British Gas Credit Report Issues

GrahamsHill

Afternoon MSE'ers! 
Need some advice if possible. I've been reviewing my credit report ahead of applying for a mortgage next year and found that I have an old BG account on there. I left them under a dark cloud in 2014 with a debt of £639 for gas and £80 for electric which were both at 6+ months in arrears. I moved to EDF Energy and have been with them until recently when I switched again. 
My issue is (as you'll see from the pic) that BG continued to report the arrears essentially as a live account for a further 4 years for gas and 5 years for electricity.
The account eventually went to Lowell who haven't added anything to my credit report, but I eventually paid the debt to them as a lump sum following a reduced offer. 
My main questions are around what to do next. Although I was daft and didn't pay up at the time, I don't think it's fair or right that they have reported the account in the way they have. Surely they should have:
1. reported the account as closed on the day in which I cancelled my contract with them (i.e. the day they stopped supplying my gas / electricity)?
and / or;
2. Issued a default for each account once I got to 6 months arrears?
I'm going to write to them with a complaint but want to make sure I go with the right angle. Either way, if they correct it to a default or the day they stopped supplying my energy the account should drop off my report as it'll be over 6 years since we parted ways. 
Thanks in advance for any advice. 

[Deleted User]

1. No. The account couldn't be closed as there was an outstanding debt.
2. You could ask them if they will backdate the default to 6 months after you stopped paying.

GrahamsHill

Deleted_User said:

1. No. The account couldn't be closed as there was an outstanding debt.
2. You could ask them if they will backdate the default to 6 months after you stopped paying.

Thanks for the reply. I'll request that they change it to a default at the 6 month point, although I think it's excessive for them to report on the accounts for nearly 5 years (in the case of the electricity)!

yksi

Do we understand correctly here that you paid your bill five years late?

If so I am struggling to understand why you think that reporting it like this is "excessive", the point of a CRA is to help other financial institutions assess whether you are to be trusted with money and here we have evidence that you don't bother to pay your bills for five years - a fact that in all fairness is of great interest to anyone you are trying to borrow money from.

GrahamsHill

yksi said:

Do we understand correctly here that you paid your bill five years late?

If so I am struggling to understand why you think that reporting it like this is "excessive", the point of a CRA is to help other financial institutions assess whether you are to be trusted with money and here we have evidence that you don't bother to pay your bills for five years - a fact that in all fairness is of great interest to anyone you are trying to borrow money from.

You haven't understood it correctly, no. I paid the bill to Lowell in 2016 after it got transferred to them from British Gas. As I said in my original post, Lowell have never added anything to my credit report about it but BG have continued to report it in arrears for 5 years, hence I feel it is excessive for them to do that. 

Anyway, I've requested that they change the account to a default from when it went into 6 months arrears so will see what they come back with. 

GrahamsHill

Finally got a positive outcome to this (if anyone is interested lol). I complained to BG in November that the account wasn't defaulted in 2014 when it should've been, and that it was unfair to be reporting the 6 month arrears for so long. After 3 months of back and forth with both BG who refused to do anything and Lowell who couldn't do anything, I took my complaint to the Ombudsman on Monday this week. By Wednesday the BG credit reporting team responded stating the account should've been defaulted in April 2014 but wasn't and that all records of the accounts have been deleted from all 3 CRAs. 

[Deleted User]

6 years after the default they should go but might take a week or three for the CRAs to update. Check the free ones say next month just in case (assuming they are still on there)

GrahamsHill

Deleted_User said:

6 years after the default they should go but might take a week or three for the CRAs to update. Check the free ones say next month just in case (assuming they are still on there)

Yep, that's what they said. Credit Karma has already been updated but Clear Score and MSE Credit Club are end of the months so expecting the updates then.