British Gas have destroyed my partners Credit Score

EssexHebridean

Agreed that the DFW board is the right place for this - I too will report for requiring a move. 

Assuming no payments had been made since 2017 then yes, statute barred, it sounds like the impression was given by someone that it was acknowledged at that time, although it also sounds like that someone may not have been your partner. 

I agree that this sounds as though it could be an issue with a multiple occupancy property where your partner failed to remove their name  from the account when vacating - for anyone reading subsequently for information , the OP’s partner should have formally closed their account with BG on departure and another of the remaining occupants should have taken over the account. That would have lead to the creation of a final bill for the partner.

gpman

EssexHebridean said:

Agreed that the DFW board is the right place for this - I too will report for requiring a move. 

Assuming no payments had been made since 2017 then yes, statute barred, it sounds like the impression was given by someone that it was acknowledged at that time, although it also sounds like that someone may not have been your partner. 

I agree that this sounds as though it could be an issue with a multiple occupancy property where your partner failed to remove their name  from the account when vacating - for anyone reading subsequently for information , the OP’s partner should have formally closed their account with BG on departure and another of the remaining occupants should have taken over the account. That would have lead to the creation of a final bill for the partner.

Yes, I think tis is a very probable explanation.

But maybe I would go a little further. A repayment plan seems to have been agreed back in 2017, and that was made by someone other than the OP's partner.
So probably the debt started to accrue in say 2016, possibly due to whoever was actually paying the bills when the OP's partner left, also then left.
If the plan settled the debt by 2019, then that is why there is no record today on the OP's partner's credit files.
(over 6 years)

What seems to have happened since early 2025 is that the bills have stopped being paid again (again possibly as a result of change of occupancy), and if the OP's partner is still the registered account holder (which would explain the disclosures BG have recently made), then the OP's partner's credit files are now being adversely affected.

So first thing the OP's partner should do is to ensure they are no longer the account holder at the address in question.
If they are not the current account holder, they should ask BG when they ceased to be. 

Karsh

EssexHebridean said:

Agreed that the DFW board is the right place for this - I too will report for requiring a move. 

Assuming no payments had been made since 2017 then yes, statute barred, it sounds like the impression was given by someone that it was acknowledged at that time, although it also sounds like that someone may not have been your partner. 

I agree that this sounds as though it could be an issue with a multiple occupancy property where your partner failed to remove their name  from the account when vacating - for anyone reading subsequently for information , the OP’s partner should have formally closed their account with BG on departure and another of the remaining occupants should have taken over the account. That would have lead to the creation of a final bill for the partner.

Thanks, I've requested the thread be moved, but assuming it'll take some time.
Yes, she was a student at the time and shared the property with several others, I don't know whether she formally closed the account with BG when she moved but I'll ask when she comes back from work; it's just annoying the support agent we spoke with hadn't even considered that and just immediately assume we owed debt against the property.

mac.d

BG probably don't care, they've got a name and so they'll chase them for the bills, until such time as you can prove you were not there for the time the bill is related to.

powerful_Rogue

For the future, tell her to ignore the credit rating and the score. They are both made up by the credit reference agency and only seen by them and yourself. It's what is in the actual report that makes any difference.

Karsh

powerful_Rogue said:

For the future, tell her to ignore the credit rating and the score. They are both made up by the credit reference agency and only seen by them and yourself. It's what is in the actual report that makes any difference.

That's the problem, there are multiple late payment markers in the report (the terrible score is just a consequence); it looks like BG are quite happy to continue adding markers every month, despite having nothing to do with the property in question. We could ignore it, but it's preventing her from being able to take on any new financial products.

EssexHebridean

powerful_Rogue said:

For the future, tell her to ignore the credit rating and the score. They are both made up by the credit reference agency and only seen by them and yourself. It's what is in the actual report that makes any difference.

Late payment markers unfortunately will appear in the file and will affect any application for credit. 

powerful_Rogue

EssexHebridean said:

powerful_Rogue said:

For the future, tell her to ignore the credit rating and the score. They are both made up by the credit reference agency and only seen by them and yourself. It's what is in the actual report that makes any difference.

Late payment markers unfortunately will appear in the file and will affect any application for credit. 

I know, that's exactly what I said.

jadex

That BG advisor got it wrong or OP's partner misreported as in Britain there is no debt registered against the property. Always against the person or a business.
Correct?

MWT

jadex said:

That BG advisor got it wrong or OP's partner misreported as in Britain there is no debt registered against the property. Always against the person or a business.
Correct?

Correct, an address cannot have a credit history, a person can however be incorrectly connected to an address and hence to a debt incurred at that address.

This is why it is worth checking your credit file from time to time rather than waiting for problems to catch up with you.