Late Payments for Utilities

gazfocus

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for March, April and May this year (so 6 late payment markers in total). 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

MattMattMattUK

gazfocus said:

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for February and March this year. 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

The best answer is yes, they will impact it, they may even stop it entirely in the short term. Focus on getting the issue resolved first and foremost. Largely forget "an email" and raise a formal complaint, factual, state the issue, do not put anything in about mortgages etc. You want the amount removed, you want the arrears markers removed. It was also more than 12 months ago so back billing rules may also apply. 
https://www.eonnext.com/unhappy

K_S

@gazfocus

Right now and until the arrears are shown as cleared on your credit report - it might stop you entirely from getting a mainstream mortgage. If you're lucky enough that they only report to Equifax then you may still be able to get away with a lender that only checks Experian and doesn't explicitly ask about arrears that aren't defaults or CCJs. I was able to do that for a client with Severn Trent arrears due to a dispute.

Going forward, once the arrears are showing as cleared - the impact will then diminish over time, 6m-12m and so on.

As the poster above said, raise a formal complaint. These things can take a while to resolve. Good luck!

gazfocus said:

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for March, April and May this year (so 6 late payment markers in total). 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

gazfocus

Thanks guys, I have just submitted a formal complaint. What I think will work in my favour is that I had a dispute with Eon last year which took nearly 4 months to resolve. (They basically deleted every prepayment credit I'd topped my meter up with, leaving my account £900 in debt). They finally resolved this and issued me with numerous Standards of Service payments as a result, and my online eon account shows they sent out refunds totalling £265 which I never received because they sent them to my old address. 

If I can get them to admit to me not receiving the £265 in refund cheques, my account should actually be £210 in credit even after the £55 they reversed, but in my complaint I've also asked for a proper explanation as to what the reversed credit is for.

The other account with £1,500 owing is going to be a bit trickier because that one is showing a few gas bills attached which looks like they just didn't issue them correctly and then issued them before the deadline was up but again they were sent to the wrong address.

gazfocus

A bit of an update already…

Eon Next have replied to my complaint and recognised that they’ve made an error with the electric account. They’ve set the balance back to zero and have said they will remove the 3 late payment markers from my credit report for the electric account. 

Now just need to sort the gas account. 

Kudos to Eon Next so far though, I’m impressed. 

dimbo61

Did you do mail redirection  for 12 months ?

gazfocus

I thought I'd post a little update...

With regards to the gas account, Eon Next informed me that a payment arrangement was put in place in December for the account and while a payment was taken via direct debit in January, no other payments have been made hence why they've reported late payments to my credit report.

On speaking to my wife, this is the case (my wife did it as she pays all our bills), she had set up the payment plan but we had to change bank accounts in January so she emailed Eon Next to update the direct debit details. She didn't get a response so sent an email every month (5 emails in total) to try and get the details changed as she couldn't do it online, and I have asperger syndrome so get really anxious on the phone (the account is in my name only for some reason). Eon Next are saying they never received the emails so asked for evidence that the emails were sent, which we sent to them the same day (screen prints from the 'sent' emails on gmail).

Anyway, I have just received an update from EON Next to say that the late payment markers are a true representation of our payment record so the data sharing team will not remove them. They are saying they cannot find the emails my wife sent (convenient), that they tried to contact me several times by phone (they already know I get anxious on the phone as I've told them this numerous times in the past). and that they sent notification in March that the direct debit had failed.

I emailed them back saying my wife was aware the direct debit had failed but that was because our bank account details had changed and she had sent them 5 emails in total to try and maintain the direct debit, which we have supplied evidence of. Additionally, my wife has kept the money aside to pay the 'missed' payments so I do not feel the late payment markers are indeed a true representation of the payment record of the account as if there hadn't been some sort of issue with the emails not being received by someone at Eon Next, the direct debits would have been paid as required.

I have also reminded Eon Next that they made an absolute balls up of my electricity account last year which took months to sort and then again with the reporting of that to my credit report so they can and do make mistakes.

The representative has replied completely not willing to go back to the data sharing team with my responses and has instead decided to issue a deadlock letter (though she's STILL not updated my address after asking her twice yesterday to update it, so the deadlock letter will probably go to the wrong address also).

On the plus side, the late payments for my electricity account have been removed and the account has been removed from my credit report altogether.

gazfocus

K_S said:

@gazfocus

Right now and until the arrears are shown as cleared on your credit report - it might stop you entirely from getting a mainstream mortgage. If you're lucky enough that they only report to Equifax then you may still be able to get away with a lender that only checks Experian and doesn't explicitly ask about arrears that aren't defaults or CCJs. I was able to do that for a client with Severn Trent arrears due to a dispute.

Going forward, once the arrears are showing as cleared - the impact will then diminish over time, 6m-12m and so on.

As the poster above said, raise a formal complaint. These things can take a while to resolve. Good luck!

gazfocus said:

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for March, April and May this year (so 6 late payment markers in total). 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

From what I can tell, it looks like Eon Next report to Equifax and not Experian or Trans Union. I’ve got my credit reports from all 3 and the Eon Next accounts are only showing on ClearScore (Equifax). 

