Not upheld: mortgage administration, platform migration, provision of account information, service delivery complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs and Mr L, both of advanced age and in poor health, complained to the FOS about their mortgage with Santander, which originated with lender A in 2000 and was acquired by Santander in 2008. They believed the mortgage had been cleared by 2019 but Santander claimed outstanding amounts remained. The complaint encompassed multiple issues including platform migration in 2023, confusion over mortgage terms, provision of statements, a frustrating branch visit in 2024, and the fairness of the original sale. The ombudsman found no unfairness in any of these complaint strands, noting that while some correspondence could have been clearer, the overall message was reasonably clear, and that Santander had provided all historic records available to it. The complaint was not upheld and no remedy was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the balance of probabilities test and considered all evidence together to form a broader opinion. While acknowledging that some wording in the migration letters was less clear than it could have been, the aggregate message was reasonably clear when all correspondence was considered as a whole. The ombudsman found that Santander had provided all historic records it possessed, and that the absence of point-of-sale documentation meant any finding on the original sale would require impermissible speculation. The ombudsman noted that Santander's centralised telephone-based mortgage servicing arrangement, while creating a stressful experience, did not constitute unfair treatment.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website