Equifax Complaint - any ideas?

jonestheflu

Morning everyone - first time poster but seeking advice from the collective on this. 

We purchased a newbuild property using the Help to Buy Wales scheme. This year, before the interest rates hike, we decided to remortgage and pay off the loan portion to the Help to Buy company. We found a reasonably good deal with Natwest, but then our Financial Adviser said they were having issues with Equifax's searches on us. 

Long story short, we didn't exist on the Equifax system. They had the other houses on the estate, but not ours, which meant that we didn't exist on their system in this address. Once we had been added, all existing credit agreements (including our existing mortgage, ironically) were either missing or not there, and my credit score was way out. I did a trial signup with Experian just to see, but they had all the details and my score was excellent.
As a result, we did not get approved for the mortgage we had been eyeing up. The rates rose again a few days after this, so we ended up getting the best available deal with Halifax, although we are now going to be £2100 out of pocket over the five year fixed rate. 

My wife and I raised the same complaint with Equifax, citing their error in not having our address on their system as the reason that we are now going to be paying more money than we should have been. Both complaints were upheld, with Equifax stating that they recognise the address was not appearing and accounts missing, and will offer compensation. My wife has been offered £100, with £200 being offered to me. Also, it took longer than the 8 weeks they recommend, and advised that I could go to the Ombudsman. 

Question is (and not wanting to sound greedy) - do I have any recourse against Equifax for the money that potentially could have been saved? Is it worth going to the Ombudsman for potential loss, or would I be best accepting the offer from Equifax? 

Any advice would be most welcome. 

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

If your question is, will the Ombudsman give you £2100 - the answer is almost certainly no

MEM62

Of course the burden will be on you to prove absolutely that the mortgage offer would have been made to you under the lower interest terms.  I suggest you take the payments on offer and draw a line under it.