Not upheld: unfair default reporting to credit reference agencies complaint against Amplifi Capital (U.K.) Limited trading as Reevo Money

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Reevo unfairly reported a default on his personal loan following missed payments. Mr S had taken out a £1,000 loan in February 2024 and maintained payments until September 2024, when difficulties began. After missing several payments, a reduced payment arrangement of £19.77 per month was agreed in December 2024 starting January 2025. However, Mr S failed to make any payments under this arrangement in January, February, or March 2025, and an income and expenditure form showed he had negative disposable income of £800 monthly. Reevo issued a default notice on 6 March 2025 when the account was five months in arrears. The ombudsman upheld Reevo's actions as compliant with ICO guidance on default reporting and found the £25 compensation offered for service failings to be reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied ICO guidance which states that a default may be recorded when an account is three months in arrears and normally by six months in arrears. The guidance also states that if an arrangement is agreed, a default would not normally be registered unless the terms are broken. In this case, the arrangement was broken immediately with no payments made in January, February, or March 2025, and the account had already accumulated five months of arrears. The ombudsman concluded that by early March 2025, the relationship between Reevo and Mr S had broken down, making it reasonable to issue the default notice.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website