Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against The One Stop Money Shop Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that One Stop Money irresponsibly lent him £500 in December 2015 as a nine-month instalment loan, arguing that proportionate checks would have revealed the loan was unaffordable given his significant indebtedness. One Stop Money obtained Mr S's income, expenditure, credit search information, and payslip, which indicated the repayments were affordable. The ombudsman found the information was plausible and consistent, with no obvious indicators that the affordability assessment was overoptimistic, and concluded that proportionate checks for a first loan did not require more extensive verification. The complaint was not upheld, though the ombudsman reminded One Stop Money to exercise forbearance if Mr S experienced financial difficulty.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that One Stop Money gathered substantial information about Mr S and did not simply rely on his statements. While Mr S had some historic adverse credit information, the amounts owed were not excessive relative to his declared income. For a first loan application, the information provided was plausible and consistent, with nothing obviously indicating the affordability calculation was flawed. The ombudsman concluded that proportionate checks did not require open banking information or more extensive verification in these circumstances, and One Stop Money was reasonably entitled to rely on the information obtained.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website