Either way I lose

Wizzbike

Hi All,

I am having a real nightmare trying to figure out what can be done to improve my credit score.

I have never had any issues with bad credit or missed payments and basically pay everything with direct debit or standing order, earn reasonable money and have no loans or debt. I have a credit card for monthly expenses that I clear in full every month.

I am currently trying to find a new home to rent or get a mortgage as my LL has just issued a no fault section 21.

I decided to check my credit score and was shocked to find a default from Eon.

I had received a catch-up bill from them in February 2019 for £3517.72 (yes they tried to take this amount from my account as a direct debit payment without warning!) that was on top of my monthly direct debit of £65 month since opening the account in 2013.

It turns out that a water leak I had reported to my LL 2 years before he fixed it was Hot water leaking all that time from the emersion tank. Anyway, I disputed the bill with Eon on back billing rules beyond 12 months and we went into deadlock.

I contacted CAB who followed up with Eon and after almost a year Eon admitted their error & amended the bill to £682.00 and after reaching an agreed repayment plan, I cleared the debt.

Question 1, Why do I have a default when they admitted they were at fault with the original bill and the amended bill was paid as per the agreement?

Question 2, would a notice of correction help against the default with the CRA.s

Second issue is my address is slightly different between the County council & Land registry and the Post office. It appears that at some point my LL changes the address from (House Name Cottage) to (House Name Bungalow) this means The electoral roll and tenancy agreement have me in Cottage and the bank and utility companies have me in Bungalow.

Also Its not possible to use Cottage for utilities as the post code finder doesn’t list the property, it only exists with the council.

My credit score at cottage is perfect & I’m on the electoral roll but I have no banking history……or I use Bungalow and have a default from Eon and it says I’m not on the electoral roll giving me a low score.

What makes this even more frustrating is my LL issues me a section 21 and wants me out asap but it’s his actions that have directly affected my credit scores and possibly my ability to move.

Question 3, How can I explain this issue to the CRA’s and possible lenders as I am being penalized for being unregistered to vote even when I am registered!

Any advice welcomed…..

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

They issued a default because you appear to have refused to pay anything.  That is why people are often advised (and often ignore said advice) to pay what they think they owe rather than completely withholding payment.  You essentially refused to pay £682 for the best part of a year so it's not particularly surprising this has been rewarded with a default.

As far as it stopping you from moving, it won't.  Almost no tenancy credit checks will show anything other than public data such as CCJs and bankruptcy. There was some murmuring a few years ago that one CRA was offering full access to credit reports for credit checking but I can find no record of it now.

Wizzbike

LaHostessAvecLaMostess said:

They issued a default because you appear to have refused to pay anything.  That is why people are often advised (and often ignore said advice) to pay what they think they owe rather than completely withholding payment.  You essentially refused to pay £682 for the best part of a year so it's not particularly surprising this has been rewarded with a default.

Thanks but that's actually not true, they wanted £3517.72 not £682 and it took them a long time to admit their error ( do you really think they would have refunded the difference even if I had there had been enough in my account to cover a direct debit for £3517.72) There was never an option to only pay £682 until CAB negotiated with them and the fact remains that they admit fault paid me a small compensation amount and gave me a written apology after which I paid of the debt as agreed.
I just think its wrong to have a default when the company admits it was wrong in the first place and the the dispute was upheld.
At the time I had no idea I owed anything as i paid by DD and my usage never changed the fault was not discovered until long after it was settled. I had even changed my electricity supplier before it was found. and the meter had been replaced.

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

Wizzbike said:

LaHostessAvecLaMostess said:

They issued a default because you appear to have refused to pay anything.  That is why people are often advised (and often ignore said advice) to pay what they think they owe rather than completely withholding payment.  You essentially refused to pay £682 for the best part of a year so it's not particularly surprising this has been rewarded with a default.

Thanks but that's actually not true, they wanted £3517.72 not £682 and it took them a long time to admit their error ( do you really think they would have refunded the difference even if I had there had been enough in my account to cover a direct debit for £3517.72) There was never an option to only pay £682 until CAB negotiated with them and the fact remains that they admit fault paid me a small compensation amount and gave me a written apology after which I paid of the debt as agreed.
I just think its wrong to have a default when the company admits it was wrong in the first place and the the dispute was upheld.
At the time I had no idea I owed anything as i paid by DD and my usage never changed the fault was not discovered until long after it was settled. I had even changed my electricity supplier before it was found. and the meter had been replaced.

