Energy Credit Check: All you need to know

Worry-free if your energy retailer asks for personal information and mentions your energy application is subject for a credit check. It’s mandatory for them to do credit assessment to check your eligibility. They want to know how much of risk you could be in default on your repayments.

Credit agencies obtain your credit or loan information and assess your profile.  They need the following information from you. All you need to do is give them permission to check your credit history.

• Identification information
• Consumer credit liability information
• Repayment history information
• Past credit applications
• Default information
• Payment information
• New arrangement information
• Court proceeding history
• Personal insolvency information
• Credit infringement history
• Public information

A ‘credit score’ will be the basis of the energy retailer for your energy plan eligibility. This will determine the reliability of a person to repay debts. Scores vary across agencies ranging from 0 to 1,200 or 0 to 1,100, a higher number represents a better credit score.

The most common measurement is Equifax. They use a five-point system ranging from average to excellent.

• Below average: 0-509
• Average: 510-621
• Good: 622-725
• Very good: 736-832
• Excellent: 833 -1200

You can request a credit score copy once every 12 months by contacting a credit reporting agency. They just need your personal details and a couple of points of ID. This will take 10 days but if you want to receive it faster you have to pay some fee.

• Equifax- 13 83 32
• Dun and Bradstreet- 1300 734 806
• Experian- 1300 783 684

What Do Energy Companies Do With Your Credit Information?

Electricity and Gas retailers implement a strict privacy rule. During the application, they retain your information and afterward they must take some steps to destroy credit information. Your credit information to generate a credit score is for eligibility purposes only. You can also request access to the credit eligibility information through email or calling them.

What Credit Score Should You Get For A Power Plan?

Retailers usually don’t publish creditworthiness criteria. They are not picky though as long as you don’t have an absolute grim credit score and a long history of default payments. Some market offers have explicit credit requirements outlined in their energy price fact sheets under the ‘eligibility requirements’ section.

Remember, credit history checks can only be used to determine suitability for a market contract. Retailers are not allowed to deny the customer access to a standing offer regardless of their credit score. But, consumers with poor credit history could miss out on the cheapest energy deals.

Electricity With No Credit Checks

Energy retailers are allowed to check your credit history, but in reality, some don’t. For large retailers, it isn’t worth the time and money to check on the creditworthiness of all customers. On the other hand, smaller retailers often don’t have the luxury to turn down customers even with a bad credit score.

But don’t assume they won’t look into your credit history. If you have concerns about the credit check, ask your retailer first before signing up.

How To Improve Your Credit Score?

You can improve your credit score by:

• Consolidating Debts
• On-time loan payment
• Rent and Bill repayments on time
• Paying off the credit card in full each month
• Reduce credit card limits

Don’t feel bad if you have a bad credit score. You can still get the best possible energy deal available for you.  Let Econnex, help you.

Know more at https://bit.ly/1WCieFP