Not upheld: missed payment recording and provision of incorrect information complaint against Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money

Decision detail

Summary

Miss C complained about a missed payment recorded on her credit file by Virgin Money after she failed to pay £11.97 by the 7 September 2025 due date. Miss C had called Virgin Money on 5 September 2025 after receiving a reminder but did not complete the security verification process required to discuss her account. Virgin Money made subsequent outbound calls but security was not completed until 3 October 2025, by which time the missed payment had been recorded. During the 3 October call, a Virgin Money agent incorrectly told Miss C the missed payment would not be reported. The ombudsman found Virgin Money acted reasonably in recording the missed payment in accordance with the account terms and data protection obligations, but found the £50 compensation offer fair for the incorrect information provided on 3 October 2025.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Virgin Money acted reasonably in recording the missed payment because: (1) the statement was issued in line with Miss C's communication preferences via the app; (2) Miss C failed to complete the security verification process on 5 September 2025 despite being asked to call back; (3) Virgin Money could not discuss account details without verifying the account holder's identity due to data protection obligations; (4) the account terms explicitly state that missed payments may be reported to credit files; and (5) Miss C bore responsibility for ensuring payments were made. However, the ombudsman found Virgin Money's agent provided incorrect information on 3 October 2025 when stating the missed payment would not be reported, and the £50 offer fairly compensates for this error.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website