Hinesh felt his mortgage lender made things more difficult when he tried to rearrange his finances after losing his job and his income.
What happened
Hinesh had lost his job and was struggling to keep up with mortgage repayments, so he applied for a mortgage repayment holiday. Shortly afterwards, he noticed two missed payments marked on his credit file.
Hinesh needed to apply for credit to help him cover family expenses while he was unemployed. He worried his applications would be declined because of the missed payments on his credit file. And he was concerned that this would further lower his credit score.
He complained to his lender, saying he’d not been told the repayment holiday would affect his credit file. The lender claimed that when he applied for the repayment holiday, it would have definitely informed him how it would affect his credit file. That was customer policy.
Hinesh was sure the lender hadn’t mentioned his credit file. Unhappy with this response, he brought his complaint to us.
What we said
We looked at the business’s internal policy about mortgage repayment breaks. This stated a repayment holiday would be recorded on a customer’s credit file. So, we were satisfied the lender had followed its policy.
We also listened to a recording of the call when the payment holiday was discussed. We were satisfied that the lender had clearly mentioned that the arrangement would affect Hinesh’s credit file.
There had been a lot going on for Hinesh when he spoke to the lender. He had a lot on his mind and we believed him when he said he couldn’t remember it being discussed. But the lender had given clear information about the impact the payment holiday would have on Hinesh’s credit file. And there was nothing in the call to suggest that Hinesh hadn't understood this.
Therefore, we didn’t think the lender had done anything wrong and didn't uphold the complaint.