Not upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Barclays irresponsibly provided him with two personal loans (£11,000 in August 2018 and £15,000 in February 2020) that he could not afford. The ombudsman found insufficient information to assess the first loan due to data retention limitations but concluded that the second loan was provided fairly. Although the ombudsman agreed that Barclays' checks for the second loan were not proportionate, it found that Mr S appeared to have sufficient disposable income to afford the repayments based on the information provided and obtained, had successfully managed the first loan, and had no adverse credit information. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that although Barclays' checks for the second loan were not proportionate, the lending decision was fair because Mr S appeared to have sufficient disposable income to afford the repayments based on the information provided and obtained. The ombudsman noted that Mr S had no recent adverse credit information, had successfully managed the first loan, and did not disclose concerning circumstances during the application. The ombudsman concluded that reasonable and proportionate checks would not have extended to requesting information that would have revealed Mr S's personal circumstances, as there were no obvious indicators of inability to repay.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website