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Ruined Credit rating - thanks EON

racyguy

Just received a rather unhappy, for me, letter from my fuel provider.
I have never been in debt to anyone before this year. My credit score was excellent now its gone down the toilet!
The gist of the letter is that because I cannot pay the full bills each month and pay all of my other ongoing bills, my fuel account is in debt to the tune of £466.
Our account has now been classified as 'delinquent' and that the various credit reference companies have been advised of the debt which I am then told will affect any future credit applications.

You simply cannot win. It's like having £10 in my pocket and having £15 of bills. I am told that CT is a priority debt which must be paid before all and any other bill. That's what I have been doing at the expense of not being able to pay in full for the electricity and gas.
It never dawned on me that my credit rating could be destroyed by also not paying the fuel bills in full first - who should take priority I ask?.
Anybody else had a similar letter?

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Comments

janer1967

Hi

I'm not certain but I would imagine the arrears you had for ct and the court order would have already affected your credit rating

racyguy

janer1967 said:

Hi

I'm not certain but I would imagine the arrears you had for ct and the court order would have already affected your credit rating

Not at all, I checked that out with the Council and the court. Having a CT debt or even a Liability Order is apparently not treated as a debt for credit reference purposes - they simply threaten you with prison and/or the removal and sale of your goods.

racyguy

For your further information

Do council tax arrears affect my credit score? | Finder UK

poppy123456

Utility bills don't usually appear on your credit reports—unless you fail to pay them.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/can-unpaid-utility-bills-appear-on-your-credit-report/

janer1967

@racyguy my apologies I didn't check was just an assumption based on a past experience of an ex partner thanks for the info

racyguy

poppy123456 said:

Utility bills don't usually appear on your credit reports—unless you fail to pay them.
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/can-unpaid-utility-bills-appear-on-your-credit-report/

Well you do state the obvious. Over the past 4 months we have not been able to pay each bill in full. So yes there is a debt that continues to build as we cannot afford to pay the Council Tax in full each month as well as the fuel bill. In their letter they have told me that they now have our account registered as 'delinquent' as we have failed to (a) pay the full amount outstanding for the past 4 months and (b) that we have not brought the account up to date as previously requested or made a repayment plan to clear the outstanding debt.
Gee we are working to a strict budget at home and doing our very best in trying to please and pay everyone. But if you have bills totalling say £420 with an income of £350 as an example, it is pretty clear that no amount of budgeting or arranging a repayment plan is ever going to work.

There are going to be a lot of very upset people in this country that no matter how hard they try they are going to end up with trashed credit reports.

This is an extract of part of the leaflet enclosed with the letter from EON

Sharing with Credit Reference Agencies, though, is in the Terms and Conditions customers accept when joining us and opening an account. When we share information with a Credit Reference Agency, we give them a true reflection of the status of an account at the time of the share. As well as sharing details of accounts in debt, we also give positive reports where accounts are paid promptly. This helps build up credit scores.

Every month, we share payment information from our home energy customer accounts with Equifax, a credit reference agency.

If it’s taken over a month to pay your bill in full or set up a suitable arrangement we’ll send a status of 1 to 6 depending on how long the bill’s been outstanding. This is a negative status.

OverlyAnxious

I don't think this is specifically Eon's fault. You do owe them money after all. That's exactly what the credit rating is designed to show.

As above, a credit rating isn't all that much use anyway...presumably you won't be applying for a mortgage any time soon!

Are you sure there isn't any more financial help available for your situation? I can't see how this is going to improve unless you can gain some more income somehow. I'm not aware of your overall situation so apologies if that's already been covered elsewhere.

racyguy

woodbine said:

A credit score means little, it's credit history that lenders are interested in, and it's only a problem if you want to take on more debt by borrowing money.

As for fuel debt most providers have access to funds that might be able to help you, and from October you will receive the £66.66 a month for 6 months, and more help might become avaliable if the new PM decides on an emergency budget.

Maybe when the country gets back on its feet and I decide to have a car again say, or something drastic happens like the heating and water boiler packs up or some other home emergency crops up I will want to borrow money. For over 55 years I have never had a black mark against me for not paying a bill. That is until EON decide to ruin it.
Getting the £66.66 a month from October isn't going to remove the black mark or even pay off the ever increasing debt.
And to add insult to injury you are suggesting that I kiss EON's feet and ask for a handout?

poppy123456

racyguy said:

woodbine said:

A credit score means little, it's credit history that lenders are interested in, and it's only a problem if you want to take on more debt by borrowing money.

