Not upheld: Complaints handling failures complaint against Charterhouse Claims Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss M instructed CCL to pursue a mis-sold loan claim which was partially upheld, resulting in an offer of £752.49 from the lender. Miss M accepted the offer expecting a direct refund but discovered the lender had applied it as a balance adjustment to her loan. Miss M complained that CCL had not adequately informed her of this outcome. The ombudsman found CCL had disclosed the balance adjustment method in their terms and conditions and via email notification sent in late April 2022, before Miss M accepted the offer in May 2022, and therefore had acted fairly and reasonably.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that CCL had acted fairly and reasonably by: (1) including clear terms and conditions stating compensation could be credited to loan balance; (2) sending an email notification in late April 2022 explicitly stating the offer would reduce the outstanding loan balance before Miss M accepted the offer in May 2022; and (3) the May 2022 acceptance letter and form did not indicate direct payment would be made, consistent with the prior notification. The ombudsman noted it was not CCL's role to decide how business A implemented the redress, only whether CCL handled the claim fairly.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website