TSB Complaints - how long until something gets done?

flora1972

I have a 'Credit Card Insurance Claim' showing on my Credit Report for my TSB Mastercard, which dates back to May 2018. The only problem is, I have never made such a claim. I pay my card myself (not via PPI) and there is no record on any of my statements, the bank's system or the Credit card's system that a PPI claim is active.

This phantom Credit Card Insurance claim is affecting applications for cards/loans as they run credit checks and then offer me lower deals (ie I wanted to do a 0% balance transfer to consolidate some debt and they reduced the card limit to such a small amount that effectively made the balance transfer card worthless - I cancelled the application in the end).

I am convinced this bogus PPI claim has something to do with the TSB bank system problems from last year as the dates match up to when this has appeared on my Credit Report.

I have logged my complaint with TSB and they have supposedly 'escalated' it to higher up department. I have had no written correspondence from them, no email or no phonecalls as to why this claim is on my credit card and am getting hugely frustrated at the lack of action on TSB's part. I would like to know where to go from here or do I just have to wait? I really need to consolidate my finances as the interest on the TSB card is adding up massively, but think I will be penalised every time I apply for anything else... all for a PPI Credit Card 'Claim' that doesn't actually exist!

Any advice welcomed!

eskbanker

Once eight weeks have passed since you opened your complaint with TSB, you have the right to escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service: https://www.tsb.co.uk/help/complaints/

However, in terms of the impact, it's unusual for applications to result in credit offers up front and for these to be reduced after a credit check, so being offered lower limits than you're wanting isn't necessarily caused by this, even though I understand why you want it off your file if it's erroneous....

flora1972

Well, I am assuming that the erroneous entry on my Credit Report is the causing issues as Sainsburys Bank, whose Bal Trans card I applied for, called me to ask what the Credit Card Claim was for and put my application on hold until I could prove what it was. That's the only reason it came to light as I was completely baffled when they asked me about it, as I had no knowledge of it being on there in the first place. Trying to find out WHY it's there is proving difficult, as nothing shows up on the banking system and TSB and the Credit Card dept say my account is fine.

After much phoning around, contacting TSB/Experian/Equifax etc, I am still none the wiser. Experian were hopeless. You can't speak to anyone unless you are a paid member. Equifax replied via email and said TSB Card Services had told them the entry was correct (it isn't) therefore it needs to stay on my report, and so I'm now chasing TSB to find out what the hell is going on.

With regards to my Bal Transfer card application, I explained to Sainsbury's Bank that the claim is a mistake on my report which I'm chasing to find out why. They accepted this explanation and sent me the Credit Card application to sign. It was only then I realised that they'd reduced the card limit massively, which rendered the balance transfer element of it useless, hence why I cancelled the application.

My worry now is that unless TSB gets to the bottom of this, any further financial applications I make will also flag up this 'Claim' and affect the credit I'm offered. I have contacted the link you included and spoken with TSB by phone, but have had no acknowledgement of any kind. It's hugely frustrating and as soon as this is resolved I am switching banks.

sheramber

Another thread here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6017659/error-on-credit-report-regarding-a-bogus-ppi-insurance-claim

flora1972

Apologies sheramber, that other thread is me also. Had no responses on that one so tried a diff category

eskbanker

flora1972 wrote: »

I have contacted the link you included and spoken with TSB by phone, but have had no acknowledgement of any kind. It's hugely frustrating and as soon as this is resolved I am switching banks.

My purpose in posting the link was to illustrate the process for escalating to FOS if you're unhappy with the TSB response - the industry standard is for complaint handling to take no more than eight weeks, so if that has elapsed (which I presume it has from the tone of your posts) then you can crack on with getting FOS involved.

Was the complaint definitely formally logged (i.e. with a reference number, etc) and if so, when - your previous post about escalation suggested it was but this one about lack of acknowledgement suggests perhaps not?

flora1972

My purpose in posting the link was to illustrate the process for escalating to FOS if you're unhappy with the TSB response - the industry standard is for complaint handling to take no more than eight weeks, so if that has elapsed (which I presume it has from the tone of your posts) then you can crack on with getting FOS involved.

Apologies if my tone has come across wrongly with your reply. Not intended at all. Just very frustrated with TSB.

Initially I contacted TSB via phone and the woman I spoke with could not have been less helpful. Extremely polite but she did absolutely no investigation at all, supposedly "Spoke with her manager" and gave the impression she couldn't wait to get off the phone. I then emailed their complaints webpage. I had no response from that whatsoever so next called my local branch. They were willing to look into things but at the end of it, had to suggest I call yet another number. Several phonecalls with TSB, TSB Credit Card Services and even Lloyds, I am no further forward.

The last person I spoke with at TSB did give me a ref number. Altogether I've been trying to sort this for well over a month, but that last phonecall with the complaint escalation was only a week ago, so I guess I need to be patient.

eskbanker

flora1972 wrote: »

Apologies if my tone has come across wrongly with your reply. Not intended at all. Just very frustrated with TSB.

No problem, no offence taken! I just wanted to ensure that you'd picked up on the key message of FOS escalation rather than seeing this as solely up to TSB to sort out.

flora1972 wrote: »

The last person I spoke with at TSB did give me a ref number. Altogether I've been trying to sort this for well over a month, but that last phonecall with the complaint escalation was only a week ago, so I guess I need to be patient.

Sort of - the clock effectively starts ticking when a complaint is formally logged but the target resolution of eight weeks is a long time to wait, so it's understandable that frustration starts well before that. No harm in chasing them for updates regularly if you aren't being kept informed of any progress though....

[Deleted User]

If no response is received you can escalate to Ombudsman by default after 8 weeks.