Not upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Onmo Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss M complained that Onmo Limited irresponsibly provided her with a £2,000 credit card in 2025. Onmo's initial affordability assessment used a verified income figure of £2,145 rather than Miss M's declared £2,695, leaving only approximately £100 monthly disposable income after expenses and credit commitments. The ombudsman found Onmo's checks were not reasonable and proportionate but conducted further investigation by reviewing Miss M's bank statements for the three months before the credit card was opened. These statements confirmed Miss M's declared income of £2,695 was accurate and revealed no signs of financial difficulty. The ombudsman concluded that if Onmo had performed proportionate checks, they would likely have reached the same conclusion that the credit was affordable, and therefore the complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman acknowledged that Onmo's initial checks were not reasonable and proportionate, particularly regarding the unclear income figure used. However, when the ombudsman conducted further checks by reviewing Miss M's bank statements, these confirmed her declared income of £2,695 was accurate and showed no signs of financial difficulty. This made an important difference to the affordability assessment. The ombudsman concluded that if Onmo had performed proportionate checks, they would likely have reached the same conclusion that the credit was affordable, and therefore the firm was not irresponsible in providing the credit.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website