Ccml - United Utilities debt collection credit search

[mitty68]

United Utilities provide my water and I receive a bill from them every 6 months which I have always paid. Sometimes due to it being a bill received in the post, I haven't always paid it immediately, but due to the avalanche of letters that UU send out immediately, they have always been paid quickly. Last February I was billed on the 22nd January (so would have received it a few days later) and this was paid online on the 5th of March. I have a credit search in Table 1 of my credit file which was carried out by "Ccml - United Utilities" on the 27th February and the search reason is listed as "Debt Collection". Elsewhere on my credit file, United Utilities is listed as a credit account, with everything up to date and no missed or late payments since the account was opened.

I called United Utilities about this and a helpful lady took my number telling me she'd look into it and would call me next day, which she did. After looking into it she said there should be no reason for any searches as my account has never had any problems and she wasn't sure what to do about it other than to write in with a screenshot of my credit file.

Has anybody else experienced this problem? Are they allowed to carry out such a damaging search so soon after being billed? I'd like to have this resolved as I've read that Table 1 debt collection searches stay on the credit file for 2 years rather than 1 year for other searches.

[mitty68]

Re: Ccml - United Utilities debt collection credit search

After looking at one of my bills, on the back page in tiny print it references the following document which I could only find via the internet wayback machine due to the document no longer available via the "normal internet":

http://web.archive.org/web/201409180..._factsheet.pdf

Their policies seem very aggressive and they also seem to say that they will only take action 28 days after warning a customer of default. My payment was 43 days after the first bill date and on the bill it does say immediate payment as standard, but surely they must also allow time for the letters to arrive?


EDIT: And now I've just found this on MSE : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=5020883 . As many people are asking there, are they allowed to do this? I've never signed anything with them and I'm pretty sure they don't have my D.O.B. so surely they can't take such action so quickly after billing a customer?

[nemesis45]

Re: Ccml - United Utilities debt collection credit search

How did you become a customer of UU?
Inherited from previous occupier of your property?
The terms are clear there is nothing wrong (although the terms are harsh but not unreasonable water bills are one of the most abused items)
The are giving 28 days to rectify a delinquent account, some I know allow just 14.

[mitty68]

Re: Ccml - United Utilities debt collection credit search

I guess when I moved in 11 years ago, I phoned them to tell them I was leaving my old address and moving to my new address.

Utilities are classed as a service which is why we get "bills" and they're payable "immediately" on receipt. This means that you are technically in debt with a "delinquent account" before you even receive the bill and as per the PDF they can then do any of the things that they list. If you read any of the ICO documents, they usually specifically exclude utilities from their rules. OFWAT is the regulator and the have this page listing a load of laws, but I can't find the info that I need:

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/industryover...ation/national

Apparently all this credit reference stuff for utilities has only started in the last 12 months. It's a trace that they carried out on my account but it seems very over the top to do that 28 days after sending the bill. I was working away most of last February, so allowing for post, I had about 23 days to pay before they put a debt collection mark on my credit file for 2 years!

[mitty68]

Re: Ccml - United Utilities debt collection credit search

I've been fobbed off with a long phone call and a letter regarding this, but I want to take it further. I'm finding it seriously hard to find basic information:

1. If you bill someone with an "immediate payment required" bill, then when does that become classed as a delinquent debt? United Utilities are trying to tell me that technically it's when the bill is printed, which is clearly ludicrous.

2. Untied Utilities are basically refusing to tell me who CCML are. Whats the law regarding them passing my data to another organisation - do they have to give me the company details? I presume that CCML is a separate entity but in their offices, which is probably related to the fact that the FCA does not regulate tracing agents, provided that the only thing they do is tracing.