Complaint partially upheld. Not sure to accept or not?

Fridge03

Hi everyone
In a bit of a pickle and need some advice.

The background: Had a Zopa credit card. Due to becoming a full time carer for a family member, my income dramatically reduced and I was unable to meet my minimum repayments. Not wanting this to escalate, I contacted Zopa and agreed repayment plans. They issued a notice of default whilst I was in the repayment plan. They then advised me incorrectly what payment was needed to a void a default. I made this payment yet the account defaulted. I raised a complaint which was been investigated and partially upheld. They have offered me a gesture of goodwill payment of £75. I don't know whether to accept this as it's a good as I am going to get or to fight it. Annoyingly the amount on the card was only £500 and I am now in a position to pay this off, as I explained to them, I was only in this situation for a short term. But I am now stuck with a default when I actively tried to work with them and avoid this.

Is there anything I can do? Or should I just accept it and move on?

Thank you

I have posted the letter I received from them word for word below.

Complaint Response
I am writing in response to your complaint received on 22 June 2026. I am sorry to hear
that you are unhappy with the service provided at Zopa.
Here at Zopa we take complaints very seriously as we aim to have a great relationship
with our customers. However, we understand that sometimes things can go wrong.

Your Complaint
As I understand it, you're unhappy because you were provided with incorrect advice,
which you believe caused your credit card account to default.
Please let me know if I have missed anything. At Zopa we aim to provide a fair and honest
review of our customer complaints. To assist with my investigation, I’ve reviewed all
relevant account information in full detail.

My Findings
On review of your account, I can see you were approved for a credit card with Zopa Bank
via Clear Score on 24 March 2025 with a current credit limit of £500.00 and a spending
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of 34.7%.
I looked into the concerns you raised about the advice you were given regarding your
repayment arrangement and the subsequent default registered on your account.
From my review, I can see that you first contacted us in November 2025 after
experiencing financial difficulties due to caring for a family member. Following an
assessment of your circumstances, we agreed a temporary reduced payment
arrangement and explained that this was only a temporary measure. We also advised that once the arrangement ended, your account would be reviewed again and that, if your
circumstances had not improved, your account could default.
In March 2026, after your financial circumstances had not improved, you contacted us
again requesting to resume reduced payments of £10.00 per month. On 16 March 2026,
we correctly explained that a Notice of Default (NOD) letter had already been issued and
that the arrears shown in the notice would need to be cleared within the required
timeframe to prevent your account from defaulting. We also advised that a reduced
payment plan could not prevent the default at that stage.
On 19 March 2026, we incorrectly advised that paying £3.87 would satisfy the arrears
required under the Notice of Default and prevent your account from defaulting. This
advice was incorrect, and I appreciate you relied on it when making your payment. The
amount actually required to prevent the default was £36.97. Acting on the information
we provided, you made the £3.87 payment in good faith believing this would protect your
account. I recognise how frustrating and disappointing this must have been, and I
sincerely apologise for this error.
When you queried the discrepancy in April 2026, we acknowledged that we had made a
mistake regarding the payment amount. We then offered you a two-month reduced
payment plan of £10.00 per month. I found that, before this offer was made, our
colleague sought internal guidance on the appropriate next steps and was advised that
agreeing a further two-month arrangement would prevent your account from defaulting.
I found that our email of 08 April 2026 explained that, once the two-month arrangement
ended, you would need to resume your full minimum payments, pay any interest due
and clear any remaining arrears to avoid the account defaulting. In addition, while your
reduced payment plan was active, a further Notice of Default was issued advising that the
outstanding arrears would need to be cleared by the stated deadline to prevent a default
from being registered.
Unfortunately, as the required arrears were not cleared within the Notice of Default
period, your account defaulted on 23 May 2026. Although I acknowledge that we provided
incorrect information about the amount required to prevent the default, I found that the
default itself was applied because the arrears remained outstanding after the Notice of
Default (NOD) letter had expired.

My Conclusion
Based on the information above, I have decided to partially uphold this complaint.
I found that we provided incorrect information regarding the amount required to prevent
your account from defaulting. I appreciate the frustration and inconvenience this caused,
particularly as you had been proactive in contacting us and were trying to maintain
affordable repayments during a difficult period.
I will provide feedback to the agent to ensure this information is explained more clearly
in future conversations and would like to thank you for bringing this matter to my
attention.
To reinforce my apology, I would like to offer you £75.00 for the distress and
inconvenience caused. If you’re happy to accept this offer, please let me know. If you
would like the payment made to a preferred bank account in your name, please provide
the sort code and account number you would like us to use. Please note that it can take
up to 10 working days for the funds to appear in your account once processed.
Whilst I am able to uphold this complaint regarding the information provided, I am unable
to uphold this complaint regarding the default applied to the credit card. I found that you
were also advised that the reduced payment arrangement was temporary and that you
would need to resume your contractual payments and address the outstanding arrears.
I also found that an active Notice of Default remained in place and, where the required
arrears are not cleared within the notice period, the account can still default.
Overall, I am sorry for the confusion and inconvenience caused and appreciate you
bringing this to our attention. I hope my sincere apologies for the lapse in service you
have experienced can be accepted in the spirit they are offered

ManyWays

How good is your situation at the moment; is this default the only one you have?

35% and a £500 credit limit suggests you were already in difficulty when you took this card out. If that correct?

Fridge03

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057475#Comment_82057475

Its fine at the moment. Yes, this is my only default.

sourcrates

What you have to understand is that creditors are under no obligation to accept payment arrangements on active card accounts, no matter the reason, as both you and the lender are legally bound by the credit agreement you both signed under the consumer credit act.

Anything less than full, contractual repayment (inc any arrears) can lead to the account defaulting.

However, they are expected to treat customers fairly, and I think they have done that when considering your complaint, which is why its been partially upheld.

Yes they gave you incorrect advice, but experience has taught us that call handlers advice, is only as good as the information they read from their screens, the instructions on the default notice is what really mattered, and you could not/did not, remedy that breach, hence the account went into default, and it was then registered on your credit file.

I don`t really see what Zopa have done wrong here, apart from the bad advice, the remainder of their actions are textbook, and in accordance with your agreement, I know its not what you want to hear, but I would accept the £75 and move forward from this, the default will be removed after 6 years, and its presence will be less and less disruptive as time goes by.