EON wrongly marked credit file and declined for mortgage - how much compensation is fair?

jemmarocks

3 years ago I raised a query with my EON bill that was closed in my favour.

I have just been declined my first mortgage and checked my credit file and EON have marked 2 months as not paid, the bills for these months were £0 and -£82.

Currently talking to their complaints team to get this taken off my credit file but when it comes to compensation, how much should we ask for? 

We are being evicted from our rental (owner wants to sell) and with the mortgage being declined we are facing homelessness 

dunstonh

£25-£50 is the likely ballpark.

A mortgage broker could get a mortgage decline overturned for that reason very easily with the necessary evidence provided.   (i.e. small amount, three years ago and a letter from Eon confirming it was an error).  The underwriters when then disregard that default it and consider your application on all the other areas,

Bendo

What else is on your credit record. It's unlikely you would be declined over 2 payments 3 years ago.

Either way, it highlights why you should always monitor your own credit, there are enough free services to do it.

CSI_Yorkshire

Compensation?  None.

A goodwill gesture?  £50.  Maybe £100 if you get extremely lucky.

RelievedSheff

You will not get any compensation from EON.

As was pointed out to you on the mortgages board there is something else stopping your mortgage application. 2 late payments from 3 years ago are not enough for a mortgage decline from the Halifax.

Although you say on there that they will now offer you an 85%LTV mortgage rather than the 90% that you require. So it isn't an outright decline more of an affordability issue.

jemmarocks

Bendo said:

What else is on your credit record. It's unlikely you would be declined over 2 payments 3 years ago.

Either way, it highlights why you should always monitor your own credit, there are enough free services to do it.

I know, I check mine regularly and it’s clear but it was on my partners 

jemmarocks

RelievedSheff said:

You will not get any compensation from EON.

As was pointed out to you on the mortgages board there is something else stopping your mortgage application. 2 late payments from 3 years ago are not enough for a mortgage decline from the Halifax.

Although you say on there that they will now offer you an 85%LTV mortgage rather than the 90% that you require. So it isn't an outright decline more of an affordability issue.

I can’t see how it’s affordability when we are only asking for 2.75x our income 

Scot_39

Perhaps they are offering a lower level to protect you.

You know from too high a payment given all other bill increases factored in - energy, food etc.

Suspect 2.75 joint unheard when rates were this high in the 90s and 00s.

And it's probably not just you facing this adjustment.

Which will eventually impact market levels - it already has in some sectors in some areas.

Which at one stage Lloyd's- Halifax parent company were forecasting c8-9% - and that was before stubborn inflation  led to even higher rates - that are now predicted to last year plus longer.

Or themselves even. Heaven forbid they should loan more only to see you in future negative equity in the event of their own predictions of a near 10% market correction.
And face the ambulance chasers and miss-selling claims that the soft media would peddle ad infinitum, and woke politicians like Liberals and some in Lab and Cons would then demand they bail out overstretched customers for.

MattMattMattUK

Five years ago banks were happy to lend me five times my income, I suspect now I would be lucky to get three even though I could afford it. Banks are being cautious, interest rates have risen considerably and are likely to go up again in a few weeks, the housing market is flat and prices will likely drop, inflation is high, the economic outlook is very poor, banks do not want defaults, they do not want to be exposed and they do not want to have to start repossessing properties. 

tifo

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Compensation?  None.

A goodwill gesture?  £50.  Maybe £100 if you get extremely lucky.

in Kporahraror vs Woolwich Building Society [1996] 4 AER 119 the claimant was awarded the sum of £1,000 plus the value of the default as compensation for the wrongful default by the defendant. This amount was deemed by the House of Lords to be a reasonable amount to be paid to the claimant by the defendant as a result of the damage suffered by him because of their actions.

"The credit rating of individuals is as important for their personal transactions, including mortgages and hire-purchase as well as banking facilities, as it is for those who are engaged in trade, and it is notorious that central registers are now kept. I would have no hesitation in holding that what is in effect a presumption of some damage arises in every case, in so far as this is a presumption of fact".

In this case the error was for 1 day.

dunstonh

tifo said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Compensation?  None.

A goodwill gesture?  £50.  Maybe £100 if you get extremely lucky.

in Kporahraror vs Woolwich Building Society [1996] 4 AER 119 the claimant was awarded the sum of £1,000 plus the value of the default as compensation for the wrongful default by the defendant. This amount was deemed by the House of Lords to be a reasonable amount to be paid to the claimant by the defendant as a result of the damage suffered by him because of their actions.

"The credit rating of individuals is as important for their personal transactions, including mortgages and hire-purchase as well as banking facilities, as it is for those who are engaged in trade, and it is notorious that central registers are now kept. I would have no hesitation in holding that what is in effect a presumption of some damage arises in every case, in so far as this is a presumption of fact".

In this case the error was for 1 day.

Kporahraror vs Woolwich Building Society [1996] is not a comparable case IMO.

Woolwich bounced a cheque incorrectly, which resulted in a loss of reputation.    A subject I recall from my Chartered Institute of banking exam days.      Back then (and even worse in the generations before) having a bounced cheque was considered damaging to reputation.   

And in that case, it wasnt for just one day.   The building society corrected it one day after it was brought to their attention.  However, the damage had already been done from the cheque being bounced.