Can one sue a lending institution

Mzo1978

After 11 years of our post going to an incorrect address where at times it was open and then stuffed in our letterbox at our correct address weeks later our lending institution have offered us 1800 in compensation. We recently upped our mortgage payments and instead of it taking a few weeks to go through it took 6 months and in July they went to take a new amount from our account which was returned to them unpaid a letter then went out to us at the wrong address and a missed payment went on to the icb record.

During the course of the 11 years we were trying to get the address changed they acknowledged our letters of complaint by sending replies to the wrong place they even sent us our compensation offer to the wrong address.

My husband was refused a loan today because something popped in the icb the only thing it could be is the missed loan payment so I've ordered a copy of it there now online. They saod in a letter last week offering the sum that they would alter anything that went on our credit rating so I know it's that!!!

Can we take a case against these fools as 1800 is not enough for the hassle of writing over 150 letters over 11 years calling in hand delivering some registering the others and now to have our credit rating tarnished and be refused a loan....

Atlantic Dawn

Define "trying to get the address changed".

368100

You spent 11 years writing 150 letters to get your address changed??

Mzo1978

When we bought our house we used my mother in laws as an address for correspondence then moved into our now home the mortgage property and so correspondence still went to the mils house. We wrote our very first letter 11 years ago and thereafter just under 150 letters have went some were hand delivered some were registered post then some were sent to the complaints department. 6 years ago my mil sold her house and the new owner opened every one of our letters. We had a meeting in our home last year with members of the mortgage team and they run took our new complaint and it was investigated and they apologised and offer 1800 in compensation

368100

So assuming that you gave a valid instruction to update your address and they didnt action it, they've breached their responsibilities under data protection act.

What sort of resolution are you looking for? Sounds to me that it would be more appropriate to report to financial ombudsman if you're not happy with the offer they've made to resolve

Mzo1978

Wasn't sure if it was financial ombudsmen or a data protection issue (regarding our post being sent elsewhere) or both really. I'm confident when I get the icb report that they never made any corrections to our record like they said they would in their correspondence. I'd be more concerned about our credit rating being damaged first and foremost. I think after 11 years of pulling my hair out their offer would be better than 1,800.00 that wouldn't cover th stress caused or the arguments we were having as I took it in hand to sort out and my husband thought I was joking. Can you blame him

368100

They should be able to change any incorrect and negative data on the ICB.....if youve already had a loan declined, i think youre right....1800 wouldnt cover it.

I would go through ombudsman first....you could rack up legal fees needlessly by going to court.

Best of luck

Mzo1978

Cheers for that I think you are right

lifeandtimes

Mzo1978 wrote: »

after 11 years of pulling my hair out their offer would be better than 1,800.00 that wouldn't cover th stress caused or the arguments we were having as I took it in hand to sort out and my husband thought I was joking. Can you blame him

You value stress caused because you and your husband arguing at more than 1800? Can you advise how you calculated the figure?

Getting post sent to a wrong address is annoying but im not sure how this went on for 11 years, it's mind boggling and must be one of the most catastrophic administrative errors of all time.

Your credit rating can be fixed by the institution once the matter is resolved but you will need to make a complaint to the ombudsmen (why you didn't do this during the 11 years is also as strange) but once you do they will investigate this for you and the institution will come back with a resolution once they've been onto them

amcalester

You should make one last complaint to the bank, in writing, detailing everything that has happened and also setting out what sort of resolution/compensation you want. Give them the opportunity to resolve it to your satisfaction, this should no more than 8 weeks (I think, open to correction on this) but you should receive a holding letter within 1 week.

If the bank hasn't resolved it to your satisfaction or at all within 8 weeks then you can take it to the ombudsman for review.

The ombudsman won't look at your complaint until you have exhausted the banks internal procedures.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Do you ahve the details to sue?

Firstly have you once gone into a branch with proof of address and asked them to change the address on their records. If so do you know what branch, what date and who did you deal with?

Second what evidence do you have the 150 letters. Do you have copies?

Thirdly have you ever complained to a data commissioner or financial ombudsman and have the ignored instruction to update your details from those bodies.

If the answers to at least the first two of those three of those are yes I would say that you have useful evidence to support a case and that you should consider consulting a solicitor. If the answer is not yes I would take what they are offering and run.

Pat Mustard

Mzo1978 wrote: »

After 11 years of our post going to an incorrect address where at times it was open

...


During the course of the 11 years we were trying to get the address changed they acknowledged our letters of complaint by sending replies to the wrong place they even sent us our compensation offer to the wrong address.

1800 is not enough for the hassle of writing over 150 letters over 11 years calling in hand delivering some registering the others and now to have our credit rating tarnished and be refused a loan....

Mod:

This is a request for legal advice in relation to a real-life scenario. Legal advice cannot be requested or given in this forum or on boards.ie. Kindly bear that in mind or this thread will be closed.

Also, be aware of the Banker's common law duty of confidentiality. This may be discussed in general but not with regard to the specifics set out by the OP.

If any advice is to be given to the OP, it must be limited to practical advice. Law and legal procedures may be discussed but not by reference to the OP's situation.

Mzo1978

The ombusman has it now I was waiting on a final response before they could take it and although I have copies of all the letters sent, and copies of all registered post slips I needed a final response before he would take it, that's to prove that they have exhausted all avenues in trying to fix the issue.

So while I had made several complaints over the course of all those years I had in fact received a letter back (4 in total) to say that my complaint was being dealt with which eventually got to us having been sent to the wrong address first, but the complaints were never finalised the last complaint being over 165 days ago. My hands were tied until i got the final response, I spoke to them the other day and they still had our correspondence address wrong on their system even after receiving a final response and when I ordered our icb report it was still incorrect so all that has gone now to the Ombusman. Feels like a weight has been lifted that's for sure