Not upheld: Debt collection practices complaint against Equifax Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Equifax sent him an email notification at night that woke him up, arguing it breached FCA rules on contacting customers at unreasonable times. Equifax did not uphold the complaint, explaining the email was an automatic notification of his monthly credit score update sent overnight due to operational volume, and that he could opt out. The ombudsman found the complaint not upheld, determining that the relevant FCA rule (CONC 7.9.4R) applies only to arrears and recovery contact, not routine notifications, and that Equifax acted fairly in sending the email as it was a standard product feature with an opt-out mechanism and Equifax had no prior knowledge of Mr S's work commitments.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that CONC 7.9.4R was not applicable because it applies only to contact regarding arrears, default and recovery, whereas Equifax's email was a routine credit score notification. More broadly, the ombudsman considered whether Equifax acted unfairly and concluded it did not, because: (1) sending a monthly credit score update to free account holders was not unreasonable; (2) sending emails overnight due to volume constraints was reasonable; (3) the email provided a clear opt-out mechanism; and (4) Equifax could not have known about Mr S's specific work commitments as he had not communicated them previously.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website