Not upheld: credit file reporting error and data handling complaint against Premfina Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained that Premfina incorrectly added information to his credit file and later removed all reporting in an attempt to cover up their error. Mr M had missed two payments in 2022, which Premfina correctly reported. When Mr M disputed the entries in January 2026, Premfina's ambiguous response of 'please remove' led the credit reference agency to remove the entire account from his credit file. Although Premfina acknowledged this was an error, they agreed to honour the removal. The ombudsman found that while Premfina made an error, the outcome actually benefited Mr M by removing negative entries much sooner than the standard six-year reporting period, making correction unreasonable. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that Premfina was entitled to report the valid missed payments. While Premfina made an error in responding to the dispute with 'please remove', the resulting removal of the account from the credit file actually benefited Mr M by removing negative entries much sooner than the standard six-year reporting period. Therefore, correcting the error by readding the account would have been more detrimental to Mr M than leaving the situation as it stood.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website