Not upheld: Debt collection practices complaint against BW Legal Services Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss K complained about BW Legal Services Limited's debt collection practices following a defaulted £1,000 loan. Miss K experienced difficulty contacting BW Legal via phone and email, and BW Legal initially sent letters to an outdated address obtained from the lender. After Miss K provided her correct address via online chat on 3 February 2023 and requested a callback at 2pm, BW Legal failed to make that callback but subsequently reached a £50 monthly payment plan with Miss K. The ombudsman found BW Legal's actions reasonable, including their use of credit reference agency tracing and their response timescales, and considered their apology for the missed callback to be fair resolution, therefore not upholding the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that BW Legal acted reasonably in using credit reference agency tracing when the initial address was outdated and updated the address once Miss K provided it. While acknowledging Miss K's difficulty in contacting BW Legal and the missed callback on 3 February 2023, the ombudsman was satisfied that BW Legal responded to emails within its stated timescales, made reasonable attempts to contact Miss K, and ultimately reached a resolution through the payment plan. The ombudsman considered the apology for the missed callback to be a fair and reasonable resolution.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website