Upheld: Account administration errors complaint against North Edinburgh and Castle Credit Union Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained to North Edinburgh and Castle Credit Union Limited about their handling of a defaulted credit union agreement and the default balance he was asked to pay. NE and CCU acknowledged failing to provide account statements and causing delays in clarifying the correct default balance and processing a refund for overpayment, which took approximately 11 weeks to resolve. The firm offered £150 compensation. The ombudsman upheld the complaint on the technical basis that compensation had not been paid, but agreed with the investigator that £150 was fair and reasonable compensation, finding insufficient evidence that the firm's errors (rather than the default itself) impacted Mr P's access to lending.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the ombudsman recognised that NE and CCU made errors that caused Mr P distress and inconvenience, including failing to provide statements and causing delays over 11 weeks, the ombudsman was not satisfied that these errors alone impacted Mr P's ability to borrow. The ombudsman noted that the existence of the default itself, even if marked as settled earlier, would likely have affected access to lending. No evidence was provided to support that the firm's specific errors caused additional lending impact beyond the default itself.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website