Bank error causes bad credit

jeanniejelly

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice about an issue I've had whilst trying to take out a mobile phone contract. I applied for a contract at a mobile phone shop in town but after the credit check came back OK, my application was subsequently declined due to the failure of the identity check. I was advised to contact my bank, Natwest, which I did, only to be told by them that there were no problems. I went back to the shop, the process was repeated and the application was again declined due to, I later found out, a problem with my address. I contacted Natwest again who again told me there were no problems with my account or the address details they held and that it must be a problem with the phone company. This process was repeated several times both on line and in another store so altogether I've probably had 5 or 6 credit checks in the last month (I now realise that this is bad but didn't at the time!). Altogether I visited the Natwest branch twice, and phoned them 3 times but got the same answer each time

Finally, I complained to Natwest and the problem was tracked down to the lack of hyphens in my address on the Natwest system. Historically, sometimes the name of my town was hyphenated and sometimes not, Natwest didn't have it hyphenated so it didn't match against the details from the electoral roll that the phone company were using and this was enough to fail the check. Natwest have now hyphenated the name of the town in my details and advised me to try to obtain the contract again today. However, although the identity check came back all A-OK with the now hyphenated town name, I then failed the credit check due to the number of credit checks I've had in the recent past so now I can't get a contract at all :mad:!

I'm not really sure what to do about this. Obviously, I'm going to complain to Natwest again but how do I go about repairing my credit rating?

Thanks in advance
Jeannie

Firsttimebuyer321

Hi,

I would imagine that despite it being the banks fault the identity checks have failed that they can do anything about it.

I would try explaining your situation to the phone company as it may be worth a shot.

Dobbibill

Did you put hyphens in your address when you gave it to Natwest initially?

GingerBob_3

This type of problem is, I guess, very common. Who is at fault here? Easy. The credit reference agencies and their bum systems; 100%.

jeanniejelly

Dobbibill wrote: »

Did you put hyphens in your address when you gave it to Natwest initially?

To be honest, I've banked with Natwest for 20yrs and I just can't remember. I think this absolute matching of the address is a relatively new thing; I've obtained finance in the past with no issues but I've been with the same phone provider for the last few years so maybe it's a phone thing.

I've now spoken to Natwest and they're going to write to all the companies involved and ask them to amend their records to reflect the error, I suppose I'll have to take it on good faith that they'll do that but the Customer Services woman said that the letter should be enough to get around the problem in the store and enable me to obtain the contract. They're also reimbursing me for all the time I've spent faffing around on the phone, the cost of driving to the shops, parking charges and giving me £30 compensation which is fine but I really just want to get a new phone as my current contract runs out in 12 days so... we'll see.

takman

I wouldn't say it is fully the banks fault at all. When Natwest send you letters you should have noticed that the address was missing the hyphen and then got this corrected at the time. You also shouldn't have continued to try and apply for contracts without first correcting the problem. I know you said you didn't realise this was bad but why would you keep applying for the same contract again and again?. I would have contacted the phone company to discuss the problem with the application after 2 failed attempts.

jeanniejelly

takman wrote: »

I wouldn't say it is fully the banks fault at all. When Narwest send you letters you should have noticed that the address was missing the hyphen and then got this corrected at the time. You also shouldn't have continued to try and apply for contracts without first correcting the problem. I know you said you didn't realise this was bad but why would you keep applying for the same contract again and again?. I would have contacted the phone company to dicuss the problem with the application after 2 failed attempts.

None of what you wrote is very helpful and I struggle to see why you bothered to post at all. We can all be wise with the benefit of hindsight.

Tixy

If you haven't done so yet then I would get statutory copies of your credit files from each of the 3 credit reference agencies, and check to see if there any other errors or ommissions relating to your address format. If Natwest are using a different format then potentially other companies may be doing as well.

takman

jeanniejelly wrote: »

None of what you wrote is very helpful and I struggle to see why you bothered to post at all. We can all be wise with the benefit of hindsight.

You need to remember this is an open forum that many people read. So my post may not be helpful to you it could help other people by encouraging them to check their address and correct any mistakes. So my post is being helpful by sharing what I do which would have avoided your situation.