As for fuel debt most providers have access to funds that might be able to help you, and from October you will receive the £66.66 a month for 6 months, and more help might become avaliable if the new PM decides on an emergency budget.

Maybe when the country gets back on its feet and I decide to have a car again say, or something drastic happens like the heating and water boiler packs up or some other home emergency crops up I will want to borrow money. For over 55 years I have never had a black mark against me for not paying a bill. That is until EON decide to ruin it.
Getting the £66.66 a month from October isn't going to remove the black mark or even pay off the ever increasing debt.
And to add insult to injury you are suggesting that I kiss EON's feet and ask for a handout?

You will be entitled to the winter fuel payment too as advised on another thread.

bg844

I always pay on time and my credit score is perfect, not bragging but I’m one of them people who constantly check everything is up to date. I know times are tough but I keep seeing leaflets saying ‘don’t pay on October 1st’. I think this is a very stupid thing to do and I bet we will see these people protesting when they don’t get accepted for credit (should they need it in future).
Some energy suppliers are reasonable if you contact them and will try and help you the best they can especially in this ‘energy crisis’.

racyguy

OverlyAnxious said:

I don't think this is specifically Eon's fault. You do owe them money after all. That's exactly what the credit rating is designed to show.

As above, a credit rating isn't all that much use anyway...presumably you won't be applying for a mortgage any time soon!

Are you sure there isn't any more financial help available for your situation? I can't see how this is going to improve unless you can gain some more income somehow. I'm not aware of your overall situation so apologies if that's already been covered elsewhere.

I absolutely agree but surely they must understand that given the state of the country paying every bill in full on time that comes in is fast becoming an impossibility to achieve. EON are aware that we are not doing this with malice.

Nail on the head I say! Give us an increase of our pensions and benefits equal to the RPI rate of inflation and we will go along on our merry way paying everyone on time and in full.
As for getting more in benefits? No idea. I could claim Pension Credit again but that is a very very sore subject of which it has been done to death already on this forum.
Simply put after we closed down our Pension Credit claim earlier in the year to save our sanity we lost £2400 of the annual Council Tax benefit plus £55 a week benefit from Pension Credit - an annual loss of £5260 plus we cannot have the extra payments offered by the government - the £650 for example.
So yes we could get more money from the State but at the expense of having to cope with many more future compliance fraud investigations by the DWP/Pension Service. Just been through two of them plus a court case within the last two years ignoring the fines that they levy on us.

Cartini

bg844 said:

‘don’t pay on October 1st’. I think this is a very stupid thing to do and I bet we will see these people protesting when they don’t get accepted for credit

It is a stupid thing to do, and one "movement" I definitely will not be signing up to. They won`t only be complaining about their credit score, they`ll be griping that the utility company has cut them off.

I`ll pay the bills, but if it gets too much I`ll ask for my gas to be disconnected rather than not just use it but sill end up paying standing charges.

I enjoy a firebowl in my living room but mainly in winter when the flame can be seen. It warms the living room up rather quickly too.

racyguy

Biblioklept said:

My understanding of 'don't pay on October 1st' isn't that you don't pay at all, it's that you don't pay by direct debit any more and pay only what you use or can afford.
Honestly, while I worry about the impact it will have on people I do also think given the crazy profits these companies are still making there is no reason bills should be as high as they are and sometimes large-scale dramatic action is what is needed

I agree, the impact on the individual will be great. I have only been paying what I can afford to EON the result of which is that my £300 or so debt generated over the past 4 months has seen my credit history go down the river.
People will have their credit rating trashed, they may find that gas and electric meters are removed and County Court action taken against them.
I know that what I have done is wrong and I deserve no sympathy for my actions. My household budget has to be revised to pay the full gas & electricity bills every month. I am not too worried about the debt but one way or another it will be paid over the next few months. Food is our biggest killer, we have to find a way of reducing our food purchases by £100 a month.

Cartini

Biblioklept said:

My understanding of 'don't pay on October 1st' isn't that you don't pay at all, it's that you don't pay by direct debit any more and pay only what you use or can afford.

