I cancelled my Barclaycards returning them to BC who did not advise the credit reference agency which might have affected my credit rating. After writing some letters with no reply I started the formal complaints procedure with BC and still no reply so referred the file to FOS. I requested that BC advised the credit reference agency, explained, apologised and paid me compensation of £100. FOS ruled in my favour and I await the payment from BC who apparently had not received any of my letters. So I am a happy bunny.

Hiya, any advice will be gratefully received. I started a PPI claim against santander early 2014 for a loan which was taken out in 2001. They claimed to have settled a PPI claim on this account in 2007. In 2007 they settled a 'bank charges' claim for a closed current account not a PPI claim for the loan account. I have never claimed for PPI on any account until early 2014. But in 2007 I had taken on quite a number of banks for charges. I had a call from the FOS today. They said that santander had provided evidence of this settlement. I asked what the evidence was and he said it had the loan agreement number on it, the amount, date and that it was for PPI. Non of this information is true. It's totally fabricated. I expressed my concern to the FOS and he said he'd contact them again to ask for further details. I called santander straight after to request this information and told them it's totally untrue and fraudulent! I'm hopping mad. I don't want to let them get away with this. But what do I do? The FOS have to make a decision on the information they have. I haven't kept anything from my charges claim, as far as I was concerned the matter was closed so I destroyed everything. If they FOS rule in their favour, how do I complain without any evidence? Thornyangel

Hi, I wanted to see if anyone has had a complaint against a PDL upheld with FOS and in particular if FOS had recommended that the full loan amount was to be refunded. Typically they will advise to refund loan charges etc and looking through some of the cases it seems that FOS will state that the debtor had the benefit of the loan so this should not be refunded. I agree with FOS in a small way, but when it comes to a PDL lending 14-16 times in the space of less than 2 years then surely there is a case to be answered and that is would it not have been required of the PDL to confirm affordability or even consider reliance on PDL's once the 3rd/4th loan had been requested. If as in many cases once a debtor asks for his 4th loan then surely this is reliance and therefor no additional loans should have been granted. If they were not granted then the debtor wouldnt have had them in the furst place - hence why they should be repaid in full.

hi been trying to claim back ppi on a credit card with midland bank/hsbc now since 2013 . i have no statements left but can produce some paperwork for 12 months they denied i had a cc but re searched by hundreds of phone calls and eventually they agreed i did have one but no ppi was on it . the cc was from 1986-2003 and did have ppi and went to metropolitan collections in the 90s the debt was fully paid up. hsbc said prove it or go away, i tried the insurance root for the policy number with axa who tell me the credit card number is the policy number and insurance is inhouse with hsbc. hsbc said not with them . so did a sar which was waste of time 7yrs of transactions of banking. eventually enquired with dataoffice and dc sent out by mistake copy of card details, start and end dates customer/card account numbers. i have asked for the past two years for them to confirm that ppi was on card from day one but they will not answer this question, i went down fos route which was fast tracked due to health but they wont or cant get hsbc to answer it either. i am at a total loss as what to do now should i just give up as the stress of this has not helped my illness. this is the short version of this sorry tale the first time i have ever e mailed anywhere so opologies if a bit rubbish.

Hi I just wondered if anyone else has a PPI claim with the FOS and if they've had any updates? In May 2013 they settled half my claim but not the rest so I transferred It to the FOS. Haven't contacted them yet. Interested to know if any have been settled. Cheers Karl

Can someone give me a rough turn around time for FOS complaints? Thanks

Hi All Just after a bit more advice.. It has just come to me that a couple of years ago, one of my PDLs sent me court papers. It was one I had been rolling, rolling for ages then payment plan which I could not keep to. I ended up settling by paying the full balance including court costs interest fees etc because the court papers freaked me out at the time. Can I still take this lot to the FOS or make a complaint based on irresponsible lending like my other loans?

Hi I went to FOS over loans with lending stream. To cut a long story short. I had 4 loans with them and claimed they irresponsible lending. This was because I had other payday loans etc. They also lent me (2 loans) after I had defaulted with them. Yes I was irresponsible and was ill at the time I agree I should not profit and pay back what i borrowed but not the interest. I heard from FOS who said Lending stream were willing to wipe out the balance on the 4 loans. They said this was a fair offer and the decision they would come to However I have already paid back more than I borrowed. I also was claiming compensation from lending stream using CPA sometimes 8 times in one night making without telling me resulting in additional stress and bank charges. What I don't understand is if FOS agree it was irresponsible lending why have they said Lending streams offer is fair. I f they think the lending was fair then I should pay back the interest. How is this a decision I have appealed

Hi All, I've got a couple of PPI claims that were with Shop Direct of which the FOS has upheld my complaints Back in Jan, the FOS said they were not happy with the way Shop Direct have been handling the refunds (on a mass scale not just my accounts) and is now being discussed at a more senior level. However this does not currently help me, as one of the debt collection companies which shop direct sold an account to, has turned up TWICE to my address - both times I stood my ground and they went away.. Today the FOS have comeback to me and stated that SD are willing to do an interim Payment based on two options: 1. Shop direct would buy the debt back from Lowell and would deduct the PPI and interest paid and this would then decrease the debt. The interim payment would then be deducted from what you owed Lowell and if there was no more left to pay you would receive a cheque for the amount that what was left over. 2. You could have the interim payment issued to you but this would mean the full amount you owed including the PPI charges would still need to be paid to Lowell if you did not use the money for paying off the debt. Of course I've opted for Option 2, as I dont trust them. BUT option 2 did not read right with me also - it seems that the FOS are telling me that I must use the funds to pay off the DCA even though there is a MIS-SOLD debt which they already know about? Anyway - I was wondering as to how they should calculate the refund(s) as I have the following: Account 1: PPI Charges £450, Annual Account Interest 49.4% - charges taken between May 2009 & September 2011 Account 2: PPI Charges £100, Annual Account Interest 49.4% - charges taken between April 2010 & September 2011 I've tried filling out the Calculation sheet's found on this site and seem to get £3.5K compound interest for account 1 and £800 for the other. Is that right? FOS also gave me the impression that its Charges + APR + 8%?

