Not upheld: mortgage administration, account management, and document retention complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs T complained to Barclays about its administration of their flexible mortgage with a tied Mortgage Current Account featuring a Mortgage Reserve. They complained that Barclays could not provide the original mortgage offer, could not explain two small credit payments made to the account, and was not paying interest on credit balances. They also complained about the reduction of the Reserve limit following a redemption statement request. The ombudsman found that Barclays was not required to retain documents beyond six years, the mortgage terms clearly stated no interest is payable on offsetting credit balances, the small payments were not interest payments and caused no loss, and the Reserve limit reduction was a reasonable application of Barclays' procedure that was promptly corrected. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Barclays was not required to retain the original mortgage offer beyond six years and had provided current terms and conditions clearly stating no interest is payable on credit balances used for offsetting. The monthly statements also made this clear. The two small credit payments were not interest payments and caused no loss; Barclays had investigated but could not determine their source. Regarding the Reserve limit reduction, Barclays' procedure to reduce the limit upon receiving a redemption statement request was reasonable, it communicated its actions to the customers, and it promptly reinstated the limit when the solicitors confirmed redemption was not occurring. No financial loss resulted from any of these actions.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website