Not upheld: irresponsible lending / unaffordable credit card complaint against Bank of Scotland plc

Decision detail

Summary

Miss N complained that Bank of Scotland provided her with an unaffordable credit card in July 1999 with a £4,700 credit limit. Due to the 20+ year passage of time, Bank of Scotland no longer retained the original credit file or affordability data from the lending decision, and Miss N could not provide contemporaneous evidence of her financial circumstances in 1999. The ombudsman found that without such evidence and given that available account records from 2014 onwards showed no signs of financial struggle, it could not conclude the lending was unaffordable or that Bank of Scotland acted unfairly. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman could not conclude the lending was unaffordable because: (1) Bank of Scotland no longer holds the original credit and affordability check documentation, which is not surprising given the 20+ year passage of time and standard industry practice; (2) Miss N provided no contemporaneous evidence of her financial circumstances in 1999; (3) without evidence supporting the claim of unaffordable lending, the ombudsman cannot reasonably conclude Bank of Scotland acted unfairly; (4) review of available account records from 2014 onwards showed no signs of financial struggle; and (5) the Section 140A unfair relationship claim also fails for the same reasons.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website