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Sorry, I know this is an old thread. I have exactly the same issue though - well the details are slightly different but the end result is the same- no mortgage due to BG ruining my credit file.
So far I have tried writing to the 'Minder Correspondence' address that I got from Experian. This did not help. I then wrote to Sam Laidlaw - I am still waiting for a response to that email. Don't hold out much hope to be honest. I have also started a complaint to the ICO - I think this will take a long time. Has anyone on here had any success with getting late payment markers removed? I have also requested all my data held by BG using a S.A.R. - still waiting to receive the data.
Here are the details of what BG have done.
The problem:
I am attempting to move home and get another mortgage but I have found out that this is impossible due to late payment markers applied to my credit file by British Gas. This is obviously having a serious impact on my personal life.
My credit file shows that I was 5 months late on my electricity account in the month of September 2010. October 2010 shows 6 months late and then November shows the account up to date and settled. For gas it shows that I was 6 months late in September and 6 months late in October. The account was up to date and settled in November. As far as i recall, i joined BG in April 2007.
I am querying these entries as they are inaccurate and do not reflect the way my account was managed when I was a British Gas customer. They are unfair and excessive.
British Gas have refused to remove the markers. Their correspondence states “I’m sorry if the advice you received at the time led you to believe that your Experian records wouldn’t be affected by transferring supply to an alternative provider and settling the resultant final bill.” If I had been given the correct information by British Gas then this would not have happened
More information on the History of the issue is shown below.
The History:
In August 2010 I received a yearly statement that showed an estimated bill of £300+ for electricity and £600+ for gas was outstanding from my direct debit regular payment account. I spoke to someone at the time regarding changing the monthly payments to clear the shortfall. After that initial discussion I decided to leave British Gas and pay the outstanding amount in full. I spoke to someone at British Gas regarding this during September. I asked for a final bill for both accounts to be prepared and upon transfer of the supply I would settle the accounts in full. I was told that this was acceptable to British Gas.
When the gas and electricity accounts were finally transferred and a final bill arrived I paid the outstanding sum as agreed. I walked away from British Gas believing I had managed my account in an acceptable way. I have since been told (by Christopher van der Heyden, EF Correspondence Team) that as I did not set up a Payment Plan my accounts were considered to be defaulting accounts by British Gas and therefore the late payment markers were applied to my account. Never once during my telephone discussions with British Gas during this period was a Payment Plan mentioned and nor would it have been as an agreement was in place regarding payment of the final bill upon transfer of supply. I was never once charged a late payment fee, something you would expect if the account was truly late - and something that would have alerted me to the issue at the time.
In my opinion the two entries in my credit file made by British Gas Trading are unfair and excessive for the purpose for which they were processed, according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. My understanding is that I was not late with any payment as I had kept them informed, and they agreed, to my making the payment when the final accurate, not estimated, bill was drawn up. I should not be penalised for the time it takes to transfer the accounts from one supplier to the next.
Assuming for a moment that I made a late payment on the account, the amount of time between the bill being received and 5 and 6 months late (for electricity and gas respectively) status codes being put on my account was 1 month (bill received in August 2010 to credit file marked in September 2010).
How can I jump from zero months late to 5/6 months late over the space of 1 month?
How can the gas and electricity accounts show different data for the month of September? They are linked accounts that started on the same day and are billed at the same time.
The information on my credit file states to other lenders that BG requested a payment and that I ignored that request for 6 months before making payment. This is only one step away from my account being in default. The definition of a default is ‘A situation when the lender in a standard business relationship with the individual has broken down’. I do not see how the regular communication between British Gas and myself during the period between August and October 2010, with assurances that I would settle my account on receipt of a full and final bill could be anywhere near to an account being shown as on the brink of a default.
I have never defaulted or had a late payment for anything in my dealings with any other company and I am appalled at how British Gas have handled my account data.
Here is a copy of the correspondence i got back from them.
Dear Mr XXX
As you’ll remember, you’ve recently been in touch and asked us to look into an important issue.
I’ve tried to contact you, but this hasn’t been possible. As such, I wanted to let you know that I’ve been in contact with our Data Disputes team in order to follow up on your Experian record details, on your behalf.
