Forgot to pay my electricity (Dominion) bill on time

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I just realized I forgot to pay for my electricity bill on time. It was $32 and the due date was April 8th. I am a customer of Dominion. Do you guys think this would effect my credit score?

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

Many utilities dont report minor derogs to the CRAs.

Some dont ever report derogs.

If they do report, a late payment is not basis for reporting to a CRA until the delinquency extends 30 days past the due date.

If it was due April 8th, it would not become a reportable late unless it remained deliquent for anoter 30 days.

You have no concern.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! 

I was very nervous and was checking my bill payment history. Suprisely I found out I also forgot to pay my January's payment on time. I paid it together with my Febuary's payment together, which was one month after the payment date.  And I didn't even notice that, I just thought my Feburay's bill was higher because of the cold weather.  I guess this is really the downside of not have a auto-payment function (I had all of my other bills set up on auto-payment).  However, when I check the the Credit Reference Letter, it says I have 0 late paymetn and all my 6 payments in the past 6 months were made on time. I'm quite confused now, guess I should give them a call tomorrow.  

[Anonymous]

I hope not. I pay my home electric bill every three to four months. I've been doing it so long, they don't even send me late notices.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, that was very reassurance. But is your electric company askes for payment every couple months? Mine send out a due date every month.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, that was very reassurance. But is your electric company askes for payment every couple months? Mine send out a due date every month.

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They bill me monthly.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, that was very reassurance. But is your electric company askes for payment every couple months? Mine send out a due date every month.

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They bill me monthly.

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+1

"Back in the day" when I still wrote checks for everything I used to 'slip up' and do this as well... the next month the bill would have "DISCONNECT NOTICE" in very large print, but it was just "drama"... as long as they got that month on time (with last months added on, of course) there was never a problem.  I never pressed my luck over into a third month, but I have family who has, and nothing happened.

In my case it was almost humorous after a while... if someone didn't know better and found a power bill laying around, they would have thought I was on the brink of having my power cut off. 

[Anonymous]

Cool! Thanks for sharing your experience, that was very helpful. So I just called Dominion and they said they didn't report to the Credit Bureau. I asked her is it true that they usually don't report to Credit Bureau, she said yes!

[Anonymous]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you, that was very reassurance. But is your electric company askes for payment every couple months? Mine send out a due date every month.

---

They bill me monthly.

---

+1

"Back in the day" when I still wrote checks for everything I used to 'slip up' and do this as well... the next month the bill would have "DISCONNECT NOTICE" in very large print, but it was just "drama"... as long as they got that month on time (with last months added on, of course) there was never a problem.  I never pressed my luck over into a third month, but I have family who has, and nothing happened.

In my case it was almost humorous after a while... if someone didn't know better and found a power bill laying around, they would have thought I was on the brink of having my power cut off. 

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This is the funny thing. I never get late or disconnect notices, and I've gone as long as 5 months. However, I've been a customer for over 25 years and I've had the pattern of paying every 3 to 4 months for a long lime. My business electricity I pay on time every month, though. It's a much bigger bill and I doubt they'd tolerate it.

[Berk]

I was so bad about paying my electric bill with any consistency that I finally set it up for auto pay. I live in Florida so my bill runs 250-325 a month year round. I was never cut off or sent to collections.

If my credit score ever got dinged for each and every statement that I didn't pay on time I would have the lowest score of everyone on these forums. Don't sweat a few days or even a week late. I've even been able to get any late fees I encured removed.