see if that is the trigger for the marker or if it is a 'red herring' and the reason is something else...

As for your tariff, you appear to be on their standard variable tariff, you should be able to do much better than that so aside from everything else, you really should look at the alternative tariffs from E.ON or switch elsewhere as you will be paying more than you need to right now.

I can't see anything in the T&C's for that tariff that requires you to keep the account in credit at all times though, so as long as your payments were all on time I see no reason for the markers.

I have had a balance on the account way before March and it was on there until July. I have no late markers on any other months in 2019 and 2020 other than March 20.
I paid off my EON account and closed it down 2 weeks ago due to all these problems. 
Can I just say - I really appreciate all this advice and feedback! I have been really struggling the last 3 weeks and this has really helped.
I have emailed the CEO and directors (not expecting an email back but you never know!) - thanks Stewie_griffin

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

emily_dutton_ said:

Hi All,

I am currently trying to get a mortgage and the mortgage company will not complete a full assessment due to markers from EON on my credit report. I was not aware of these markers as I have never missed a payment to EON.

Since downloading my credit report I have found a number of markers on my credit file from EON. These vary from 2 late payment from 3 months ago to 6 late payment last year. I was unaware of these on my report and this is considerably dragging down my score.

Since finding these markers I have contacted EON on numerous occasions and all staff members have agreed that I have never missed a payment and that EON are incorrect. They have passed me onto a resolution manager who has now told me that they will not be removing the markers as I should have increased my monthly payment. This is stopping me from getting a mortgage and is extremely distressing as I have never missed a payment to EON and never once received a letter from them regarding this.

I have paid £100 a month for a small 3 bed house for over 2 and half years and never missed 1 payment. The most recent markers on my report are for March 2020, yet April, May, June, July 2020 do not show markers. I have never paid anymore money, therefore what I can’t understand is why wasn’t there markers on the other months. I have had a payment plan in place with EON since moving into the property over 2 years ago.

Has anyone else had any issues regarding the removal of markers from EON? I have made on average 3 calls a week for 3 weeks, all lasting an hour. Sometimes EON representatives will hang up on me. I have tried to log a complaint 3 time’s, however when I call back up the complaint hasn’t been logged. I have contacted citizen advice to help me however they are back logged due to COVID and I am going to lose the opportunity to purchase my new house. I have already paid £400 to solicitors and £200 to mortgage company and I will also lose this due to these markers. 

Has anyone got any advice / been through this before?

Thanks, 
Emily 

Good morning Emily,

You have done the right thing in raising this with us, I know you have now re-opened your complaint as this is not resolved, taking 5 phone calls to get this done isn't acceptable though and I'm really sorry about that.

When you speak to your complaints resolution manager, if you're still unhappy you can ask for it to be referred to our Complaints Review section. They'll look again at what's gone before from both your point of view and ours. They may also refer your account to our specialist data share department. At this stage, if you're still unhappy with what's happened, you can go to the Energy Ombudsman for an independent assessment. The Ombudsman's decision is binding on us but not on you. Our Reviewers will let you have a Final Resolution Offer letter to help when you go to the Ombudsman. Although, if the complaint is over 56 days old, you'll be able to go the Ombudsman straightaway. No need to wait for a letter.

Every month, we share payment information from our home energy customer accounts with Equifax, a credit reference agency. We share, name, address, date of birth, date the account was opened, the current balance on your account and if applicable, default notices and any debt. If we do decide to make a change to what we have shared it can take around 14 days to show on your credit file.

When the resolution manager is looking in to your account, they can see what actual information we have actually shared, so I would advise you to also ask this question.

Thank you

Helena