EON suddenly reporting to Equifax

simon_or

What on earth are they playing at, marking a performing account as arrangement to pay. As someone with previous bad credit, I know that this is a huge deal.

I need to check my reports.

K_S

Eon have confirmed that this has been done in error - 

Two responses to different complainants, both acknowledging that the Arrangement To Pay markers are incorrect -

1.

"response from Sainsburys/EON basically saying they got it wrong and are correcting it (both the "I" and AP markers) within 2-4 days on my report."

2.

"What you can do is, you may call our customer care line and they will be able to get it removed from your credit file, on the phone, with you, as this was flagged in error.

I'm sorry that you have to go through this, but we can have it sorted.

Please call us on EON NEXT - 08085015200"

username

Pretty cheeky of them to ask you to call up, having to take time out of your day, listen to sh1te music to fix their mistake.

They should be doing all of the running - and since this is a data issue shouldn't it just be sent to a back office dept to just apply the fix to the data and correct it, and some bung to compensate you (and not do it again).. What value does getting you to call add?

Chrysalis

This probably should be done to be fair but only if the account is in debit.  Next stage is to start doing credit checks to approve people for FDD.

artyboy

Chrysalis said:

This probably should be done to be fair but only if the account is in debit.  Next stage is to start doing credit checks to approve people for FDD.

I hope I'm misunderstanding you, but you seem to be suggesting that an AP marker is appropriate when an energy account is in debit, even though fixed DD contracts are designed to work exactly in that way - sometimes in debit, sometimes in credit - smoothing out variations in seasonal usage.

And even then, that's ignoring the fact that fixed direct debit is an up front contractual agreement that if kept to, is very much at odds with the definition of an AP.

If any energy company tried to argue that AP was appropriate, then there would be no point in doing anything other than variable DD with them

simon_or

I've got the same marks on my Equifax report, no credit issues or arrears whatsoever, been paying whatever DD amount Eonext has been setting for me since I was transferred to them in 2021. What more am I supposed to do.

I have a remortgage application coming up in the summer. This is so much unnecessary stress. 

I'll call them on the complaints number today.

simon_or

artyboy said:

Chrysalis said:

This probably should be done to be fair but only if the account is in debit.  Next stage is to start doing credit checks to approve people for FDD.

I hope I'm misunderstanding you, but you seem to be suggesting that an AP marker is appropriate when an energy account is in debit, even though fixed DD contracts are designed to work exactly in that way - sometimes in debit, sometimes in credit - smoothing out variations in seasonal usage.

And even then, that's ignoring the fact that fixed direct debit is an up front contractual agreement that if kept to, is very much at odds with the definition of an AP.

If any energy company tried to argue that AP was appropriate, then there would be no point in doing anything other than variable DD with them

Exactly, by design you're going to be in debit at times of the year, that's how a monthly DD has worked for energy bills.

I don't care if they're reporting an outstanding balance but they're not even doing that, the balance is shown as 0 and an Arrangement To Pay marker. Bizarre.

K_S

UPDATE - for anyone that might come across this thread.

Following a formal complaint, Eon Next removed the AP marker and corrected the status on past months to the normal '0' on the Equifax report for two of the forumites that had this issue and complained.

So definitely an error on Eon Next's part, which probably affects a sizeable properties of Eon Next's customers that have a debit balance. Hopefully they'll correct this across the board rather than wait for people to become aware of it and then bring it to their attention.

@simon_or any update?

simon_or

Thanks for the update K_S, that is good news.

I didn't get anywhere on the phone as the person couldn't understand what an arrangement to pay marker was. Once I explained it they were like yeah that sounds right as you have a £250 negative balance on your account so what's the issue! I gave up at that point.

I then submitted a complaint through resolver and just now got acknowledgement of the complaint from Eon next.

I'll post when there's any change in status but it looks like they'll fix it quickly.

b4by_v

Hi @Simon_or
Was just wondering if you got an update with your Eon complaint as I’m horrified to see I have an AR on my account that I have no idea about! Just about to remortgage and I have this popping up!
Many thanks