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Getting off prepay meters - perfect credit score required?


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I moved into a new rental property 5 weeks ago. When I moved in I realised it was a pre-pay meter. I hadn't had one before and immediately called to ask to change to a DD account. I was told I would have to wait a month then have a credit check and then if approved move off. I called today to start that process and whilst I was on the phone the customer service rep performed an Experian credit check and told me I failed and I could not apply again for another 60 days.

I logged onto Experian to see my report which is a 989 score out of a possible 999 - an almost perfect excellent rating. It shows a 989 because a couple of months ago I took out a small loan out but I am paying that off as I should and I hope to clear it early in a few months. The only other thing I can think of is it had not updated my electoral register information despite my council telling me on the phone today I am definitely on their list and they have said Experian should update their records this week.

So I called British Gas again to enquire further why I had failed their check and they refuse to tell me....well in fact I was told they themselves do not know because she said it was all down to algorithms. Yes computer says no.

So, can anyone let me know if British Gas demand a 999 scoring for Experian?

And why the :-x do I have to wait 60 days if all it is my electoral registration data had not updated as quickly as it should have? I mean...is that even legal that they force us wait so long? It seems to me just a flimsy excuse to extract more money out of me because of a previous tenant's failure to pay on time.

Agh....

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Having a pre-payment metre is not only due to a previous tenants bad debt. Some people ask or prefer a payment metre so they get no monthly bills

 

I have an excellent credit rating now but prefer to be on a payment metre myself. It is wrong to stereotype people who have a pre-payment metre as people who are unable to budget properly

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The landlord has agreed to let me change the meter.

 

I was interested in knowing if a perfect credit score is essential to move off pre-pay. And if it is legal that BG can force someone to wait 60 days before reapplying - especially if the only concern was Experian hadn't updated the fact I am on the electoral roll quick enough.

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Ever so slightly amazed that advise on a consumer forum consists of "they [the supplier] can set whatever terms and conditions they like. If a subscriber does not agree to those t&c then they are free to find another supplier". That advise to everyone who posts a query on this forum would be rather odd; you are basically saying companies can do whatever they want and if you don't like it, tough. I am not sure why this forum exists if that is the advise.

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It is legal what they're doing, and similar to credit cards and other financial products, each supplier will have their own criteria.

 

I think you've got a couple of options - either find a supplier who will change them, wait the 60 days or if no supplier can guarantee to change them find a supplier who does smart prepayment meters, whih then gives you a choice of all of their tariffs

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ok I accept it is legal but even USwitch.com says this about prepay meters....

Disadvantages of prepayment meters include:

 

 

  • above average costs for your gas and electricity;
  • the best energy deals on the market aren't available to prepayment meter customers;
  • they can be inconvenient because you have to go out to 'top up' keys and smartcards;
  • if you can't reach a shop to top up your meter your energy can be switched off;
  • older meters need to have their prices updated manually after price rises or falls, which can take months. This means you could be left paying old rates and owing a lump sum or paying too much.

Not ideal and if I had known the property had a meter like this in I would have not moved here.

 

In the meantime I wonder if anyone else has experience of trying to move away from a meter and if so how they did it?

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When i worked in servicing, eon's policy for tenants was that they'd have needed the account for a year, pass a credit check and pay £50 per meter fee. If I remember rightly if the property had lots of changes of tenant or the meter was fitted for debt recovery we didn't look favourably on that... Obviously I don't know what BG's policy is... Maybe a security deposit would persuade them?

 

I wonder whether it might be worth you writing a letter of complaint and state the reason's you've quoted from USwitch an send a copy of the front page of your credit file with your excellent score?

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I lived in my previous house for nearly 5 years and had no problems paying my energy supplier. It doesn't seem right I am financially penalised by a supplier for a previous tenant's position. I have written an online complaint to BG so I will see what they say when they reply but in the meantime I have also seen advice from another forum which has let me know EDF only require you to be a customer for 28 days before becoming eligible to move off pre-pay so I may try there too.

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Good idea. It is very frustrating. Hopefully with the rollout of smart meters it should eventually be possible for them to switch the meter between credit and pre-pay which would make things a lot better for customers

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I wouldnt expect BG to be anywhere near the cheapest option, i would look for a supplier who is willing to change you over to a dd plan for dual fuel. As you have already been on USwitch, there should be other suppliers available.

 

Just one point for you to consider when applying for any type of credit, a perfect or near perfect credit score does not automatically entitle you to credit, your credit score is usually only 1 of a number of factors taken into consideration when credit is requested.

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It would help if they were actually transparent about why they have failed my credit check though as it is not apparent on my near perfect Experian record. "Oh we have failed you but we can't tell you why and we won't tell you what the criteria are" is ridiculous and obstructive.

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If all of these big businesses were transparent then cag probably wouldnt exist and you would have no need for help!

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It is indeed and we do the best we can, bear in mind when people come here for help they represent a very small percentage of the total number of people with issues to resolve.

For example, lets say 250 came to cag last month with a parking charge issue and we helped them.

Thats a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of parking charge notices issued.

We are limited in resources and all the helpers here are volunteers and give there time freely to help others.

Multiply this by the number of and variety of issues we deal with here and you start to see the full picture, our effect helps the few who come here and we cannot change industries and the bad practices that go on, but we sure as hell try.

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