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Credit Reference Agencies in France - Do they exist ?


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Do Credit Agencies such as Experian & Equifax etc. in the UK exist in France ?

The reason I ask is that due to a cockup by our (English) Immo, who was dealing with the utilities on our behalf, we are at the brink of getting our phone cut off and in fact I'm not 100% sure yet that we have escaped it.

The FT demand "Reglez tout de suite votre facture" was dated March 2nd and although the agent received it instead of dealing with it they simply forwarded it to us in UK where we only received it a couple of days ago. Although it's been sent back by International Recorded we will have to hope that it arrives before FT do actually decide to cut us off !  

In UK this would usually earn you a black mark on your credit record and whilst I neither have, nor forsee any need of, credit facilities in France, I most certainly do not want to start off in the country with a stain on my record.

Does anyone know if there is an international equivalent to the FT English 0800 number because it is not possible to call that from UK ?

 

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If you fall into arrears with a credit agreement, the creditor must inform you that you have one month in which to bring the account up to date, otherwise they will register the default with the fichier des incidents de remboursement des credits aux particuliers (FICP).  This national file is maintained by the Banque de France and is available to potential lenders in the same way as the UK credit reference agencies. Once you have settled the outstanding arrears, the creditor must delete the FICP filing..

Whether an FT bill is classed as a credit agreement is dependent upon the terms and conditions.  The final demand will show whether they intend to follow this route or not. I suspect in this instance, you will just make it in time!

 

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Thanks Beryl, that's really useful and I didn't know you could pay like this on line. Actually I'd much rather do it this way than by DD so I may change it later on.

Unfortunately however, the letter I have doen't seem to bear the 14 digit number it is asking for which may be because it's a first bill or pehaps because it's a "lettre de rappel", just the sort of thing you might want to pay online... [I]

In any case I have had an email from my agent this morning to say that they have spoken to FT on my behalf and now that the "autorisation de prelevement" is on it's way they won't cut me off.

So I'm putting my faith in a faceless foncierre somewhere then, now why does than not give me a warm glow of confidence...[+o(]

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