Not upheld: Complaints handling failures complaint against Vanquis Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that Vanquis Bank Limited failed to treat him fairly when he requested an interest and charges freeze in November 2025 due to financial difficulties, and that a failure to correctly log his complaint resulted in adverse credit reporting following two missed payments. Vanquis declined to offer another freeze without formal involvement from a debt charity, having already offered such an arrangement in December 2024. The ombudsman found that Vanquis's decision was reasonable and that the complaint logging failure did not materially impact the missed payments or credit reporting, as Mr W was aware by mid-December that his complaint was being handled and the January missed payment occurred within the normal investigation period. The ombudsman upheld Vanquis's position that the £30 compensation already paid was fair and reasonable, and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Vanquis's decision to require formal debt charity involvement before offering another interest freeze was a reasonable commercial decision, particularly given that a similar arrangement had been offered less than 12 months prior. The ombudsman determined that even with formal breathing space arrangements, missed payments would still be reported to credit reference agencies. The failure to correctly log the complaint for four weeks did not materially impact Mr W's situation because by mid-December he was aware his complaint was being dealt with, and the January missed payment occurred within the normal eight-week investigation period. Therefore, Mr W should have expected to make contractual repayments.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website