EON placed Default Notice on credit report

petermcc81

I had recently applied for a mortgage but when the mortgage company carried out the credit search they identified that I had defaulted on an account that I had with Eon. I was unaware of this but when I obtained my report from Equifax it showed the account had defaulted after four months for a late payment.

 I had been having problems with bills and letters in general, as the apartment block I lived in was new and there were regular issues with numbering, postcodes and letters being delivered to the wrong post boxes.

I had advised Eon of this previously but in any event I had left that property shortly before lockdown commenced due to personal reasons and unfortunately I was not able to get the paper bills. In addition once lock down commenced I was prohibited to travel back there as technically it would not have been deemed essential travel.

 I appreciate bills still need to be paid but I didn’t think that Eon, given the issues with the post at the apartments and the situation with Coronavirus, would advise a Credit Reference Agency that I had defaulted after 4 months without an attempt to contact me via phone.

 Having spoken with two Eon employees my understanding was that this would only happen after 6 months and I am very disappointed as I have always paid all my bills on time.

 Furthermore no default notice was ever received.

 This has obviously had an adverse effect on my credit rating.

 I paid the bill as soon as I was contacted albeit partially as I had raised an issue with usage given I had not been at the property and everything was shut down but when final confirmation was provided by Eon I settled the account in full.

Is it standard for a default to be report to a CRA after 4 months and in light of the above is there any prospect of Eon notifying the CRA to remove the default from the CR?

MWT

Were none of the bills visible via your online account?

In the end though it sounds like the default is accurately recorded as your local mail problems are not really anything to do with E.ON and if you knew you would not visit the apartment you should have had your mail forwarded to your new address...

petermcc81

I accept that the mail problems weren't Eon's fault and yes you are right in that I should have had the bills forwarded to another address, an oversight on my part however with everything that was going on at the time, my thinking was clouded somewhat but to report a default after 4 months with no attempt to contact me by phone seems harsh.
I had never missed a payment with Eon or anyone else for that matter previously and once I was contacted by phone the bill was paid. 
As I said, I accept my failings but I just wanted to see what an Eon representative had to say with regard to their reporting procedures.

MWT

How about your online account?

4 months is a long time, if they have been sending mail to your street address and probably electronic versions to your account as well then I don't think they have any obligation to phone you before accurately reporting the default.

You may get one of the E.ON reps to comment on here but they will most likely just refer to to the correct department...

petermcc81

I had only registered for an online after the event (my failing) and whilst they may not have had an obligation to call in advance of placing the default they did phone me to say the bill needed to be paid, at which point I paid it. I appreciate 4 months is a long time but as I said it seems harsh and in my view they put the cart before the horse in that they recorded the default, then called me to say the bill was outstanding and it was then paid. Surely it would make more sense to try the other way around.
It would be interesting to see what a representative had to say I was advised over the phone that a default would only be recorded at 6 months but I appreciate what you are saying MWT.

inspectorperez

petermcc81 you have my sympathy in having discovered that you have "blotted your copybook" by failing to make a contractual payment when due.

My own son recently made a mistake in not being fully conversant with energy industry procedures which resulted in threatening letters being received from Eon's appointed debt collectors LCS. He like you perhaps is at the beginning of his economic earning life and could well have ended up with a tarnished credit history.

In his situation which was the subject of a thread on here not so long ago, he came to the attention of the Eon representative who was most helpful, and understood as some forum readers don't seem to appreciate, that not everyone understands the full intricasies of how the industry procedures work. He like you was unable to access an online bill for settlement and following the intervention courtesy of this website, one was issued and posted out in no time.

I am sure the thread you started will come to the attention of a representative quite shortly. Mind I confess that the thread I started had a deliberately provocative subject header which may have caused hackles to rise with one or two readers. Your header is much more measured

MWT

@E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena may be able to help here too, but I suspect it may be harder to resolve as although unwelcome the default is accurate.

rp1974

Basically OP,you can ask E.ON to remove the default,I'm unsure if it's removed as in it's non existent for future checking purposes or if it will remain visible but appear as having been settled.
All could've been easily avoided using the online account,in this day and age if I were a supplier I'd be insisting on it as the primary account management method,as many do.
We all make mistakes and hopefully dont repeat them,the past year or so has been fairly rubbish all round,maybe big business and their staff are affected to much the same degree as you are,just a thought.

petermcc81

Thank you all for your comments.
I have just reviewed my bills, which are issued quarterly but the bill in question was for some reason issued 7 weeks earlier than it should have been. I appreciate you may not know the answer but do you think this would have a bearing on matters i.e. is there is an argument the default was then reported prematurely? 

MWT

I'd guess it has already been marked as satisfied as the OP confirmed it was eventually paid in full.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi petermcc81 and welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the replies on the thread already

I do understand that these are pretty difficult times for many. 

This is a bit different to the issue inspectorperez had, as the information has already been shared and is showing on your credit file, this is above me and not something I can actually change. You can raise this with us and it can be looked at by a specialist department to ensure we have shared the data correctly, but from what you have said, I suspect it won't be changed, as it sounds like we did have the correct details for the property.

Sharing with Credit Reference Agencies, though, is in the Terms and Conditions customers accept when joining us and opening an account. When we share information with a Credit Reference Agency, we give them a true reflection of the status of an account at the time of the share. As well as sharing details of accounts in debt, we also give positive reports where accounts are paid promptly. This helps build up credit scores.

Every month, we share payment information from our home energy customer accounts with Equifax, a credit reference agency. 

I understand you we're told a default wouldn't be added until 6 months, however, this was changed to 4 in 2019. This was also to help the customers as it means in most cases the balances would be smaller.

If it’s taken you over a month to pay your bill in full or set up a suitable arrangement we’ll send a status of 1 to 6 depending on how long the bill’s been outstanding. This is a negative status.

I'm sorry there isn't more I can do here.

Helena