Not upheld: Account administration errors complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Ms P complained about how Nationwide communicated the removal of her £500 overdraft facility, which was withdrawn in January 2026. She did not receive the first notification letter dated 5 November 2025 and only received the second letter on 22 December 2025, leaving limited time before the overdraft was removed on 4 January 2026. Ms P argued the communication was unfair and disproportionate, particularly given the Christmas timing. The ombudsman found that Nationwide acted within its contractual rights, provided more notice than required (almost two months), was not responsible for postal non-delivery of the first letter, and reasonably withdrew the facility given Ms P's financial difficulty evidenced by consistent overdraft dependency, multiple limit breaches, and returned direct debits. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Nationwide acted within its contractual rights and gave Ms P more notice than required (almost two months rather than the contractual 14 days). The first letter was correctly addressed and Nationwide was not responsible for postal non-delivery. The second letter provided sufficient communication. The timing before Christmas, while unfortunate, did not make the withdrawal unreasonable given Ms P's clear financial difficulty and overdraft dependency. The ombudsman considered that Nationwide was acting responsibly in preventing over-indebtedness.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website