Debt collection, ombudsman, credit report...

JCperson

Hi
I am currently in a dispute over a BT bill - it is being investigated by Communications Ombudsman. Unfortunately, BT have not paused payment process and are threatening to refer me to debt collection agency. My 2 options appear to be:

a. pay bill now, and hope for am Ombs decision in my favour and possible refund - neither BT nor Ombs could tell me if doing this would jeopardise / impact the Ombs investigation. BT implied they might not even feel comfortable taking a payment during the investigation. 

b. don't pay yet, and tell debt collector about Ombs process and hope nothing shows up on my credit report. 

I am willing to adhere to the Ombs decision and if they say I pay, then I'll pay. I just don't want to have debt collection stuff come up on my credit report and impact my score - but I don't know much about this kinda stuff. Will this happen instantly if a referral is made, or can I tell Debt collector that there is a Ombs process going on. Will that help? Any advice much appreciated, thank you!

finalfantasist

You should continue to pay.

If you don't pay and the Ombudsman sides with you, well great. But if they don't any negative data that gets reported in the meantime is going to stick.

Edit: Just to add, BT do report to the CRAs so you may already have late payment markers.

[Deleted User]

If you can afford to pay - do so with cheque with a covering letter to say that you still dispute the amount.
See what the ombudsman says and take it from there.