Refused Credit due to Nationwide Mistake

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Hi all,

Hopefully someone on here will be able to give me some advice.

I recently applied for a barclaycard in order to do a balance transfer from my (only other) existing credit card. I think I fulfill all the other criteria. It was refused on the basis that I have defualted on another credit agreement.
This is definately not the case so I checked my equifax stat. report and noticed that my Nationwide mortgage has a Agreement to Pay notice on one month's payment. This is as a result of a nationwide error whereby they failed to update my records when I switched the account that my mortgage payments come from. At the time I received a letter saying I had defaulted - so I phoned them up and they admitted their mistake. I also asked them three times explicitly whether this would go on my credit file. they said definately not as it was their mistake. So I was quite surprised to find this on there!
I have raised a query with Equifax, but the branch staff of Nationwide have not been able to help. I'm not really sure what to do now as it looks like I can't apply for credit (and I now have the unsuccessful Barclaycard search on there too!).
What should I do now? I should point out that this mistake looks like it means I won't be able to buy the car I was planning to next weekend...
James

sistafromanothermista

Can you add a note to your file? I would contact Nationwide again (i normally find them v helpful) and see if they can remove/add an additional note on your file. Not sure how long this would take to update but i would think at least a month. I am by no means an expert and i'm sure someone else will be along to advise soon....

rb10

Ask Nationwide to correct your credit file. They will be able to do this - although as has been mentioned, it may take a few weeks, and is unlikely to get you the card by next weekend (although you're probably too late for that anyway, even if it went straight through).

What you can do is ask Nationwide for a letter confirming that the Arrangement to Pay marker is an error, and is in the process of being corrected by them. Send this to Barclaycard asking that they review their decision on the basis of this additional information. An underwriter should then look at your application again, and make a fresh decision.

chattychappy

Be prepared for a struggle with Nationwide.

There was a fraud on my CC which they accepted - they were aware of the problem when I called them. I didn't pay the outstanding balance (the account was otherwise dormant). They assured me that no report had or would be made to the CRAs. It was. I complained in writing and they replied that no report had been made. I complained again, enclosing the printout from the CRA. They sent me two bottles of wine (I hadn't asked for anything) and said that the report shouldn't have been made and that it would be removed. It wasn't.

I gave up in the end, a single late payment marker soon fades in importance and it didn't stop my getting further credit.

Incidentally the fraud was a staff fraud at Nationwide. I had never actually used this account.

sfax

I've had more success asking the CRA to contact the lender rather than contacting the lender directly so worth doing this as well IMO. You can file an online dispute with the CRA and they usually turn them around within 2 weeks.

dalesrider

chattychappy wrote: »

Incidentally the fraud was a staff fraud at Nationwide. I had never actually used this account.

Was that proved??

As it is very dangerous to say a member of the bank commited fraud, without proof....

You don't have to use a card to have fraud on it.
There are groups of people who will plough through combinations of 16 digits till they hit a live card. They can then continue on the basis they have a % of correct numbers.

angelsmomma

I found nationwide removed the mistake and apologised but it did take a month to update the cra.

I emailed a complaint through the online banking as I find that they answer through there a bit quicker, especially if you put complaint in the email subject line.

Also the manager telephoned me about a week after to apologise again and tell me it had been updated by them but the cra only update one a month so would not show yet.

chattychappy

dalesrider wrote: »

Was that proved??

The manager concerned (who the complaint escalated to) told me (which surprised me). She said a number of accounts had been affected by the same thing. A staff member was convicted some weeks later for using internal data to commit fraud. The media description matched what had happened to me, though of course I can't be sure it was part of the same thing. £6800 in my case.

dalesrider wrote: »

As it is very dangerous to say a member of the bank commited fraud, without proof....

It would be dangerous (from a libel point of view) to identify a specific individual/organisation of fraud without proof.