Partially upheld: default registration and poor customer service complaint against MBNA Limited
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6208451 of 2026-06-04T00:00:00+00:00. default registration and poor customer service complaint against MBNA Limited. Outcome: Partially upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6208451 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-06-04T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | MBNA Limited |
| Product | Credit card |
| Claim type | default registration and poor customer service |
| Outcome | Partially upheld |
| Remedy | MBNA Limited to pay Mr C £150 total compensation for distress and inconvenience (less any amounts already paid). If the previously issued £100 cheque has not cleared, MBNA should cancel it and reissue the full £150 either as a new cheque or via direct payment to Mr C's account of choice. |
Summary
Mr C complained that MBNA unfairly registered a default on his credit file and provided poor customer service. His credit card account had been in arrears for over a year. MBNA issued a default notice in February 2025 with incorrect initials, which Mr C claims he never received. During a July 2025 call to set up a new payment arrangement, Mr C was explicitly told that further arrangements were unlikely and that account closure and default registration could occur if he broke the plan, which he confirmed understanding. Mr C subsequently failed to maintain the arrangement, and the account was defaulted. The ombudsman found the default was correctly registered based on Mr C's breach of the arrangement and his explicit acknowledgment of the consequences, but awarded £150 compensation for poor customer service including failure to correct the initials across all systems and failure to address Mr C's DSAR request.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that while the default notice contained incorrect initials, this was not the cause of the default registration. Mr C was explicitly informed during the July 2025 call of the consequences of breaking the payment arrangement, including account closure and default registration, and he confirmed his understanding. The account had been in arrears for over a year, and Mr C's failure to maintain the payment arrangement (missing the 25 August 2025 payment by over a week) triggered the default correctly. However, the ombudsman found poor customer service in that MBNA failed to correct the initials across all systems despite Mr C's 2024 notification, failed to address the DSAR request in their final response, and provided inconsistent advice about delaying payments. The ombudsman concluded that £150 compensation was appropriate for distress and inconvenience from these service failures, but the default registration itself was justified.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| MBNA Limited, all decisions | 3,859 | 28% |
| Credit card, all decisions | 25,211 | 22% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website