Serious bank error-Ombudsman?

Cupranod

I will try to be brief-all opinions appreciated 

My bank made a serious error which has led to major problems for me,financially and personally.

A bank employee input the details of another individual,with the same name,during a PPI claim I had. It created a link to another address I have never lived at,and ever since,I have had debt solicitors and agencies chasing me. It has ruined my credit rating and cost me thousands of pounds,not to mention the stress and worry.

The bank investigated and accepted liability for their error;-they offered me £2.5k-which I think is derisory. I almost lost everything,my credit is still destroyed. My business has been affected,I have incurred debt and been unable to obtain credit for a remortgage. I have had 18 months of strong anti-depressants.

Should I let the ombudsman decide;or negotiate with the bank on compensation?

Diamandis

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Sandtree

Cupranod said:

Should I let the ombudsman decide;or negotiate with the bank on compensation?

People go to the ombudsman because they dont like the hold music a bank/insurer is using so you certainly breach the threshold if you have received their final response or your complaint has been open more than 8 weeks.

You need to break down the impact on you into two buckets... those that are substantiated losses where you can put an exact value on it and the other are the intangibles like inconvenience, distress and such. The former should be simple to deal with because its just a matter of adding them up whereas the second bit is more subjective.

The second challenge is around things like you got a loan offer att 6.9% rather than the headline 3.1%... it'll be hard to prove that is because of this issue, the lender almost certainly wouldn't give you the required letter to say the difference is solely due to this linked person (though not sure how a PPI claim even could create a link).

You may want to have a look at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/resolving-complaint/understanding-compensation which is the ombudsman's guide to businesses on compensation and what they deem appropriate. 

Cupranod

Thank you Sandtree for your response 

Cupranod

Diamandis said:

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Yes I do,including loss of earnings as a result of the worry of solicitors and debt collectors. My previously very high credit score is ruined,and as a consequence remortgaging to a lower rate (on a BTL) mortgage has been precluded. I have incurred other losses too,and only after 18 months since I pointed out what was happening has this been investigated. My losses are over £10k,plus massive personal stress and worry .

Cupranod

Only now,after 18 months of this nightmare,will the bank rectify this with the credit agencies. Doesn't make up for the problems it's caused me,and continues to cause me.

Sandtree

Cupranod said:
My previously very high credit score is ruined

Remember no lender in the world ever sees your credit score... its a marketing gimmick drawn up by the credit reference agencies to initially separate people from their money and these days to harvest more data and have cross sell opportunities. 

Banks/lenders get your credit history from them, not your score. They make their own scoring/rating decisions based on that data.

mattyprice4004

Cupranod said:

Diamandis said:

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Yes I do,including loss of earnings as a result of the worry of solicitors and debt collectors. My previously very high credit score is ruined,and as a consequence remortgaging to a lower rate (on a BTL) mortgage has been precluded. I have incurred other losses too,and only after 18 months since I pointed out what was happening has this been investigated. My losses are over £10k,plus massive personal stress and worry .

Then you need to itemise every single expense and get a final figure - and then add on what you believe you are owed for inconvenience, stress and time etc. 
Make sure you keep it simple and clear - no 'leaving it in their corner' etc. State what you want, how you got to that figure and go from there. 

visidigi

mattyprice4004 said:

Cupranod said:

Diamandis said:

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Yes I do,including loss of earnings as a result of the worry of solicitors and debt collectors. My previously very high credit score is ruined,and as a consequence remortgaging to a lower rate (on a BTL) mortgage has been precluded. I have incurred other losses too,and only after 18 months since I pointed out what was happening has this been investigated. My losses are over £10k,plus massive personal stress and worry .

Then you need to itemise every single expense and get a final figure - and then add on what you believe you are owed for inconvenience, stress and time etc. 
Make sure you keep it simple and clear - no 'leaving it in their corner' etc. State what you want, how you got to that figure and go from there. 

This. Plus leave out the embellishments and the non factual pieces. If its 'coulda woulda shoulda' it shouldn't be there. 

user1977

Cupranod said:

Diamandis said:

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Yes I do,including loss of earnings as a result of the worry of solicitors and debt collectors. My previously very high credit score is ruined,and as a consequence remortgaging to a lower rate (on a BTL) mortgage has been precluded. I have incurred other losses too,and only after 18 months since I pointed out what was happening has this been investigated. My losses are over £10k,plus massive personal stress and worry .

This is the sort of nebulous claim which you may have difficulty with. How are you going to evidence you lost earnings because of stress, never mind that the stress was because of this and not something else in your life? Having to take more expensive borrowing is probably a justifiable claim, but you might need expert evidence that you would actually have qualified for the lower rates you say you would.

Sandtree

user1977 said:

Cupranod said:

Diamandis said:

What have the credit rating companies said? Has your bank contacted  them? If the amount of money you have lost is more than £2.5k then go back and explain this. Do you have a breakdown of the thousands of pounds it has cost you?

Yes I do,including loss of earnings as a result of the worry of solicitors and debt collectors. My previously very high credit score is ruined,and as a consequence remortgaging to a lower rate (on a BTL) mortgage has been precluded. I have incurred other losses too,and only after 18 months since I pointed out what was happening has this been investigated. My losses are over £10k,plus massive personal stress and worry .

This is the sort of nebulous claim which you may have difficulty with. How are you going to evidence you lost earnings because of stress, never mind that the stress was because of this and not something else in your life? Having to take more expensive borrowing is probably a justifiable claim, but you might need expert evidence that you would actually have qualified for the lower rates you say you would.

It obviously depends on the detail but assuming the OP is an employee then its the same as other claims for loss of earnings (eg after a motor accident), letter from the GP confirming that they signed them off from work for stress related to this and a general comment about any other similar stress related sicknesses in recent years plus then payslips for 3 months before and the period covered by the claim to show the change in income. 

Self employed is a bit harder but generally done with tax returns instead of payslips. 

In reality many of these statements really are talking about a loss of opportunity rather than loss of earnings... "I would have gotten the promotion had I not been so stressed" type of thing which then moves into the intangible losses because its an unprovable statement.