Energy Companies Reporting On Your Credit File?!?

Sea_Shell

Gerry1 said:

Sea_Shell said:

Surely with a fixed DD (based on accurate usage) you will, naturally, over the course of the year, spend time both in credit and debit on your account as your use fluctuates.  

I'm sure I read on here somewhere, that some suppliers are trying to now pitch their DD's in such a way so the balance doesn't ever fall below the "debit" line, but that does mean much higher DD's than otherwise necessary.   

Someone posted a graph to illustrate this point, can't remember who/where?   (maybe @QrizB knows or remembers?)

@Sea_Shell Guilty !

That's the one!  Thanks.

It illustrates the point better than I can explain it.

MWT

Sea_Shell said:

Gerry1 said:

Sea_Shell said:

Surely with a fixed DD (based on accurate usage) you will, naturally, over the course of the year, spend time both in credit and debit on your account as your use fluctuates.  

I'm sure I read on here somewhere, that some suppliers are trying to now pitch their DD's in such a way so the balance doesn't ever fall below the "debit" line, but that does mean much higher DD's than otherwise necessary.   

Someone posted a graph to illustrate this point, can't remember who/where?   (maybe @QrizB knows or remembers?)

@Sea_Shell Guilty !

That's the one!  Thanks.

It illustrates the point better than I can explain it.

... but it only makes a difference in the payments for the first 12 month cycle while realigning it to not go negative, it that is what is currently happening. It should not increase the total amount paid once it has been properly aligned.

If you start fresh in April for example it makes no difference at all as 1/12th of estimated annual use paid each month will always keep the account positive.

Sea_Shell

I'm only speaking of my experience a couple of years ago, when our tariffs came up for review in Winter.   

We'd be (allowed to be) in debit, right through the winter, until our DDs started to exceed our usage as we then went through summer.

Had we not been allowed to accrue a debit balance, our DD should have been, say £100*, equal to our highest monthly bill, not the average.

So it's not about paying the "right" amount, it's about only being allowed to be in credit.


*Those were the days!!

MWT

Sea_Shell said:

Had we not been allowed to accrue a debit balance, our DD should have been, say £100*, equal to our highest monthly bill, not the average.

So it's not about paying the "right" amount, it's about only being allowed to be in credit.


*Those were the days!!

It may still be possible with some of the older legacy suppliers, it tended to be the newer ones that have always insisted on staying in credit.

The real problems tended to come from people switching from a supplier in Autumn and getting the balance they had accrued refunded to them and then using it on other bills and immediately getting into payment problems, because the new monthly DD would be a lot higher than they were expecting as it had to cover the real cost of the winter bills until they got through to Spring...

Sea_Shell

I suppose it's a moot point until we're able to start switching for better deals again!!

But this thread was started because accounts are now being (more widely) reported to the credit agencies...so a late bill or bounced DD could cause people problems.   I was just querying whether a debit balance would also be flagged.

rhcp

It's worth checking on all 3 credit reports.  I found that my water was recorded on Credit Karma only, my elec/gas was on experian only (I think), and cable was on a couple of them.  The only thing not being reported was council tax (i'm sure that will be added when they cotton on!).

Thrugelmir

Sea_Shell said:

I wonder if this is the thin end of a bigger wedge?

What next, will they be reporting "debit" balances as "arrears"?    That's one way of trying to persuade customers not to let their accounts go into debit.

CRA's aren't going to have a business if they cannot provide accurate data to their commercial clients. The better the picture of an individual's circumstances the lower the risk to the business. Resulting in better pricing for customers. 

MWT

Sea_Shell said:

I was just querying whether a debit balance would also be flagged.

It would be accurate to report a debit balance even if all payments are on time in the same way as you would see on a credit card report, but that would only have an impact in terms of total debt being carried rather than the much more harmful impact of a late/missing payment marker.

Sea_Shell

I guess time will tell.


I'm sure we'll get to hear about it if debit balances stop someone from being able to get credit elsewhere.

MWT

Sea_Shell said:

I guess time will tell.


I'm sure we'll get to hear about it if debit balances stop someone from being able to get credit elsewhere.

Energy companies have been reporting for a few years now, and I usually only see issues once they start reporting late/missed payments.