Octopus Debt Arrangement to Pay on Credit Report

iscrimger

Credit Karma have just sent me an email stating Octopus have entered into a debt arrangement to pay for my account on the 16th February. I've gone on and November has no data but December has an A for this arrangement.  (The account balance shows £0 on my report)

In November I paid my October bill and left my account £9 in credit. December came and I mistakenly left £30 in debt on the account around the 14th December. In January I paid £164.25 to clear the account balance on the app, why else would I pay such a specific amount?? BUT Octopus then added charges from 27-31st December which show the account as £21 in debt. Not a big deal but they added this after I'd paid and before my next bill. 

January I get my bill on the 27th as usual I pay on the 14th February the full outstanding amount. Balance zero. 

Throughout all this I have not heard a single thing from Octopus. Not an email. Not a letter. Not a single message left on my phone. So you'd assume no problem? 

Any advice? I have emailed them to ask what it's about. 

I have no late or missed payments on my credit report. No CCJs etc. Nothing is unpaid etc. 

northernstar007

i would post this in the credit file &ratings section aswel
they will give you some great advice where you stand
Credit file & ratings — MoneySavingExpert Forum
also if you need to speak to octopus use there twitter acc, dont bother with email they take forever

born_again

iscrimger said:

Credit Karma have just sent me an email stating Octopus have entered into a debt arrangement to pay for my account on the 16th February. I've gone on and November has no data but December has an A for this arrangement.  (The account balance shows £0 on my report)

In November I paid my October bill and left my account £9 in credit. December came and I mistakenly left £30 in debt on the account around the 14th December. In January I paid £164.25 to clear the account balance on the app, why else would I pay such a specific amount?? BUT Octopus then added charges from 27-31st December which show the account as £21 in debt. Not a big deal but they added this after I'd paid and before my next bill. 

January I get my bill on the 27th as usual I pay on the 14th February the full outstanding amount. Balance zero. 

Throughout all this I have not heard a single thing from Octopus. Not an email. Not a letter. Not a single message left on my phone. So you'd assume no problem? 

Any advice? I have emailed them to ask what it's about. 

I have no late or missed payments on my credit report. No CCJs etc. Nothing is unpaid etc. 

A bit confused around how you actually pay your bills. Given a mention of credit & then debits.
Do you have a monthly DD set up? 
Or are you paying for each bill as you receive it?

If you are supposed to pay in full each month, then Octopus are correct. As you have not paid the full amount each month.

iscrimger

born_again said:

iscrimger said:

Credit Karma have just sent me an email stating Octopus have entered into a debt arrangement to pay for my account on the 16th February. I've gone on and November has no data but December has an A for this arrangement.  (The account balance shows £0 on my report)

In November I paid my October bill and left my account £9 in credit. December came and I mistakenly left £30 in debt on the account around the 14th December. In January I paid £164.25 to clear the account balance on the app, why else would I pay such a specific amount?? BUT Octopus then added charges from 27-31st December which show the account as £21 in debt. Not a big deal but they added this after I'd paid and before my next bill. 

January I get my bill on the 27th as usual I pay on the 14th February the full outstanding amount. Balance zero. 

Throughout all this I have not heard a single thing from Octopus. Not an email. Not a letter. Not a single message left on my phone. So you'd assume no problem? 

Any advice? I have emailed them to ask what it's about. 

I have no late or missed payments on my credit report. No CCJs etc. Nothing is unpaid etc. 

A bit confused around how you actually pay your bills. Given a mention of credit & then debits.
Do you have a monthly DD set up? 
Or are you paying for each bill as you receive it?

If you are supposed to pay in full each month, then Octopus are correct. As you have not paid the full amount each month.

I pay by card each month. I was briefly direct debit but largely I have always paid by card each month.  I’ve been with Octopus since they started and I’ve had far higher amounts due without anything like this. 

When I was on direct debit my account was -£250 almost constantly. 

My issue is more they’re marking this without ever haven spoken to me. They were quite happy to give me a call when they wanted to double my direct debit early last year before I switched back to paying by card each month. 

