Debt with British Gas - they rejected my payment offer and unsure what to do next!

BarelySentientAI

doodling said:

The OP should only consider allowing access if they are in a position where they absolutely must not get a CCJ 

The OP should certainly consider allowing access if it effectively gets them an immediate 50% reduction in the debt, don't you think?

doodling

Hi,

BarelySentientAI said:

doodling said:

The OP should only consider allowing access if they are in a position where they absolutely must not get a CCJ 

The OP should certainly consider allowing access if it effectively gets them an immediate 50% reduction in the debt, don't you think?

Maybe.  What if the OP cannot afford to pay anything - perhaps paying nothing is a valid option?

I suspect that the devil in the detail here will be how BG is treating the debt and whether the OP is still with BG as a customer - is it account arrears which could be used to justify fitting a credit meter to recover them or is it a plain debt sitting separate to the OPs account.

I'm not an expert in this so I strongly suggest the OP posts on the DfW forum.

BarelySentientAI

doodling said:

Hi,

BarelySentientAI said:

doodling said:

The OP should only consider allowing access if they are in a position where they absolutely must not get a CCJ 

The OP should certainly consider allowing access if it effectively gets them an immediate 50% reduction in the debt, don't you think?

Maybe.  What if the OP cannot afford to pay anything - perhaps paying nothing is a valid option?

I suspect that the devil in the detail here will be how BG is treating the debt and whether the OP is still with BG as a customer - is it account arrears which could be used to justify fitting a credit meter to recover them or is it a plain debt sitting separate to the OPs account.

I'm not an expert in this so I strongly suggest the OP posts on the DfW forum.

The scheme the OP has been offered effectively works as follows (or at least this is how it is supposed to according to the documentation that Step Change reviewed, fortunately I have no personal experience):

Customer is sent a bill for the monthly usage (or their usual fixed DD).

Customer pays the bill for the monthly usage (or their usual fixed DD) and nothing more.

BG applies the payment once to the monthly usage as usual, and again against the outstanding debt.

Deliberate double counting of the payment - effectively halving the debt without paying anything extra at all.  Not just "paying nothing is a valid option", but "paying nothing is the option BG are trying to put forward".  AFAIK, they offer it for six months, which could make a serious dent in any arrears.

No prepayment meter required.  Actually, no debt required, just a fuel poverty eligibility criteria to meet (hence the banking details) and the scheme can put the customer into credit if it will help to avoid debt over the winter.