I`ve just looked at the "don`t pay" website. You are correct in that they are proposing, if they get 1 million "supporters" (I won`t be one), that all 1 million cancel their Direct Debits on the 1st October. There`s nothing about paying by other means, but this line more or less confirms they won`t pay at all:

"A non-payment campaign is when people collectively commit to not paying a bill or charge. "

Sandy_123

@racyguy I hope you manage to be able to get sorted, alot are really struggling at moment with it all

leeCal

As far as I know the idea is to make the utility companies a fair offer not refuse to pay anything at all. Having said that I don’t really agree with the idea, apart from the underlying threat which serves to let them know that people aren’t prepared to be shorn like sheep.

As I understand it the utility companies have to pay these rates themselves, if we don’t pay then their only recourse is to seek compensation from the government. I may be misinformed though, so forgive me if that is the case.

Cartini

Biblioklept said:

Even switching to paying what you owe rather than a set direct debit will hit the companies. For example I am hundreds of pounds in credit to them at the moment, I'm just one person. Think of the interest they earn every day with people's money sat in their accounts because direct debits are set too high (with their excuse that it will offset in the winter months).
They do this as it earns them more, that's why they incentivise people paying by direct debit usually with small discounts.

I`m in credit too, with both my gas & electricity (Octopus) and water company (SW Water). I only shower a couple of times a week, the other days I "bird bath" / **** wash, so my water consumption is very low. I had the sense to have a 4Kwh solar PV system installed in 2015, that`s definitely helping to keep the edge off the electricity bill (I`m paying £20 - £25 a month), and my gas (used just for hot water (not shower though)) is turned off until 1st October - this date may vary depending on how warm / cold it is. All this sees my "in credit" with the Octopus go up by £10 a month. Until the next wave of price increases, that is.

Cartini

woodbine said:

Cartini said:

Biblioklept said:

My understanding of 'don't pay on October 1st' isn't that you don't pay at all, it's that you don't pay by direct debit any more and pay only what you use or can afford.

I`ve just looked at the "don`t pay" website. You are correct in that they are proposing, if they get 1 million "supporters" (I won`t be one), that all 1 million cancel their Direct Debits on the 1st October. There`s nothing about paying by other means, but this line more or less confirms they won`t pay at all:
"A non-payment campaign is when people collectively commit to not paying a bill or charge. "

In some cases I might support a can't pay won't pay campaign, as many people did with the poll tax. However gas and electric are far too important to our lives to play "chicken" with the big utility providers, there can only be one winner and it's not the consumer.
I doubt there will be a million who join up, atm it's just a few thousand it's simply too important in 2022 to have electricity and gas.

I can see why some people would join such a movement, but my ex-military mentality won`t let me do so.

racyguy

woodbine said:

racyguy said:

woodbine said:

A credit score means little, it's credit history that lenders are interested in, and it's only a problem if you want to take on more debt by borrowing money.

As for fuel debt most providers have access to funds that might be able to help you, and from October you will receive the £66.66 a month for 6 months, and more help might become avaliable if the new PM decides on an emergency budget.

Maybe when the country gets back on its feet and I decide to have a car again say, or something drastic happens like the heating and water boiler packs up or some other home emergency crops up I will want to borrow money. For over 55 years I have never had a black mark against me for not paying a bill. That is until EON decide to ruin it.
Getting the £66.66 a month from October isn't going to remove the black mark or even pay off the ever increasing debt.
And to add insult to injury you are suggesting that I kiss EON's feet and ask for a handout?

I should add that gas and electricity accounts don't appear on anyones credit history/report so problem solved, and I did check mine before posting this.

Yes they do if in debt to them.

janer1967

Just had my new energy bill direct debit increases by 55% so I have no complaints as it was what I expected and a lot less than others have experienced

I'm quite a low user despite being home majority of time

My son showers everyday I **** wash daily and bath couple times week ( I can't shower ) the washer is on once a week and tumble dryer as I can't hang out washing

Lights on all day as can't have curtains open , TV or music on most day

Heating in winter set at 21 degrees , in Sumner fan on when hot weather

Cook most days

Wish everyone was in my position I've been there in the past in arrears with energy bill and thinking about every bit of energy usage