K_S

@gazfocus Based on what you’ve said, it’s definitely worth escalating the complaint to the Ombudsman once Eon have issued a deadlock letter or 8 weeks have passed. It doesn’t cost anything and worst case scenario the Ombudsman rejects the complaint and you’re in the same position as you are now.

If you aren’t able to get the arrears markers removed, and it’s causing you to fail DIPs, the fact that it isn’t showing on Experian can definitely be put to use with lenders that only check Experian and don’t explicitly ask any questions about arrears.

gazfocus said:

K_S said:

@gazfocus

Right now and until the arrears are shown as cleared on your credit report - it might stop you entirely from getting a mainstream mortgage. If you're lucky enough that they only report to Equifax then you may still be able to get away with a lender that only checks Experian and doesn't explicitly ask about arrears that aren't defaults or CCJs. I was able to do that for a client with Severn Trent arrears due to a dispute.

Going forward, once the arrears are showing as cleared - the impact will then diminish over time, 6m-12m and so on.

As the poster above said, raise a formal complaint. These things can take a while to resolve. Good luck!

gazfocus said:

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for March, April and May this year (so 6 late payment markers in total). 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

From what I can tell, it looks like Eon Next report to Equifax and not Experian or Trans Union. I’ve got my credit reports from all 3 and the Eon Next accounts are only showing on ClearScore (Equifax). 

gazfocus

K_S said:

@gazfocus Based on what you’ve said, it’s definitely worth escalating the complaint to the Ombudsman once Eon have issued a deadlock letter or 8 weeks have passed. It doesn’t cost anything and worst case scenario the Ombudsman rejects the complaint and you’re in the same position as you are now.

If you aren’t able to get the arrears markers removed, and it’s causing you to fail DIPs, the fact that it isn’t showing on Experian can definitely be put to use with lenders that only check Experian and don’t explicitly ask any questions about arrears.

gazfocus said:

K_S said:

@gazfocus

Right now and until the arrears are shown as cleared on your credit report - it might stop you entirely from getting a mainstream mortgage. If you're lucky enough that they only report to Equifax then you may still be able to get away with a lender that only checks Experian and doesn't explicitly ask about arrears that aren't defaults or CCJs. I was able to do that for a client with Severn Trent arrears due to a dispute.

Going forward, once the arrears are showing as cleared - the impact will then diminish over time, 6m-12m and so on.

As the poster above said, raise a formal complaint. These things can take a while to resolve. Good luck!

gazfocus said:

I've posted about this over on the debt free wannabe board but more in terms of mortgages, I thought I'd ask here...

I woke up this morning to an email from ClearScore to say my 'score' had updated (yes I know they're pointless) so logged onto the app to see what it was....it had dropped by over 200 points, so took a look at my credit report and found that EonNext have added two accounts to my credit report with a status of 'In Arrears', both showing late payment markers for March, April and May this year (so 6 late payment markers in total). 

I found this odd because I moved out of the property with the EonNext account 18 months ago, so logged into my old EonNext account and found that on my old electricity account (which was PREPAYMENT) they reversed a credit in December for £55, so it's showing I owe them £55 on that account. For my old gas account, it is showing I owe them over £1,500. 

I immediately sent EonNext an email to query these and in particular asked for an explanation as to how I can owe then £55 on a prepayment electricity account and to remove the late payment markers off my credit report, but should I not be able to get these removed, how much will they affect my ability to get a decent mortgage in the future?

To give a bit of background, my wife and I are buying a house with cash from the sale of our current house, which we are going to renovate and then either rent out or holiday let it. Our intention would then be to get either a BTL mortgage or a Holiday Let mortgage to release some of the equity in the house, so I'm now really worried that these late payment markers will scupper our chances as I know Holiday Let mortgages in particular are quite difficult to get at the best of times.

From what I can tell, it looks like Eon Next report to Equifax and not Experian or Trans Union. I’ve got my credit reports from all 3 and the Eon Next accounts are only showing on ClearScore (Equifax). 

Thanks. I’ve seen that it might be worth emailing the CEO’s office so I’m going to work out an email later, with facts, dates, etc of everything (including when they were told via email about anxiety using the phone etc), and see where that gets me. I figured I’ll need it all for the ombudsman anyway so might as well try a go at the CEO’s office. 

In the meantime, I have made payments by debit card for the four payments where the direct debit details hadn’t been updated so hopefully that’ll stem the pain moving forward. 

One thing I forgot to ask…the data sharing team mentioned them reporting ‘I’ to the credit reference agency for each month until the balance is paid in full (while there’s a payment plan in place) and then said once it’s paid in full it’ll show ‘settled’. I can’t seem to find what ‘I’ means. Do you happen to know?

Thankfully it’ll be a while before I intend to apply for a mortgage so have plenty of time to try and resolve this. 

MWT

gazfocus said:

On speaking to my wife, this is the case (my wife did it as she pays all our bills), she had set up the payment plan but we had to change bank accounts in January so she emailed Eon Next to update the direct debit details.

Just a note for the future, the banks have a process for transferring direct debits from your old bank to the new bank so this sort of problem doesn't happen...

If you need to change banks in the future, ask them about that ...