Late Payment

MattMattMattUK

Krusters said:

Yes, apologies, I had lazily interchanged “credit file” and “credit score” in my OP. What I want is for BG to remove the marker from my credit file, so that prospective lenders aren’t penalising me for an adverse credit history for the next 7 years.

They are very unlikely to remove it as it is factually correct. One late payment will have little impact in the short term and no impact in the long term, it will be irrelevant in 6-12 months, far quicker than the time it takes to drop off your credit report. 

Krusters said:

I did raise a complaint with BG, each time I called to follow up on the complaint and chase removal of the marker, as they had promised, I was told the complaint had been closed as resolved, despite my not having been contacted or updated in any way to advise me of this. So each time I called I had to raise another complaint, repeated this process for several weeks until yesterday, when they told me categorically that the marker cannot be removed, since as far as they are concerned the Dec payment was missed and the matter is closed.

The complaint would have been closed because what you were complaining about and asking for was "resolved" in that they cannot remove the correctly applied late payment marker. 

EssexHebridean

OP it might be worth asking for the thread to get moved to Debt Free Wannabe as it might be seen  by more people with the knowledge about the best steps for you to take, there.  You can make the request via the report button if you have access to that as a new member - but if not then one of us can request the move for you if you just let us know in a reply. 

Krusters

MattMattMattUK said:

Krusters said:

Yes, apologies, I had lazily interchanged “credit file” and “credit score” in my OP. What I want is for BG to remove the marker from my credit file, so that prospective lenders aren’t penalising me for an adverse credit history for the next 7 years.

They are very unlikely to remove it as it is factually correct. One late payment will have little impact in the short term and no impact in the long term, it will be irrelevant in 6-12 months, far quicker than the time it takes to drop off your credit report. 

Krusters said:

I did raise a complaint with BG, each time I called to follow up on the complaint and chase removal of the marker, as they had promised, I was told the complaint had been closed as resolved, despite my not having been contacted or updated in any way to advise me of this. So each time I called I had to raise another complaint, repeated this process for several weeks until yesterday, when they told me categorically that the marker cannot be removed, since as far as they are concerned the Dec payment was missed and the matter is closed.

The complaint would have been closed because what you were complaining about and asking for was "resolved" in that they cannot remove the correctly applied late payment marker. 

I would agree if I had willfully missed the payment deadline, however, I was waiting for the final bill, as advised by the agent when I called them to close the acc. I paid it in full as soon as I received it. I was unaware of the payment deadline of 30th Dec associated with the final bill, as I hadn’t had sight of the final bill until it arrived in the first week of Jan, after the deadline I was unaware of had already passed. My complaint is that I have been unfairly marked as delinquent. I would reasonably expect a bill to arrive prior to the deadline to pay it, and would reasonably expect BG to understand this, given the two postal strikes and two bank holidays in between the date the bill was generated (16th dec) and the deadline to pay it (30th Dec). 

MattMattMattUK

Krusters said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Krusters said:

Yes, apologies, I had lazily interchanged “credit file” and “credit score” in my OP. What I want is for BG to remove the marker from my credit file, so that prospective lenders aren’t penalising me for an adverse credit history for the next 7 years.

They are very unlikely to remove it as it is factually correct. One late payment will have little impact in the short term and no impact in the long term, it will be irrelevant in 6-12 months, far quicker than the time it takes to drop off your credit report. 

Krusters said:

I did raise a complaint with BG, each time I called to follow up on the complaint and chase removal of the marker, as they had promised, I was told the complaint had been closed as resolved, despite my not having been contacted or updated in any way to advise me of this. So each time I called I had to raise another complaint, repeated this process for several weeks until yesterday, when they told me categorically that the marker cannot be removed, since as far as they are concerned the Dec payment was missed and the matter is closed.

The complaint would have been closed because what you were complaining about and asking for was "resolved" in that they cannot remove the correctly applied late payment marker. 

I would agree if I had willfully missed the payment deadline,  however, I was waiting for the final bill, as advised by the agent when I called them to close the acc. I paid it in full as soon as I received it. I was unaware of the payment deadline of 30th Dec associated with the final bill, as I hadn’t had sight of the final bill until it arrived in the first week of Jan, after the deadline I was unaware of had already passed.

It does not matter whether it was "wilful" or not, it is factually correct that the payment was late and that is what they are reporting.

Krusters said:
My complaint is that I have been unfairly marked as delinquent.

It is not "unfair", it is a factually correct position, I know you do not like it, but that does not mean it is wrong.

Krusters said:
I would reasonably expect a bill to arrive prior to the deadline to pay it, and would reasonably expect BG to understand this, given the two postal strikes and two bank holidays in between the date the bill was generated (16th dec) and the deadline to pay it (30th Dec). 

I would also expect it to not take that long even with strikes, but the difficulty is that British Gas have to report based on facts, payment was late, they have reported the payment as late.

This is why it is generally advised not to cancel the Direct Debit until after the final bill has been settled, although that does not help after the fact hopefully other people will follow that in the future. 

Krusters

I didn’t cancel the direct debit, in fact the December DD was successfully taken by BG.

TheElectricCow

Krusters said:

I didn’t cancel the direct debit, in fact the December DD was successfully taken by BG.

In that case perhaps you might have slightly more luck making a complaint on the basis of them not taking the final payment, rather than getting a technically correct  late payment marker removed?

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/moving-home/your-final-bill.html

If you usually pay by Direct Debit, we’ll collect a final payment from your bank account about two weeks after your British Gas account has closed. 

This seems to suggest they are meant to collect the money by the DD as they normally would, so if they failed to do so you might have some more solid grounds to stand on there in making your case that you’re not at fault for the late payment.

MattMattMattUK

TheElectricCow said:

Krusters said:

I didn’t cancel the direct debit, in fact the December DD was successfully taken by BG.

In that case perhaps you might have slightly more luck making a complaint on the basis of them not taking the final payment, rather than getting a technically correct  late payment marker removed?

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/moving-home/your-final-bill.html

If you usually pay by Direct Debit, we’ll collect a final payment from your bank account about two weeks after your British Gas account has closed. 

This seems to suggest they are meant to collect the money by the DD as they normally would, so if they failed to do so you might have some more solid grounds to stand on there in making your case that you’re not at fault for the late payment.

I agree this this, there is a vast difference between you not paying a bill you needed to pay and them not taking a Direct Debit, if you were paying by Direct Debit and had not cancelled it then the final payment should have been taken by Direct Debit.

Krusters

thanks, this is very helpful! I just called my bank and they told me that the Direct Debit I had in place was cancelled by the originator (British Gas) on 20th December 2022

MattMattMattUK

Krusters said:

thanks, this is very helpful! I just called my bank and they told me that the Direct Debit I had in place was cancelled by the originator (British Gas) on 20th December 2022

Ask your bank to confirm that in writing/email so you have it in case you need it.

It would appear that British Gas's process has failed then. They should have taken the payment after issuing the bill, then if they wished, cancel the mandate from their end, it looks like the cancellation has taken place but the payment was not taken first, so the error would be with them. 

Mstty

Krusters said:

thanks, this is very helpful! I just called my bank and they told me that the Direct Debit I had in place was cancelled by the originator (British Gas) on 20th December 2022

That is very handy and pertinent information, well done.