It doesn't matter what they were asking for.  Ultimately you owed them money and nothing was paid towards it. I do understand why people take the "I'll pay you when you send me a correct bill" stance but it ultimately has a very good chance of backfiring if you are deemed to have owed them money and the company has the ability to report to CRAs.  It's perhaps made worse by the fact that you did appear to accept you owed some money but made no payments towards the debt.

If you had perhaps tried to estimate what you thought you owed and offered that as payment you may have had an argument for a default being unjustified. Under the circumstances, however, I don't believe you do.

Brie

Have you politely asked Eon to amend the record?  It may take them some time as they would have to agree, and then the record would need to be updated and then the upload cycles would need to be worked through - so maybe 3 months??

Any reason why you can't change the address with the bank back to Cottage?  And even with utilities there should be a manual work around to changing it - even if you online or the first boffin you talk to on the phone can't force the change.

Wizzbike

Brie said:

Have you politely asked Eon to amend the record?  It may take them some time as they would have to agree, and then the record would need to be updated and then the upload cycles would need to be worked through - so maybe 3 months ??

Thanks, that's what I was looking for with Question 2, would a notice of correction help against the default with the CRA.s
I have read on the Experian site that it is possible to add a notice of correction to explain a default while it is being investigated.
I am wondering if anyone here has tried or knows how effective this action may be?

Brie said:

Any reason why you can't change the address with the bank back to Cottage?  And even with utilities there should be a manual work around to changing it - even if you online or the first boffin you talk to on the phone can't force the change.

The only reason that I have used Bungalow for banks and utilities is because the Post office drop down menus don't recognize Cottage as a real address. I spoke to the post office when I first moved in and they told me that they couldn't guarantee that my mail would arrive if I used Cottage as its "not a real address."  They said that they and the emergency services only recognize Bungalow. Also even if I could change it I would still show as unregistered to vote as Bungalow is not on the Land registry so no electoral roll!

As a tenant I cant make any changes to the council or land registry records or register a change with the PO.
Now I only have 6 weeks for my family to find a new home after 8 years of renting here.

I do appreciate the help so far.

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

NOCs don't help.  Lenders and the like typically aren't that interested in the whys.

As I said earlier, it is highly unlikely a tenant credit check will go beyond public data anyway.

Puddles1983

I wouldn’t worry about the 2nd issue at all if you’re going to be moving - can’t imagine your new place would be affected by the rare situation you describe.

Just make sure you update all of your accounts when you do move and your file will eventually update itself.

Wizzbike

LaHostessAvecLaMostess said:

NOCs don't help.  Lenders and the like typically aren't that interested in the whys.

As I said earlier, it is highly unlikely a tenant credit check will go beyond public data anyway.

The weird thing is that the tenant check actually want far more information than the mortgage broker!
Broker wants only 3 months payslips and bank statements, but the letting agent wants 6 months complete pay and bank statements and still wants references from payroll at work to confirm plus photo copy's of utility bills etc Far more than than the broker. 

nyermen

"amended the bill to £682.00 and after reaching an agreed repayment plan, I cleared the debt"

I think the problem here is a misconception of a default - its often defined as something being 90 days past due (at least in consumer world).  It may simply be because a debt of £682 wasnt paid within usual time and so defaulted (ATP is often still a default).  (ps sorry if I missed a point that the default was for the larger amount - harder to scroll and type as I have a newborn asleep on me )

Jumblebumble

Wizzbike said:

LaHostessAvecLaMostess said:

NOCs don't help.  Lenders and the like typically aren't that interested in the whys.

As I said earlier, it is highly unlikely a tenant credit check will go beyond public data anyway.

The weird thing is that the tenant check actually want far more information than the mortgage broker!
Broker wants only 3 months payslips and bank statements, but the letting agent wants 6 months complete pay and bank statements and still wants references from payroll at work to confirm plus photo copy's of utility bills etc Far more than than the broker. 

The lender has the security of the house against the mortgage
The Landlord has nothing so it is not surprising they do more checking