Scottish Power recorded AR on credit file.

anonmortgageposter

Hi,

I’m 2020 I moved into a new house and we had a dispute re the electricity bills. The complaint came as we contact SP to work out our bill and we’re told we were £600 in credit. We were then told the next month we were £630 in debt. We opened a complain and told them we would not be paying another payment until it was resolved. We constantly got failed callback after failed callback and we kept having to chase up our complaint for well over a year. Eventually we got nowhere and by this point had a bill of around £3000. 

We were told at the time this would not affect our credit file and it hasn’t ever been registered. We pay £51 per month and have done every month since Febuary 2022. 

We’ve paid on time every month and out of nowhere we have found they have registered a AR on our file which started April of this year.

Can anyone help in relation to this. We we’re categorically told it would not effect our credit file and find it strange that it’s suddenly showing over 2 years later.

cannugec5

As far as Google is concerned AR means arrangement to pay Ie you are not paying the full amount, but have some agreement in place. This does not mean you don’t actually owe more. 

I suspect you are building up a huge deficit. £51  a month sounds like a very low electricity bill . I am a high user, and currently pay over £300 per month. 

How does £51 correspond with your ACTUAL USE  and your READINGS?  

Edit: or is the £51 in addition to your bills in order to catch up with the amount overdue? 

MattMattMattUK

anonmortgageposter said:

Hi,

I’m 2020 I moved into a new house and we had a dispute re the electricity bills. The complaint came as we contact SP to work out our bill and we’re told we were £600 in credit. We were then told the next month we were £630 in debt. 

Did you use your meter readings to work out how much energy you had used and what your bills should be?

anonmortgageposter said:

We opened a complain and told them we would not be paying another payment until it was resolved. We constantly got failed callback after failed callback and we kept having to chase up our complaint for well over a year. Eventually we got nowhere and by this point had a bill of around £3000. 

That amount could certainly be possible for a year's energy usage. It was a bad move to refuse to make any payments. 

anonmortgageposter said:

We were told at the time this would not affect our credit file and it hasn’t ever been registered. We pay £51 per month and have done every month since Febuary 2022. 

If that was what you are paying then it is highly likely you owe thousands, £51 per month barely covers the standing charge, let alone any usage. 

anonmortgageposter said:

We’ve paid on time every month and out of nowhere we have found they have registered a AR on our file which started April of this year.

You are not paying on time every month, you are paying an amount you feel you should pay, not in full, not on time. 

anonmortgageposter said:

Can anyone help in relation to this. We we’re categorically told it would not effect our credit file and find it strange that it’s suddenly showing over 2 years later.

You need to look at your bills, look at your meter readings and work out what you owe once payments have been deducted. 

Can you upload copies of your bills with your personal details redacted? 
What were your meter readings for gas and electricity when you moved in, what month and year was that, and what are your meter readings now?

anonmortgageposter

Sorry I may not have explained this properly.  We moved in 2018* and we moved out in July 2021. 

We had an on going complaint the whole time and eventually after not getting anywhere we set up a payment plan to pay back the 3k worth of bills. We were told this would not be reported to the credit reference agencies due to us not paying while the complaint was on going and their failure to handle the complaint.

We pay £51 back towards this debt and have done since Feb 2022 when the complaint was dealt with. My query is, we were told this would not be marked down and now 2 years later it has populated for the first time?

Is there any way of getting this removed.

why after over 2 years has this now been reported? Has it been an error?

BarelySentientAI

anonmortgageposter said:

why after over 2 years has this now been reported? Has it been an error?

It sounds more like it's now being accurately reported as what it is - you are in a managed repayment arrangement, but are not missing payments (which would be a different marker).

You've 'got away with' it not being listed for two years, perhaps as a sort of goodwill gesture.

Do you have anything written to say that it would not be listed as a repayment arrangement with the credit agencies?

anonmortgageposter

If I had known this was going to be reported I would have paid this off at the time.

The reason for paying the minimum £51 a month was due to the fact they handled the complaint so badly and drew it out by not getting back to me. If they had said this would affect your credit file then I wouldn’t have entered into the agreement.

Is there no way for me to remove this? Are these on par with a default? 

At what point do they stop reporting? From the date it started or the date it finishes? 

Gerry1

I'm no fan of SP (they certainly don't have the best customer service reputation), but sadly it has to be said that:-

• You seem to have misunderstood the DD system and

• You have done all the wrong things.

1) Your Monthly Fixed DD isn't your bill.  It's not All You Can Eat, it's merely a top-up of a kitty which may or may not be sufficient to pay the actual bill.  You can't fill a trolley in Aldi, plonk your jam jar of coins down at the checkout, wheel the trolley out the door and tell them to whistle for it !

2) If you don't supply monthly readings (or have working smart meters), the bill can only be a guesstimate which may be much more or much less than your actual kWh usage.

(3) Even with accurate meter readings, a credit balance is only a snapshot in time.  If usage has been high, the next reconciliation can turn a positive balance into a negative one in the same way that a black bank balance can suddenly go red after a big cheque you've written is presented for payment.

(4) Regardless of supplier, deliberately stopping payments and letting a massive debt of £3,000 build up was guaranteed to trash your credit rating.  It will also have switched you to a more expensive non-DD tariff.

(5) I doubt that you will be able to delete the AR and restore your credit rating quickly because you'd be trying to rewrite history, but others with more knowledge may be able to advise.

(6) Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear or if it sounds harsh, but unfortunately that's the reality of the situation.

BarelySentientAI

anonmortgageposter said:

If I had known this was going to be reported I would have paid this off at the time.

The reason for paying the minimum £51 a month was due to the fact they handled the complaint so badly and drew it out by not getting back to me. If they had said this would affect your credit file then I wouldn’t have entered into the agreement.

Is there no way for me to remove this? Are these on par with a default? 

At what point do they stop reporting? From the date it started or the date it finishes? 

Stories vary.  I wouldn't see them as as bad as a default - you are making the agreed payments on your debt.  They're a lot worse than having a clean record though.  Other opinions vary and some recommend getting the AR turned into a default because that's somehow 'better' (I think because it gets removed faster).

If I remember correctly, the markers automatically get removed 6 years after the last payment.

You might get some more technical advice on ways to complain or deal with it on the credit file board.  They had various levels of success getting these things removed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/credit-file-ratings

anonmortgageposter

Thanks for your help guys. 

Gerry1

anonmortgageposter said:

Thanks for your help guys. 

Feel free to give a thumbs up ! 👍

Hoenir

anonmortgageposter said:

If I had known this was going to be reported I would have paid this off at the time.

Hence the reason for reporting such arrangements to the credit agencies. There's a cost to using debt owed as an interest free loan. The information on file is factual and will be of interest to other providers of credit.