Not upheld: irresponsible lending - inadequate affordability assessment complaint against Onmo Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss R complained that Onmo Limited irresponsibly opened a credit card account with a £1,000 limit in August 2023 and subsequently increased it to £2,250 in May 2025, arguing that insufficient checks would have revealed unaffordable repayments. Onmo had verified Miss R's £35,000 salary and obtained CRA data showing an active or recent IVA, but did not explicitly factor the £220 monthly IVA repayment into its affordability assessment. The ombudsman found that while Onmo should have performed further verification regarding the IVA, adding this amount to Onmo's calculations still left sufficient disposable income to support the credit repayments. At the time of the limit increase, Miss R had satisfied the IVA obligations and maintained a perfect payment record, supporting the affordability conclusion. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the regulatory requirement for reasonable and proportionate affordability assessments that are borrower-focused and consider whether repayments would cause difficulties or adverse consequences. While noting that Onmo should have explicitly verified IVA repayments in its calculations, the ombudsman performed their own affordability assessment by adding the £220 monthly IVA payment to Onmo's figures and found sufficient disposable income remained to make the repayments affordable. At the time of the credit limit increase, the IVA had been satisfied and there were no adverse markers, with Miss R maintaining a good payment record. The ombudsman concluded that proportionate checks would have led to the same conclusion of affordability.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website