Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Gatehouse Bank Plc
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-3302949 of 2022-03-01T00:00:00+00:00. Service failures generally complaint against Gatehouse Bank Plc. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-3302949 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2022-03-01T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Gatehouse Bank Plc |
| Product | Mortgage |
| Claim type | Service failures generally |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | None - complaint not upheld. |
Summary
Miss M complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service about Gatehouse Bank Plc's requirement that she provide evidence of the origin of her deposit when applying to refinance her existing mortgage through a Home Purchase Plan. Miss M believed this requirement was unnecessary since she had already verified the deposit source to her existing lender in 2017, and she felt the requirement unduly delayed the transaction, which she subsequently abandoned. The ombudsman found that Gatehouse was entitled to make its own independent lending checks and that its handling of the application was fair and timely. The complaint was not upheld.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman established that lenders are entitled to apply their own lending criteria and conduct their own checks independently, even if a customer has previously satisfied another lender's requirements. The ombudsman noted that it is not the role of the ombudsman to interfere with a lender's commercial judgement on what checks it carries out. Gatehouse's request for verification was reasonable and its processing was timely once the necessary information was provided.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Gatehouse Bank Plc, all decisions | 10 | 35% |
| Service failures generally, all decisions | 32,767 | 33% |
| Mortgage, all decisions | 24,740 | 22% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website