Historic Energy Bill

alexandrasimmons

I have a historic energy bill from 5 years ago, which although providing meter readings I never received a final bill. It has been passed on to a debt collectors as I wanted a final bill before paying. 2nd round of debt collectors are chasing me and just to close the matter and stop being hassled I agreed to a settlement amount. My question is, if I pay this will the matter actually be closed? They won't pass on the remainder of what the consider the debt to be to another debt collectors. Paying the settlement, will it affect my credit score. Currently it doesnt seem to have impacted my credit score at all. 

Many thanks for any advice. 

eskbanker

alexandrasimmons said:

I have a historic energy bill from 5 years ago, which although providing meter readings I never received a final bill. It has been passed on to a debt collectors as I wanted a final bill before paying. 2nd round of debt collectors are chasing me and just to close the matter and stop being hassled I agreed to a settlement amount. My question is, if I pay this will the matter actually be closed? They won't pass on the remainder of what the consider the debt to be to another debt collectors.

You need to ensure that the settlement you agree to is clearly labelled as being 'full and final'.

alexandrasimmons said:

Paying the settlement, will it affect my credit score. Currently it doesnt seem to have impacted my credit score at all. 

As routinely pointed out on here, credit scores are just numbers invented by credit rating agencies, which aren't seen by anyone else, so aren't meaningful - it's the underlying raw data that's made available to prospective lenders, so how is the debt actually reported on (all three of) your credit files?

Nasqueron

alexandrasimmons said:

I have a historic energy bill from 5 years ago, which although providing meter readings I never received a final bill. It has been passed on to a debt collectors as I wanted a final bill before paying. 2nd round of debt collectors are chasing me and just to close the matter and stop being hassled I agreed to a settlement amount. My question is, if I pay this will the matter actually be closed? They won't pass on the remainder of what the consider the debt to be to another debt collectors. Paying the settlement, will it affect my credit score. Currently it doesnt seem to have impacted my credit score at all. 

Many thanks for any advice. 

Any default or similar will disappear 6 years after it was posted - say for example they defaulted you 20/11/2019 it would disappear around 19/11/2025. The debt itself they have 6 years from when it was last acknowledged - when you last paid towards or admitted the debt - after that it will be statute barred. It's not unheard of for a debt collector to push for a CCJ if the 6 years is nearly up if they think it's cost effective