Identity theft - Do I have grounds to apply for compensation?

WB180

Hello, apologies in advance if this is posted in the wrong section of the forum. Earlier this year I discovered that in late 2018 someone fraudulently took out a payday loan in my name. As no repayments were made on the loan, the account eventually defaulted and was passed on to a debt recovery firm.

I have finally managed to get the loan company to accept that the loan was fraudulent, and they have agreed to write it off and remove it from my credit file. My question though is whether I have any grounds to apply for compensation? Although I haven’t specifically had money stolen from me, the fact that unbeknownst to me I’ve had a default on my credit report for the past five years has significantly impacted my credit score, and means that I will have been paying unfavourable rates on products such as credit cards and vehicle finance during that time. As it happens, I still have a car finance contract with two and a half years left on it, so through no fault of my own, I will be stuck paying unfavourable rates on this until it expires in 2026. This just doesn’t seem fair.

I am firmly of the opinion that the loan company failed in its due diligence checks when they initially received the loan application, as there were numerous red flags in the details provided which pointed to it being fraudulent. These included an address being provided for me that I hadn’t lived at for over half a year at that point, and bank account details that were not registered to me. Had the loan company actually looked into the information they were provided with, they would have seen that these details were incorrect and this whole episode could have been averted.

This incident has been a big wake up call for me, and has unfortunately taught me the hard way of the importance of keeping a close eye on my credit report.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

MorningcoffeeIV

No. An address that you were using 6 months ago wouldn't necessarily have been cause for concern and bank details wouldn't have been checked.

Once you started getting rejected for mainstream and headline credit was the time to investigate your files if you believed you were low risk.

And of course, the change in your credit score isn't ever anything to worry about.

But there's nothing to stop you asking if they'll bung you £50 in goodwill. You might get lucky.

WB180

Ah !!!!!!. Not to worry, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing a trick. Thanks anyway.

Nasqueron

In order to be owed compensation, you would need to show why you have lost out and be able to provide evidence that this was the cause of why you didn't get rates for finance that you wanted which is essentially impossible

penners324

Get a new loan at a lower rate to pay off the car finance.

Didn't you wonder why the rate was high at the time of taking it out?