Not upheld: Mortgage administration / arrears handling complaint against SECURE TRUST BANK PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY trading as V12 Retail Finance

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs M complained that V12 unfairly recorded late payments on her account when she believed her payments were up to date. The account had missed payments in November and December 2024, which were caught up with double payments in January and February 2025. However, Mrs M then missed a payment in March 2025 and did not subsequently catch up this arrear despite making regular monthly payments thereafter. When Mrs M contacted V12 in late 2025, she disputed the arrears reporting and claimed to have made a March 2025 payment, but provided no evidence. The ombudsman upheld V12's position that the arrears were correctly reported based on account statements and found the adviser handled the call professionally despite it becoming heated.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman reviewed the account statements and confirmed that Mrs M had indeed missed the March 2025 payment, with no evidence provided by Mrs M to contradict this despite her assertions. The ombudsman found that V12 properly reported the arrears in line with ICO guidance and that V12 made reasonable attempts to contact Mrs M through SMS and phone calls. While the call became heated, the adviser acted professionally in repeatedly explaining the arrears position based on accurate account records.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website