Upon speaking to them, I’ve been advised that, unfortunately, we’d be unable to amend your records, with regards to your accounts with us.
As there was an outstanding amount on each account that remained unsettled when you initially brought your concerns about the estimated bill you received to us, both gas and electricity account were deemed ‘late’ by 12 September 2010.
When you spoke to us and advised that you would be changing supplier and would pay the final bill that would be calculated upon your transfer, the length of time for the final bill to be calculated was dependent upon your new supplier providing us with a meter reading upon which to base our final meter reading. Whilst I’m aware that the processes that govern the transfer of supply from one energy supplier to another aren’t dictated by you, we were unable to produce a final bill for you until we had received meter readings from your new supplier.
Whilst the transfer was occurring, the debit balance on your accounts with us remained unpaid, with no payment plan in place to ensure that the outstanding amounts were settled. As a result, your credit record notes this and this is why the default notices are currently reflecting on your account.
I’m sorry if the advice you received at the time led you to believe that your Experian records wouldn’t be affected by transferring supply to an alternative provider and settling the resultant final bill. As there was a debit balance that remained unpaid, this has been recorded and I, unfortunately, cannot remove the late payment marker from your account.
Thank you for your letter. As I am unable to take any further action with regards to your enquiry, I’ll now make the necessary arrangements to close your enquiry. If you feel I haven’t answered all your questions, or you‘re not satisfied your enquiry has been completely resolved, please feel free to contact me on the details above. I’d be more than happy to help you further.
If you’d like information about our complaints handling procedure you can view a copy by either going online at britishgas.co.uk/energycomplaints, or by getting in touch and one of our advisors will arrange to send you a copy free of charge.
Yours sincerely
Christopher van der Heyden
British Gas
I have since spoken to Mr van der Heyden on over 8 occasions to try and resolve the issue. He has been in contact with the Data Disputes Team who continue to state that since a payment plan was not in place the late payment markers are valid. This seriously misses the two key points. A) we had an agreement, which I upheld and B) however you look at it, the account was never 6 months in arrears
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing and can offer advice on a course of action? I'd be interested to hear from someone who has succeded in getting BG to remove the data from their credit file.
So far I have tried writing to the 'Minder Correspondence' address that I got from Experian. This did not help. I then wrote to Sam Laidlaw - I am still waiting for a response to that email. Don't hold out much hope to be honest. I have also started a complaint to the ICO - I think this will take a long time. Has anyone on here had any success with getting late payment markers removed? I have also requested all my data held by BG using a S.A.R. - still waiting to receive the data.
Here are the details of what BG have done.
The problem:
I am attempting to move home and get another mortgage but I have found out that this is impossible due to late payment markers applied to my credit file by British Gas. This is obviously having a serious impact on my personal life.
My credit file shows that I was 5 months late on my electricity account in the month of September 2010. October 2010 shows 6 months late and then November shows the account up to date and settled. For gas it shows that I was 6 months late in September and 6 months late in October. The account was up to date and settled in November. As far as i recall, i joined BG in April 2007.
I am querying these entries as they are inaccurate and do not reflect the way my account was managed when I was a British Gas customer. They are unfair and excessive.
British Gas have refused to remove the markers. Their correspondence states “I’m sorry if the advice you received at the time led you to believe that your Experian records wouldn’t be affected by transferring supply to an alternative provider and settling the resultant final bill.” If I had been given the correct information by British Gas then this would not have happened
More information on the History of the issue is shown below.
The History:
In August 2010 I received a yearly statement that showed an estimated bill of £300+ for electricity and £600+ for gas was outstanding from my direct debit regular payment account. I spoke to someone at the time regarding changing the monthly payments to clear the shortfall. After that initial discussion I decided to leave British Gas and pay the outstanding amount in full. I spoke to someone at British Gas regarding this during September. I asked for a final bill for both accounts to be prepared and upon transfer of the supply I would settle the accounts in full. I was told that this was acceptable to British Gas.
