19 February 2014

ActewAGL and incorrect credit reporting - what can I do?

| Apsara
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Need some advice please…

Two years ago I moved interstate. As I still had my house in my name, I duly updated my address and contact details with ActewAGL for water, gas and electricity. I also had mail redirection for a year. They sent me all of my subsequent water, electricity and gas bills to my new interstate address…except for one gas bill for $159.

Fast forward a year later, I go to take out a loan and my application is refused because of a debt on my credit report. I pay $50 to fast track a report and see I have an unpaid bill from ActewAGL. It is also listed that they had sent two follow up letters and sent my details to Dunstreet and Bradshaw to collect the debt but it still remained unpaid.

I was furious. At no stage did AA or D&B contact me in any manner about this unpaid bill. I rang AA and was put in touch with their credit person who looked into my case and saw proof that for 7 years, I had never once defaulted on any payment or been late. Having accepted that ActewAGL had made an error – I agreed to pay the outstanding amount and they agreed to have it completely removed from my credit file. I have a lovely letter from ActewAGL stating they would do this and apologising for the embarrassment caused.

Fast foward to now – I check my latest credit report as I’m about to apply for another loan, only to find the bad rating is still there – only it has been noted that the debt has now been paid. I’m even more furious now…. It will stay there until 2017 and can cause a lender to still refuse credit.

Where do I go from here? Obviously the word and letter from ActewAGL means nothing…who and how can I take it up the chain and get this thing removed – which was never my fault in the first place?

I’d appreciate any help on this subject.

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I had a similar situation with someone at work I helped out (Telstra bill – one of many – sent to an old address). The only way is to work patiently and politely with ACTEWAGL – as I would say ACTEWAGL have either not reported to the credit agency that the debt was “incorrectly assigned” or has reported that the debt was repaid late. If it’s the latter, then you will be stuck with that on your credit rating.

We were able to sweet talk Telstra into saying it was incorrectly assigned based on a long record of good and regular payments. They couldn’t get their house refinanced over a $120 debt being listed.

Some good advice – I’ll start with contacting both agencies AGAIN…. and then follow up with a few emails to people in high places. I agree – the call centre people can’t do much.

You just don’t realise how 1 silly mistake from a big company can totally affect/ruin a person’s life…

I always cc the ombudsman or the tribunal or the highest authority of whatever you want fixed.

send an email to the CEO of ActewAgl and the CEO of the credit company and see how quick the issue gets resolved.

its not hard to work out their addresses.

don’t bother with talking to call centre type people, they can’t do much.

big companies take pleasure in ripping off people and having dodgy records of when you rang them . It’s totally one sided, the companies side. They know you can’t do anything because of the cost you have to pay to get something done.

I have this one
hello I’m chasing a cheque owed to me since I rang you in August last year it’s now march , this is the 3rd time I’m enquring about whats happening with it. Sorry sir our records show you only rang in January it takes 45 days for us to write cheques.

I assume you know anyway, but for all the other readers out there: You can get free credit-reports, albeit a bit slower from several places (Dun and Bradstreet being one: https://www.checkyourcredit.com.au).

There’s also “credit reporting reforms” starting next month. To the best of my detached awareness of this, it will include “positive” information about debts you have paid, not just negative strikes.

Details: http://www.creditsmart.org.au/

Typical nonsense from ActewAGL.

I had a similar thing happen with a Medicare payment. The morons at Ginninderra Medical Centre entered the incorrect code when billing Medicare meaning they didn’t pay anything towards the visit. I paid my Gap payment on the day and assumed the rest was handled as normal.

A few months later I get a letter of demand from a /debt collection agency/ (if you can believe it) for the $34.05 outstanding on this medical bill.

Needless to say I was shocked and annoyed. I had to spend forever going back and forth between Medicare and the medical centre…I’m still not really convinced that it got fixed or if it appeared on my credit record.

So you’ll probably end up doing the same…chasing up the credit agency and ACTEW till you know it’s done.

Sorry it happened….it /really/ is annoying when people who do the right thing get stuffed around.

It seems to me that ActewAGL have done their bit and corrected their records but haven’t passed this information on to the credit agency. Two suggestions: (1) contact ActewAGL, ask them to do this and request proof that they have done it; and/or (2) get in touch with the credit agency and ask how your credit record can be corrected. Your letter from ActewAGL should be a big help here.

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