The gas bill. Oh that gas bill.
I was sure, sure, certain I tell you! That bill was on autopay along with all of my other bills (electric, cable, water, cell, car)
Well, it wasn’t.
I never received a notice or a warning. It was just idle boredom that I opened the email “You have a new bill from Nicor Gas!” to be shocked that the bill was like $700.
I was stunned. This must be a mistake! But going through my bank statements, yep, I hadn’t paid the damn thing in like six months. Again, I had assumed I was on autopay just like the rest of my bills; I never received a warning or a threat - “We are cutting off your gas in a week!” - or anything like that. Of course, there are laws that prevent cutting off the gas in states like mine, where winter without heat could be devastating.
I meekly paid in full, and it hurt, as it should. Lots of past due payments. Only one late fee.
So then I checked my credit score. Damn. Major fucking ding since last I checked it a year ago. Like -100 points. Fuck. From the 750s to the 650s. With a simple stupid oversight (again, my fault) I’ve gone from flawless credit to pretty average. And the report pretty much confirms it’s all due to this one gas bill, 120 days overdue.
Is there anything I can do? I mean, I plan to call the gas company tomorrow. To plead simple ignorance. I did think I was on autopay, their website is shit and buggy. I’m fully paid as of now.
I just don’t want this to wreck my credit. I might be buying a car in the next two years, my credit score will be a big influence on what rate I get.
