Not upheld: loan application decline, service provision, accessibility complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained to Nationwide Building Society about his attempts to obtain a £22,000 loan for debt consolidation, claiming the firm failed to make appropriate adjustments when he tried to arrange an appointment and that it wrongly declined his application without adequate review. Mr A visited a branch without prior appointment and was directed elsewhere, then contacted via online chat where he mentioned a disability but did not specify telephone difficulties. After his online application was declined, he requested a review which was reconsidered by an underwriter and upheld. The ombudsman found Nationwide's responses were reasonable given the information available, that the firm was entitled to set its own lending criteria, and that the underwriter properly reconsidered the application using multiple information sources. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Nationwide acted reasonably in directing Mr A to another branch when no one at the visited branch could help, as he had not pre-arranged an appointment. Regarding the online chat, the agent's response to provide a telephone number was reasonable given the agent did not have information about Mr A's specific telephone difficulties and could not book appointments themselves. The ombudsman accepted that Nationwide is entitled to set its own lending criteria and that the underwriter's review was properly conducted, with access to multiple information sources beyond what Mr A provided. The ombudsman did not find that contact with Mr A during the review was necessary.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website