Welsh Water Trashing My Credit File - help

[petelyn]

Hi

can you give me advice on my water rate repayments,

 

I am now clear of mortgage arrears and

 

the only debt I have left is £700 for my water arrears which was agreed to pay at the rate of £50.00 P month until cleared

again I kept to this repayment religiously,

 

however I have just checked my experian report and welsh water has put the account Into a delinquent with 6 showing without us knowing although paying every month on direct debit!

 

I have spoken to welsh water and they said they are doing it to everyone now without telling them because new bills have been produced .

 

Can they do this although I have not missed a d/d payment to them .

 

And how long will this delinquent account show on my credit report,

will it be removed when account brought up to date.

[dx100uk]

new bills?

if you are in an arrangement and not paying/paid what you should have

sadly they are entitled to mark your file

I assume this is only the calendar area

and there not an actual defaulted date in the debt summary?

[petelyn]

No there is no date put on it,

 

so how long will this remain on my report as it has damaged our credit score.

 

Many thanks for your advice.

[dx100uk]

each cal marker will show in the history of the debt for 6yrs

 

don't like this that's not fair

you really should be demanding that they abide by the ICO rules

which indicate that a debt should be defaulted after the third missed payment.

then atleast after 6yrs the whole debt vanishes.

 

theres something not sitting right with me here...

are you saying

and doing what I used to do..

ie they used to wave their arms that the bill was not paid upfront just after april for the whole year in two bulk payments.

 

viola water [used to be Anglian water] did this to me too

I divided the payments into 12 mts and paid once a month

 

as long as you pay the bill by the following april

I cant see how they default anyone

[petelyn]

Welsh water contacted me by letter in January 2016 saying I was in arrears and if I did not contact them to pay or make d/d arrangement with them they would report to credit bearu,

 

I agreed to pay them £50.00 a month

never missed a D/d payment with them,

 

then in July 2016 we had new bill and still carried on with D/d payments ?

Then when I checked our credit reports in August

they put my account into a delinquent state with the outstanding arrears showing,

 

I spoke to them and they said they are now doing this to their customers,

 

my question was we agreed to the arrangement in January

why have they given us a 6 status on credit report,

why do they ruin people's credit profile when you are making regular payments.

[dx100uk]

because it was a new financial year

you made the arrangement for the previous april - april bill

not this year

so they've defaulted you.

 

 

so what are their years start date i thought it was april with the CTAX demands not july?

[stuckinarut11]

I have had similar please see my litigation thread.

 

The ICO have confirmed that if a formal payment arrangement is set up then that is what should be reported to credit reference agencies.

 

The question is who arranged the £50 a month do you have it formally agreed in writing?

[stuckinarut11]

Dear Mr HXXXX

 

 

I addressed your concerns regarding late payment markers in my assessment email to you of 22 July 2016.

 

I acknowledged that Welsh Water had responded and advised that they were going to take steps to ensure that, going forward, your credit file reflected that payments were being made.

 

In order for us to reconsider this assessment (a copy of which is enclosed with this email), we will need to see further evidence that late payment markers continue to be applied to your account.

 

As Welsh Water acknowledged your concerns on 21 July, we would always give organisations a reasonable period within which to put things right.

 

If, after August 18, you can show that the most recent copy of your credit file still shows the payments recorded as late payments, please provide a copy to us and I will raise your concerns with the organisation.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Mark Palmer - Case Officer

Information Commissioner's Office

[stuckinarut11]

I have now had a response to the concerns that you have raised about Welsh Water and their reporting to your credit file.

 

You raised concerns, on 27 June 2016, that Welsh Water were processing inaccurate personal data about you.

 

This was because you had two accounts, one that was defaulted and currently the subject of a legal dispute. For these reasons, this account was "ring fenced" and further payment information, relating to your consumption of utilities, was indicated on a separate account.

 

You raised concerns with us, as the water company were recording late payments on your credit file. You felt that this was unfair and inaccurate processing.

 

As you provided an extract from your credit file indicating that it showed continuous late payments, I raised this concern with Welsh Water.

 

Welsh Water have now responded to the questions I put to them. The key question related to the recording of late payments about you.

 

Welsh Water have confirmed that these payments were mistakenly recorded as being late. They have, however, gone on to say that the reasoning behind this is because there system is set up to communicate with Experian on the assumption that the customers payments are always applied to the oldest debt.

 

Welsh Water have advised that this is an isolated issue, and has been caused mainly by the fact that the arrangement they have with you is not a typical one. It is not their typical policy to apply payments to the latest charges, and it is not something they intend to do with other customers.

 

 

What principle 4 of the Act says

 

Holding inaccurate data does not automatically put an organisation in breach of the Act. We would, however, expect organisations to take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of personal data and; when such data is challenged, to assess whether or not the information they hold is accurate, and to amend it accordingly.

 

In this case, I am satisfied that this has taken place. At the point where Welsh Water were made aware that late payments were being logged, month on month, they looked into this and have now put measures in place

to ensure this situation does not continue. For this reason, I will not be making an adverse assessment against Welsh Water at this time.

 

Obviously, if after a reasonable time, the late markers continue to appear on your credit file, we would be likely to contact Welsh Water again to request information as to why this has not been amended.

 

We are satisfied that this problem has been caused due to the unforeseen consequences of recording the unique financial arrangement they have reached with you. As this financial arrangement was designed to help with your financial circumstances, we do not believe that the mis-recording in this case was intentionally prejudicial to your rights and freedoms under the Act, and it would be a punitive measure against Welsh Water for us to make an adverse assessment against them because of it.

 

 

Conclusion

 

As Welsh Water have now taken steps to amend the late payment markers on your account, there is no further action at this point, and the case will be closed.

 

From the correspondence we have had on this case since early this year, it is quite clear that there are extensive concerns between yourself and Welsh Water. These concerns, fundamentally, relate to issues regarding service and allegations of money owed. For these reasons, it is unlikely that the ICO or any part of the Act would ever be able to resolve these concerns.

 

I appreciate you raising these matters with the ICO, but unfortunately, we are unable to help you further in this matter.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Mark Palmer - Case Officer

Information Commissioner's Office

[Bounty29]

Hi

Wondering if you could offer any advice.

 

My partner did not pay the water bill at a previous address when we split up I had to move. I phoned Welsh water and explained the situation in Sept 15. I agreed to pay the outstanding amount £400 by direct debit and set up one for my new property.

I was not advised that this would show as a defaulted account.

I have now paid off the balance and the account shows as closed on my experianreport BUT the last 12 months of payments that were made in line with the agreement are show as missed payments.

 

I have queried this with Welsh water - their response was basically tough luck!!

I previously had never defaulted on any payments with any company and had I been told at the time I would have paid the balance!! The lady from Welsh water was very nice and said I should have been told but there is nothing they can do about it now.

 

Is there any way I can fight this as its killing my credit report!!

 

Any help much appreciated!!

[stuckinarut11]

First things first, submit a written formal complaint. They have 10 days to respond. ( their policy)

 

The response will allow further advice to be given and to proceed through third parties you will need their formal response to your concerns

[Bounty29]

Thanks, will do!!