Not upheld: fraud marker recording and delayed removal; complaint handling complaint against Santander UK Plc
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6321366 of 2026-05-12T00:00:00+00:00. fraud marker recording and delayed removal; complaint handling complaint against Santander UK Plc. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6321366 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-05-12T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Santander UK Plc |
| Product | mortgage |
| Claim type | fraud marker recording and delayed removal; complaint handling |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | Santander UK Plc should pay Mr S £150 compensation for stress and inconvenience caused by the delay in removing the fraud marker, if not already paid. |
Summary
Mr S applied for a buy-to-let mortgage with Santander in October 2024, but the application contained outdated employment information provided by his broker. After Santander's verification checks identified the discrepancy and the broker failed to clarify, Santander recorded a fraud marker with Cifas. In December 2024, the broker admitted the mistake and requested marker removal; Santander asked for supporting documents, which were received on 1 January 2025 but not reviewed until after Mr S complained in late January 2025. The marker was removed on 3 February 2025. Mr S claimed approximately £7,000 in losses from withdrawn commercial mortgage offers and expensive bridging finance, but these losses related to his limited company and occurred before January 2025, when the marker could have been removed. The ombudsman found Santander's initial marker recording justified, accepted that the firm should have acted faster in reviewing documents, but rejected the compensation claim as the losses were not personal and occurred before the firm could have acted.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that Santander acted reasonably in recording the fraud marker based on its verification checks showing discrepancies in employment information. While Santander should have reviewed the supporting documents more promptly after receiving them on 1 January 2025 (taking approximately one month to remove the marker), the complainant failed to establish that he personally suffered losses as a result of this delay. The losses claimed related to his limited company, which is a separate legal entity for which the ombudsman has no power to award compensation. Furthermore, the timeline showed that the broker's mistake was not disclosed until late December 2024, after bridging loans had already expired and commercial mortgage offers had already been withdrawn in October-December 2024. Therefore, Santander could not fairly be held responsible for losses occurring before January 2025, and there was insufficient evidence that faster marker removal would have prevented the company's subsequent lending difficulties.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Santander UK Plc, all decisions | 14,445 | 22% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website