Southern water default

rjenkins1005

Hi, looking for some help!

I had a southern water account from 2018 - 2022. During this time I did not often pay on time, due to personal issues.

I entered an IVA in 2020 to resolve my debt issues. I settled this in Nov 2022.

I recently had correspondence from southern water about £500 owed that I was not aware of, from this account. I asked them to talk to my IVA handler to clarify if this amount was included which they have agreed to, and have removed the DCA that they recently sold the debt too.

I have checked my credit report and they have registered a default with the date of august 2023. Bare in mind this debt has not been listed on my credit report at all until august 2023, so I had no idea it was still outstanding.

do I have a case maybe even for removal, as I wasn’t aware of the debt? I am happy to pay in full immediately just to resolve this.


I am okay with a  default being added as I understand the process, but from what I can see online a default should be within 3 months of the first time of missed payments on the account. 

I have asked SW to review this, as I currently had 2 years of clear credit, and this will mean that even after my IVA is finished i would have 2 years left on the default which I really want to avoid.

Can anyone provide any guidance on this? Just incase SW refuse my request.

sourcrates

Guidance is open to interpretation unfortunately, and once a default is registered, it cannot be removed.

You can however complain and ask them to backdate it to when you think it should apply from.

Remember water accounts are not governed by the consumer credit act, so CONC rules do not apply.

fatbelly

The usual procedure is that a default for a debt in an iva is dated to the start of the iva or before

rjenkins1005

I don’t need it removed as I acknowledge the debt was in default, I just need it backdated to be inline with the arrears as it isn’t a current 2023 debt. 

I have had clean credit for the past 2 years and i really don’t want it to look like I still have an issue with payments etc as that isn’t the case!

so hopefully they agree to backdate.