small amount causes massive credit rating effect

poorcreditscore

Last year I sold a property with a current account linked to it, which was already at it's overdraft limit. During the sale, my mortgage provider switched from adding interest to my mortgage payment to adding the interest onto the already topped out current account, without any notification. Over a period of 7 months (until the sale completed and the account was paid off) I incurred 7 markers on my credit file totalling a staggering £67. I only found this out when applying for credit for a car, which was refused.
This is the only blemish on my credit rating and I have spent the last year complaining to my mortgage provider, Experian and the financial ombudsman in an attempt for some common sense to be applied and have the markers removed.
It has concluded with me being informed that as I had access to mobile banking and could have seen the interest charges, then nothing can be done. The markers stay there, my rating remains poor and the effects have another 5 years to run.
I found it ironic that the financial ombudsman has no control over the credit rating companies.
I saw on a post here about Experian in particular that it matters little what your rating is as lenders will look at your application as a whole rather than your rating. Untrue. I've spoken to the bank, they check Experian when looking at loans. Renewed my mobile phone contract, refused due to Experian rating. As mentioned previously, tried to get a car on finance, refused to Experian rating.
Experian and the financial ombudsman cannot have the markers removed as it has to be at the request of the mortgage company, aka my bank. My bank uses Experian as a first port of call for lending.
I'm totally trapped!
Added to this, every time I have tried to get credit, it inevitably affects my credit score.
This whole system is a farce. after discussing it with all parties concerned, I concluded that my rating would have been no worse if I had ran up tens of thousands across multiple companies instead of a mere £67. They could even see that I easily had the funds available to pay the interest amounts.
Does anybody know of anything I can do?

TadleyBaggie

poorcreditscore wrote: »

I saw on a post here about Experian in particular that it matters little what your rating is as lenders will look at your application as a whole rather than your rating. Untrue. I've spoken to the bank, they check Experian when looking at loans.

Not untrue, no one but yourself can see the number generated by Experian. Sure they use the data held by Experian but the Experian credit rating is not part of it.

jonnyjonjonjunior

I think what the various lenders are saying to you is that they look at the data on Experian/other CRA files; the number you see bears no relevance to each lenders' scorecard for approving credit.

Thrugelmir

poorcreditscore wrote: »

It has concluded with me being informed that as I had access to mobile banking and could have seen the interest charges, then nothing can be done.

If you didn't , then you fell on your own sword.

shortcrust

Didn't you get letters or messages of some kind from the bank about being over your limit? Even without being over the limit I'd expect something from the bank about being so far into the overdraft without any money coming in for so many months.

takman

poorcreditscore wrote: »

Last year I sold a property with a current account linked to it, which was already at it's overdraft limit. During the sale, my mortgage provider switched from adding interest to my mortgage payment to adding the interest onto the already topped out current account, without any notification. Over a period of 7 months (until the sale completed and the account was paid off) I incurred 7 markers on my credit file totalling a staggering £67. I only found this out when applying for credit for a car, which was refused.
This is the only blemish on my credit rating and I have spent the last year complaining to my mortgage provider, Experian and the financial ombudsman in an attempt for some common sense to be applied and have the markers removed.
It has concluded with me being informed that as I had access to mobile banking and could have seen the interest charges, then nothing can be done. The markers stay there, my rating remains poor and the effects have another 5 years to run.
I found it ironic that the financial ombudsman has no control over the credit rating companies.
I saw on a post here about Experian in particular that it matters little what your rating is as lenders will look at your application as a whole rather than your rating. Untrue. I've spoken to the bank, they check Experian when looking at loans. Renewed my mobile phone contract, refused due to Experian rating. As mentioned previously, tried to get a car on finance, refused to Experian rating.
Experian and the financial ombudsman cannot have the markers removed as it has to be at the request of the mortgage company, aka my bank. My bank uses Experian as a first port of call for lending.
I'm totally trapped!
Added to this, every time I have tried to get credit, it inevitably affects my credit score.
This whole system is a farce. after discussing it with all parties concerned, I concluded that my rating would have been no worse if I had ran up tens of thousands across multiple companies instead of a mere £67. They could even see that I easily had the funds available to pay the interest amounts.
Does anybody know of anything I can do?

So you ended up missing payments and going over an overdraft limit even though you had the money available and access to internet banking to see this?
That just shows how poor you are at managing your finances and i'm not surprised you are having trouble getting credit.

engineer_amy

takman wrote: »

So you ended up missing payments and going over an overdraft limit even though you had the money available and access to internet banking to see this?
That just shows how poor you are at managing your finances and i'm not surprised you are having trouble getting credit.

If the OP didnt check his account for over 7 months and see these charges, then its entirely his fault and i wouldnt expect the bank or the FOS to change the late markers.
I check all my bank accounts and credit cards on a weekly basis, even ones that are at a zero balance and i know i havent used, just to check the balance is what it should be and there are no unexpected transactions or anything dodgy. It takes a max of 20 mins. I think thats time well spent to keep on top of my finances.
Realistically, given the amount of access we have through telephone banking, online and mobile apps, there is no excuse for not checkin your balances on a regular basis

brianposter

engineer_amy wrote: »

Realistically, given the amount of access we have through telephone banking, online and mobile apps, there is no excuse for not checkin your balances on a regular basis

There is a perfectly good excuse. As far as I am aware no British bank offers an online service which enables you to check your accounts without also exposing you to the risks of online banking.

Total negligence on the part of the banking industry.

takman

brianposter wrote: »

There is a perfectly good excuse. As far as I am aware no British bank offers an online service which enables you to check your accounts without also exposing you to the risks of online banking.

Total negligence on the part of the banking industry.

There is minimal risk in using online banking if you have up to date antivirus and common sense.
I really don't know what kind of online service you expect?. Maybe the poor offering from M&S bank is something you will enjoy, the mobile app only allows you to view the balance and statement and not carry out any transactions?.

The main problem with online banking is the people using it sending money to scammers left right and centre then trying to claim it back from the bank!.

brianposter

takman wrote: »

I really don't know what kind of online service you expect?. Maybe the poor offering from M&S bank is something you will enjoy, the mobile app only allows you to view the balance and statement and not carry out any transactions?.

For many people what you say M & S offers is exactly what they require. That means you can check things without taking any risks.
As an example, for many years my line speed was so slow that my computer could not be updated without taking it to a pub fifteen miles away. Consequently online banking was unsafe.

poorcreditscore

they sent copies of two letters that they say they sent to me, but I definitely never got them!