Not upheld: unfair treatment regarding overdraft allowance and credit reporting complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Ms H complained that Nationwide Building Society treated her unfairly by allowing her to go overdrawn, duplicating a payment, and reporting the debt to Credit Reference Agencies without prior notice. Ms H had explained she was moving house and needed access to government grant funds. Nationwide agreed to release funds but warned of an unarranged overdraft requiring repayment. The ombudsman reviewed call recordings and found Nationwide adequately communicated the overdraft consequences, and that Ms H, already working with a debt management charity, was reasonably aware she would need to repay the amount. The ombudsman concluded Nationwide acted fairly in reporting arrears to the Credit Reference Agencies and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Nationwide made Ms H sufficiently aware through call conversations that she would incur an unarranged overdraft requiring repayment. The fact that Ms H was already using a debt management charity indicated she understood the consequences of owing money. The double spending of the funds (via transfers and in-branch withdrawal) meant Ms H should have been reasonably aware of the need to repay. Nationwide's subsequent letters were sent to the correct address and made the consequences clear. Ms H's failure to respond to requests for repayment or arrange repayment, combined with her awareness of the situation, meant Nationwide acted fairly in reporting the arrears to Credit Reference Agencies.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website