Compensation for damage to credit rating

Boredoflondon

Hello, I'm new so forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask or if this is too stupid a question.

I had a credit card with Mint that I closed back in Dec 2005

Or so I thought

Turns out some interest popped up the next month.


They never wrote to me to tell me it was there, £15.73.

I lived in the same house all my life until last September.
When I realised my credit rating was bad I rang Mint but this was a few years later and they said they had no record etc
Mint didn't answer letters or acknowledge the debt until last week when I said I would get advice from the financial ombudsman.

This has cost me in many ways over the years, even if they remove it from my record the rest of my credit history is perfect except for me being turned down for credit because of this Mint card and the fact that I have not been able to open other lines of credit to improve my score.
I have missed out on jobs, I work with financial systems with money, I can't get any credit, bank account, move house, get a mortgage etc

Is there a precedent for claiming compensation in such cases?

Thank you in advance for your help.

roonaldo

That happened to me and its fairly common. Its the interest added from the date of your previous statement to the date you paid it off. As interest is payable it then gets added on to next statement even if you paid balance off.

The thing is, as the account is open they will continue to issue statements. Whether its your normal statement in the post or an internet statement. The account is never closed until its all paid off in full (inc all subsequant interest). They must have issued a statement for the £15.73 and month after month. If Mint prove they did, you stand no chance. NIL.

You wont get compensation as they are correct, its a mistake on your part. Not even FOS will change that decision, you would need to contact mint and raise a complaint for FOS will step in anyway.

dunstonh

Mint didn't answer letters or acknowledge the debt until last week when I said I would get advice from the financial ombudsman.

The financial ombudsman does not give advice.

The problem you have is covered well by roonaldo. They would have continued to issue monthly statements. Now if you can show they didnt issue statements (and they cant either) then you may have a case for getting the default removed. However, there is no logical reason why they would stop sending out statements via your chosen method (unless change of address etc). If this was internet only statements and you didnt read them then you are basically stuffed.

[Deleted User]

You have got more chance of winning the lotto!

I tried to fight Santander with a similar situation, it was like a battle, oh and I got compensation (quite a bit) but still no removal of negative data. This was with the help of the Ombudsman, yet they often didn't agree with my points :-(

I just wish that I'd have asked nicely first. Only now that our relationship is negative I don't think the nice "sorry please remove" letter is going to work for me :cool: