Not upheld: credit reporting accuracy and overdraft facility refusal complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs N complained that Barclays was unfairly reporting her account to credit reference agencies and refusing to provide an overdraft facility. The account had a balance under £1 with no activity for several months and was recorded as 'unclassified' on her credit file. Barclays declined the overdraft because her income and outgoings were closely matched and there was a marker on her credit file. The ombudsman found that Barclays accurately reported the account status as required, fairly exercised its commercial discretion in declining the overdraft, and correctly stated it did not place the credit file marker. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Barclays is obliged to report account status accurately, which it did by recording the nil balance and unclassified payment status. The ombudsman found this appropriate and expected. Regarding the overdraft decision, Barclays fairly exercised its commercial discretion based on the income-to-outgoings ratio not meeting its lending criteria. Since Mrs N confirmed this was not her main account, it was reasonable for Barclays to assess the activity of that specific account when making a lending decision for it. Regarding the credit file marker, Barclays correctly stated it did not place it and therefore cannot remove it.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website