Upheld: unfair credit reporting and misadvice regarding debt write-off complaint against Tesco Mobile Limited

Decision detail

Summary

X complained that Tesco Mobile Limited continued to report missed payments and arrears to their credit file despite agreeing in March 2025 to waive the outstanding balance and stating no adverse credit reporting would occur. X missed a payment in January 2025, and Tesco initially cancelled the account in error but then misadvised X that the balance would be written off with no credit file impact. Although Tesco eventually wrote off the balance in June 2025, they continued reporting arrears through that date, which X claimed affected their mortgage application. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding that while the reporting was technically accurate, it was unfair given Tesco's misinformation, and ordered Tesco to remove arrears markers reported after March 2025 in addition to the £100 compensation already paid.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While it was technically accurate for Tesco to report arrears from January 2025 until June 2025 when they were written off, it was not fair given Tesco's misinformation in March 2025. X was deprived of the opportunity to avoid further negative credit reporting after March 2025 because of Tesco's misadvice. Therefore, it is fair that arrears should only be reported up to and including March 2025. The ombudsman considered that X had received the benefit of the debt write-off (approximately £900) and £100 compensation, which together constitute fair redress.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website