Gerry1

It would be far more sensible to pay by Variable Direct Debit.  No risk of forgetting, and a cheaper tariff.

Just call or email Octopus to set it up.  Win-win !

MWT

iscrimger said:

I pay by card each month. I was briefly direct debit but largely I have always paid by card each month.  I’ve been with Octopus since they started and I’ve had far higher amounts due without anything like this. 

When I was on direct debit my account was -£250 almost constantly. 

My issue is more they’re marking this without ever haven spoken to me. They were quite happy to give me a call when they wanted to double my direct debit early last year before I switched back to paying by card each month. 

When you remove the Direct Debit you become responsible for paying any bills promptly, they don't have to chase you, they just have to issue the bill.

When on the DD plan your account may go negative but they have the DD authority in place so they do not consider this as being the same as opting to pay on receipt of the bill and then not doing that...

QrizB

iscrimger said:

I pay by card each month.

If you pay on receipt of bill, your payment is due by the date stated. If you miss a payment, you're in debt. This debt will be reported to the credit agencies.

iscrimger said:

When I was on direct debit my account was -£250 almost constantly.

 A debit balance on a budget DD account isn't a debt, and isn't reported to the agencies.

iscrimger said:

My issue is more they’re marking this without ever haven spoken to me.

But why would they call you? They have issued you with a bill, and you have agreed to pay it by the payment date.
Once you miss that date, you are in debt and in breach of your contractual T&C.

niktheguru

iscrimger said:

Credit Karma have just sent me an email stating Octopus have entered into a debt arrangement to pay for my account on the 16th February. I've gone on and November has no data but December has an A for this arrangement.  (The account balance shows £0 on my report)

In November I paid my October bill and left my account £9 in credit. December came and I mistakenly left £30 in debt on the account around the 14th December. In January I paid £164.25 to clear the account balance on the app, why else would I pay such a specific amount?? BUT Octopus then added charges from 27-31st December which show the account as £21 in debt. Not a big deal but they added this after I'd paid and before my next bill. 

January I get my bill on the 27th as usual I pay on the 14th February the full outstanding amount. Balance zero. 

Throughout all this I have not heard a single thing from Octopus. Not an email. Not a letter. Not a single message left on my phone. So you'd assume no problem? 

Any advice? I have emailed them to ask what it's about. 

I have no late or missed payments on my credit report. No CCJs etc. Nothing is unpaid etc. 

I would suggest calling as well as email/x communication. 

Like others have said, it appears that you have chosen to pay full balance on receipt of bill, this means you have to pay the full balance at the due date on your bill. This is just like if you're paying a credit card bill or other utility bill on receipt. If you dont pay the full balance (or forget) then they are within their right to report it to a credit agency.

If you didn't pay the full bill of your credit card for example, you'll be charged interest or get a "late payment fee", this is kind of the same principle.

Its really important that you pay the BILL amount, rather than just looking at the app and clearing the current balance. (though usually you'd expect the bill amount to be less than any current balance on the app)

Like others have said, its different if you have a direct debit, as the utility company estimates your usage and then estimates how much you will pay each month to cover your usage. If there is a variance then this can be topped up, or your direct debit will be altered at intervals......

In this day and age it makes no real sense to pay your bill on receipt......unless you want to pay by cash (which i dont think most companies allow any more) It would make much more sense to pay by variable direct debit so your balance is cleared each month without fear of missing a payment date.

Nevertheless, it is worth in your situation, if this is a one off, to speak to octopus (in a friendly way) and say you were sorry you missed a payment in full by error, but were not given any warning about credit agency etc, and you hope they could reverse this and you've already now cleared the balance.....then offer to go on a variable direct debit.....potentially then all this will go away.

Good luck.

iscrimger

Okay, thanks for all the replies.  

However, contrary to what you’ve all replied, Octopus have reviewed my case and confirmed there is an issue on their end. 

Octopus also confirmed that reminders are sent prior to any escalation. Which they haven’t issued.  The last reminder I had from Octopus was in 2022, as reported by Octopus themselves. 

They have been reporting my balance as zero to credit agencies while also reporting I have a debt arrangement to pay.