Partially upheld: Service failures generally complaint against T.B.I. Financial Services Ltd.

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that T.B.I. Financial Services Ltd discriminated against him after discovering his mental health problems, claiming TBI applied for a charging order on his house shortly after being informed of his condition. TBI had been managing Mr A's £10,000+ debt through various repayment arrangements since 2002. When Mr A's wife notified TBI of his deteriorating mental health and offered increased payments, TBI declined and proceeded with the charging order. The ombudsman found no discrimination, as TBI had already decided to pursue the charging order ten days before learning of the mental health issues. However, the complaint was upheld in part because TBI failed to follow its vulnerable customer procedures by not requesting evidence of Mr A's condition within 30 days, causing him to feel his problems were discounted. TBI was ordered to pay £200 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that TBI had not discriminated against Mr A based on mental health, as TBI had already decided to pursue a charging order ten days before being informed of the mental health issues. However, the ombudsman found that TBI failed to follow its own vulnerable customer procedures by not requesting evidence of Mr A's mental health condition within 30 days of notification, as its policy required. The ombudsman accepted that Mr A would have provided evidence if asked. While the ombudsman could not conclude that receiving evidence would have changed TBI's decision to pursue the charging order, the failure to follow procedures caused Mr A to feel his problems were discounted.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website