When Barbara applied for a loan, the bank rejected her due to a credit default listing by TelcoZ

The issue

Barbara* had a landline service with TelcoZ*. When Barbara moved house, she asked TelcoZ to transfer the landline service to her new address. However, TelcoZ said it couldn’t provide service there. After she moved house, TelcoZ didn’t send Barbara any bills so she called and TelcoZ said she did not owe it any money.

In 2018 Barbara applied for a loan. The bank rejected her application saying she failed its credit check. Barbara asked for a copy of her credit file and found TelcoZ had applied a credit default against her name for unpaid bills it sent to her old address. Barbara complained to TelcoZ and it agreed to remove the credit default. From this time, TelcoZ had 30 days to update Barbara’s credit file.

Three months later Barbara applied for another loan and again the bank rejected her application saying she failed its credit check.

The investigation

Barbara called us to complain. She said each time the bank rejected her application she felt embarrassed and humiliated. Barbara said she wanted TelcoZ to remove the credit default listing and pay her $3,000 in compensation.

The outcome

We showed TelcoZ what other Ombudsman schemes had recently paid consumers for similar complaints. We said $500 would sufficiently compensate Barbara for her non-financial loss.

TelcoZ offered to remove the credit default listing within 30 days and pay Barbara $500. Barbara accepted the offer.

*Names of individuals, organisations and companies have been changed.