Natwest !!!! up again...what is a Debt Management marker and what impact does it have

mazy_m

As the title suggests.....

I've been having nothing but trouble with Natwest as of late.

Now to top it all off after paying me back my PPI (wooo) and restructuring my loan I realised that my standing order which was now with another bank (as i'd used the transfer service) was for the wrong amount (the payments were reduced) and would have been paid into the wrong loan account as they had paid of this loan, closed it and opened up another one with the outstanding balance I owed.

So I rang to find up if I was meant to change the standing order manually or if they were going to do it.

It was like a comedy sketch I was put on hold to be put through to one department then the next then passed back.

At first I was told I had to speak to "Lending" which sounded about right. They said they I wasn't with them anymore and I had to speak to "Debt management" which made me questions erm "why am I with you?" Who incidentally when they answered the phone and spoke to me were very rude and arrogant.... to be told actually no I wasn't that there was no recored of me with them and I had to be put back through to lending who then tried to put me back through to debt management again so I called up again and got through to someone who I thought was talking sense and told me that I didn't have to do anything as the standing order was due to come from my usual account.

Phew I thought nothing to worry about then until yesterday when I checked my online banking and noticed that this standing order had actually been cancelled.

I called up for the same charade of being passed around to happen again and was told that I had a "Debt management marker" against my account.

I was fuming and said why on earth check my account i've never been in arrears with you they said we can't go into details as (surprise surprise yet again!!) their systems were down but that they would take this marker off of my account right away.

I've not had a chance to ring up today and I'm not sure their systems would have been working fully again...

I was just wondering if anyone knows what the "Debt management marker" is? If there is any reason they could think of it could have been put onto my account and most importantly if anyone knows if they will mess up my credit record at all?

I'm really concerned about this as i've worked so hard to clean up my credit and it's been paying off for my lately and in the next couple of years I want to be able to apply for a mortgage!

Thanks in advance

Maz

meer53

If you've restructured a loan or any other lending, then it's possible that the debt management marker was applied because of this. You need to confirm this with Natwest as to whether they notify the CRA's as each bank will have different criteria/procedures regarding whether they do or not.

mazy_m

meer53 wrote: »

If you've restructured a loan or any other lending, then it's possible that the debt management marker was applied because of this. You need to confirm this with Natwest as to whether they notify the CRA's as each bank will have different criteria/procedures regarding whether they do or not.

Thanks for the info...I've rang them today again and no surprises they still can't tell me why or when it was applied as their systems are still "Updating" this has been going on since Saturday not being told anything.

Is this marker fair as I haven't done anything wrong i.e not paid or been in arrears?

I've been told I have to go into the branch (that I've already made a complaint about as they're useless!!) to raise a concern as they didn't remove the marker as they have stated they did on Tuesday when I spoke to them.

I'm not happy with this at all I don't see why it should have to damage my credit rating.

Would I speak to the FOS or who about this does anyone know?

Thanks again

Maz

meer53

You can't go to the FOS until you have exhausted Natwests complaints procedures. Go into your branch, it's standard procedure where i work to add a marker to accounts where consolidation has been agreed as it identifies you as a possible risk. Depends what the consolidation covered though. Ours are left on for 12 months and then reviewed. If it's an internal Natwest marker it possibly won't affect your credit score but only Natwest can confirm this for you.

Katg1

Debt management is the name of the department that handles arrears. I don't think this is an indication that any adverse information will definitely have been passed to the credit reference agencies, but it would be advisable to check. If you sign up online to equifax or experian they will send you emails when there are any changes to your credit file.

Katg1

Just to clarify... I wasn't saying you are in arrears. Debt management would also be of assistant with debt consolidation as meer53 has said above. I wouldn't worry about it too much!

mazy_m

Thanks ago both of you for answering.... I've not had a chance to go into branch yet so i'm going to have to go in tomorrow I don't hold much hope for getting any answers from them though as no doubt their systems will probably be down!!!

I'm going to check my credit files again now to make sure it's not on there. I checked a couple of months ago and was going to wait until April when another loan dropped off and I literally had one or two things on it so it would be like phew there's not as much on there as before lol!!

But to feel better I will be checking it!!!

Thanks again

Maz