When the gas and electricity accounts were finally transferred and a final bill arrived I paid the outstanding sum as agreed. I walked away from British Gas believing I had managed my account in an acceptable way. I have since been told (by Christopher van der Heyden, EF Correspondence Team) that as I did not set up a Payment Plan my accounts were considered to be defaulting accounts by British Gas and therefore the late payment markers were applied to my account. Never once during my telephone discussions with British Gas during this period was a Payment Plan mentioned and nor would it have been as an agreement was in place regarding payment of the final bill upon transfer of supply. I was never once charged a late payment fee, something you would expect if the account was truly late - and something that would have alerted me to the issue at the time.
In my opinion the two entries in my credit file made by British Gas Trading are unfair and excessive for the purpose for which they were processed, according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. My understanding is that I was not late with any payment as I had kept them informed, and they agreed, to my making the payment when the final accurate, not estimated, bill was drawn up. I should not be penalised for the time it takes to transfer the accounts from one supplier to the next.
Assuming for a moment that I made a late payment on the account, the amount of time between the bill being received and 5 and 6 months late (for electricity and gas respectively) status codes being put on my account was 1 month (bill received in August 2010 to credit file marked in September 2010).
How can I jump from zero months late to 5/6 months late over the space of 1 month?
How can the gas and electricity accounts show different data for the month of September? They are linked accounts that started on the same day and are billed at the same time.
The information on my credit file states to other lenders that BG requested a payment and that I ignored that request for 6 months before making payment. This is only one step away from my account being in default. The definition of a default is ‘A situation when the lender in a standard business relationship with the individual has broken down’. I do not see how the regular communication between British Gas and myself during the period between August and October 2010, with assurances that I would settle my account on receipt of a full and final bill could be anywhere near to an account being shown as on the brink of a default.
I have never defaulted or had a late payment for anything in my dealings with any other company and I am appalled at how British Gas have handled my account data.
Here is a copy of the correspondence i got back from them.
Dear Mr XXX
As you’ll remember, you’ve recently been in touch and asked us to look into an important issue.
I’ve tried to contact you, but this hasn’t been possible. As such, I wanted to let you know that I’ve been in contact with our Data Disputes team in order to follow up on your Experian record details, on your behalf.
Upon speaking to them, I’ve been advised that, unfortunately, we’d be unable to amend your records, with regards to your accounts with us.
As there was an outstanding amount on each account that remained unsettled when you initially brought your concerns about the estimated bill you received to us, both gas and electricity account were deemed ‘late’ by 12 September 2010.
When you spoke to us and advised that you would be changing supplier and would pay the final bill that would be calculated upon your transfer, the length of time for the final bill to be calculated was dependent upon your new supplier providing us with a meter reading upon which to base our final meter reading. Whilst I’m aware that the processes that govern the transfer of supply from one energy supplier to another aren’t dictated by you, we were unable to produce a final bill for you until we had received meter readings from your new supplier.
Whilst the transfer was occurring, the debit balance on your accounts with us remained unpaid, with no payment plan in place to ensure that the outstanding amounts were settled. As a result, your credit record notes this and this is why the default notices are currently reflecting on your account.
I’m sorry if the advice you received at the time led you to believe that your Experian records wouldn’t be affected by transferring supply to an alternative provider and settling the resultant final bill. As there was a debit balance that remained unpaid, this has been recorded and I, unfortunately, cannot remove the late payment marker from your account.
Thank you for your letter. As I am unable to take any further action with regards to your enquiry, I’ll now make the necessary arrangements to close your enquiry. If you feel I haven’t answered all your questions, or you‘re not satisfied your enquiry has been completely resolved, please feel free to contact me on the details above. I’d be more than happy to help you further.
If you’d like information about our complaints handling procedure you can view a copy by either going online at britishgas.co.uk/energycomplaints, or by getting in touch and one of our advisors will arrange to send you a copy free of charge.
Yours sincerely
Christopher van der Heyden
British Gas
I have since spoken to Mr van der Heyden on over 8 occasions to try and resolve the issue. He has been in contact with the Data Disputes Team who continue to state that since a payment plan was not in place the late payment markers are valid. This seriously misses the two key points. A) we had an agreement, which I upheld and B) however you look at it, the account was never 6 months in arrears
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing and can offer advice on a course of action? I'd be interested to hear from someone who has succeded in getting BG to remove the data from their credit file.
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