Debt collection - not happy

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:40

I just had a call from a debt collection agency saying I owe E-On via them, £14 from when my ex-girlfriend and I shared a flat, which we moved out of last August.

I'm certain we settled the final bill with them, as with all the other bills but they seem to think otherwise. They've never once contacted me via phone (they have my number as they gave it to the collection agency to call me) or post (the letting agents we were with wrote to them saying we'd moved out and telling them to produce the final bill and gave them my parents' address as the forwarding address) so I'm not happy.

I've spoken to the letting agents who assure me everything should be in hand, but since it's now with these debt recovery guys I guess my credit score has already taken a kick in the pants? The letting people are going to follow it up and get back to me but I'm really angry :mad:

As far as I know I have a pretty much perfect credit history, and now this.

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:43

23JMZ07 said:
Have you had anything in paper?

Not a thing, I've not heard a thing since we moved out and settled all the utility bills.

The letting people said the current tenant hasn't handed in any post for me that might have gone there, and they gave E-On a forwarding address (my parents).

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:44

Lysander said:
Do you actually know what your credit rating is? It may not be as high as you think. Even if you're in debt to no-one at all it could still be pretty low.

I've had loans, credit cards and other such credit and never once missed a payment. Ok that might not make it perfect, but it's never had so much as a mark on it until now.

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 13:59

DB_SamX said:
Debt collectors have no official powers, and can't affect your credit rating iirc. You need a ccj first and bailiffs to get involved for that to happen. Plenty of info int he forums and net in general.

Great, I wasn't aware of that, cheers.

chipperhead said:
For £14 I wouldn't even think twice about just paying it off, it's not worth the risk to your credit rating and potential escalating fees.
Ring up Eon to confirm the debt and get it paid pronto.

I'm going to call them this eve I think to see what's going on. I'm confused though as they only sent us a final bill after the letting agent told them we'd moved out, so where this extra charge came from is a mystery.

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 15:21

.Lethal said:
Paying loans, credit cards and other regular payments is what builds your rating.

Having no loans, credit cards etc will give you a low rating as no one knows how well you handle money, even if you haven't had any bad history before they won't know how you handle borrowed credit and repaying it back.

That's what I said, isn't it? I have loans, credit cards etc all of which are paid on time and I've never missed a payment.

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 15:24

fullmetaltony said:
Sorry to break it to you but if the debt gets passed onto an agency then as far as I know, that counts as a default which negatively affects your credit score.

Oh, I'm confused now since it was said earlier that this wouldn't happen?

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 15:46

shine said:
If you can find proof that you settled your bill then pass that info onto the debt collection agency. They will stop hounding you - then take it up with Eon and insist they fix your credit file - they have the ability to do this.

I kept all the paperwork for that flat for a few months after we moved out and we'd paid the final bills, then shredded it at xmas once I was sure it wasn't needed anymore (given that I hadn't heard from any of the utility providors for over 3 months).

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:35

Right - I think I've got the bottom of it. It looks like the fault of the letting agents (they were useless the whole time we were there so I'm not that surprised).

For some reason, they thought we got our gas from another providor, so wrote to them when we moved out asking for a final bill, not E-On. The girl from the agents tried to blame this on me saying that we must've changed providors, but since the tenancy agreement specifically asked for tenants not the change the providor - we didn't. It was E-On when we moved in and E-On when we moved out.

We left on the 31st July, and a new chap moved in on the 22nd Sept. As the agents never told E-On we'd left, they've billed me between those two dates until the new chap moved in (£14.70) - which I've just paid but will attempt to claim back from the letting agents.

Once I assured the girl at the agents that we'd not changed any of the providors, she still suggested that it was the fault of a previous tenant for not telling them they'd changed providor in the past, but I don't buy that. Surely as letting agents managing a property they should keep up to date with stuff like this? Either way I don't see how I should be landed with the bill. It's only a small amount but it could've been much more.

Big Chris · 23 Mar 2011 at 20:52

I paid the £14.70 earlier, the girl said it was their in-house debt recovery people that had contacted me so hopefully no black marks on my credit report?

I'm not too fussed about the money really, but I'm gonna have a word with the letting agents anyway since it's because of them this has happened.

Big Chris · 24 Mar 2011 at 08:30

To be honest it's not E-On's fault here, they were never told that I'd left the property as the letting agents wrote to the wrong people. E-on therefore carried on charging until the new chap moved in (approx 6 weeks), then didn't have a forwarding address to contact me on as again they never got the letter from the letting agent.

I've paid up the £14.70 (which was never the problem in the first place, I just didn't want debt collectors on my back, which it turns out was never the case) but I'm just annoyed with the letting people as they were useless from day 1 and are still haunting me months after moving out!