I have started a new thread here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?448084-An-interesting-link-on-mis-sold-PPI This relates to the good decision by the FOS on offsetting PPI claims against old debts I hope you drop by and have a read. This maybe of use to many other debtors in a similar situation.

Just had a completely ridiculous experience with the FOS. Rather than rewrite it all here it is part of my thread in the Debt Subforum http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?376861-1st-and-second-mortgage-negative-equity-on-property-what-happens-next (The FOS comes into it towards the end, if you don't want to read the entire story )

I am in the process of a complaint regarding my late Father's estate. His medical insurer have withheld information relating to who provided his healthcare since 2009. Medical records are available to me under the Access to Health Record Act and I have requested this from a number of institutions which formed part of a litigation process surrounding invalid/ potentially fraudulent Wills. The health insurer stated that it would be a breach of the DPA to provide this information and invited me to gain appropriate legal status. At great expense, I did. They still refused to provide me with the private healthcare provider list and invited me to contact every healthcare professional in the country to see if they treated my late Father. Absurd! Having consulted the ICO, the DPA is not applicable here as the providers are acting in their professional capacity, so they are hiding behind inappropriate legislation. The adjudicator had never even heard of a 'grant of probate', which is shocking. So how did they make a decision upon my rights as executor? Yep, you got it, they couldn't be bothered to find out and made up their own version of the Administration of Estates Act! HMCTS have confirmed that a grant of probate is sufficient and the insurer's request to get a court order is unnecessary and possibly will be seen as a waste of court time. I referred the case to the FOS. It took over 4 months to be allocated to an adjudicator. The adjudicator was extremely inexperienced. I was invited to provide a breakdown of the legal costs for which WPA forced me to incur by leading me down a garden path. I stated this would take a week or so to compile from the legal bill narrative. Two days later, I received a letter (the adjudicator took less than a week in total to conclude their findings on a complex matter) stated that the firm believed the DPA to be in effect. Despite my extensive documentation and the adjudicator's own admission that it was a 'lengthy' complaint, it seems the adjudicator couldn't be bothered to deal with it properly and simply wanted to get it off the desk as quickly as possible. Upon speaking to the manager I was refused to be notified how long the adjudicator took to review the full file (hundreds of pages of documents) and had to source this from the helpline. Tellingly, the manager told me that the time that the adjudicator spends looking at the file before concluding is 'irrelevant' and the adjudicator had ignored most of my complaints as only the 'key issues' as defined by the adjudicator, not me. I was also told by the manager that this particular adjudicator's workload is extremely large and the individual was not feeling well and had to be stationed in one of their 'quiet rooms' for the day. Hmm... The whole process is bizarre. They quite clearly have no idea what they are doing and when I explained this to the helpdesk staff, they clearly admitted that they don't really help consumers. I don't see the point in their existence and have absolutely no confidence in the FOS now as it seems like a big game for firms to play with. It's a no brainer to send all complaints to the FOS if I were a firm as it's a safe risk due to the incompetence of the FOS. No wonder they are busy and it's in excess of 6 months for a case that has been referred to a full Ombudsman to be re-reviewed. Any similar experiences with the FOS?

I previously sent a CCA request as I could not locate the original that was taken out in 2001. I received the attached edited copy but is I am not sure if this is correct ? I then sent off an SAR and again received the same amongst details submitted. Am I missing anything does anyone know ? I've checked the forum for BH credit agreement examples but all seem to look different to mine. Just one other question, should BH be sending me annual statements of some sort ? Thank-you for looking.

Since 1988 we have been victims of fraud by a Building Society – now part of a major bank. In 2006 we exposed part of the fraud ourselves; the FOS upheld our complaint; on the same day the Building Society registered their displeasure by surcharging us an amount equal to twice the refund ordered by the FOS. Evidence discovered subsequently via the FOS (using the Freedom of Information Act) showed there had been other infractions by the Building Society. The City of London Police declared there have been fraud; we now have a case number. They asked us to forward details to the Financial Conduct Authority. Our mortgage was redeemed precisely on the prescribed date but, unknown to us at the time, the amount was split by the Building Society and used for other purposes. By way of explanation to the FOS, the Building Society claimed that an endowment policy had been inadequate. However, there had been no endowment policy used in the settlement. That had been the third piece of false evidence they had submitted to the Ombudsman. A surcharge valued at 10% of the mortgage was made against us by the Building Society soon after. There had been other such sanctions by the BS totalling over half the capital amount of the mortgage. At the time of our invoking the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Bank seemed to be aware there had been earlier transgressions by the Building Society, for some pieces of information had been redacted. We have notified the ICO. Our numerous letters to the Building Society asking them to address these issues have been ignored for the past 7 years, They have however continued to charge us £40 routinely, now amounting to over £11,000, all of which is based upon a fake debt, contrived by the Building Society. Action Fraud have explained they are too busy to progress our case. The FCA do not deal with individual cases. I, at the age of 77, do not have the funds to confront a major bank at court. We have been given to understand that the Statute of Limitations (the 6 year limit) which is available to defendants at the FOS, should not be available in cases of criminality, and so our case was not suitable for the FOS to deal with, either in 2008 or again now. 1. Is there anyone who finds this at all familiar? 2. Does anyone have a useful suggestion on which way I should turn next for help? For reasons of brevity there is much I have not explained here, but I have compiled a chronological and more comprehensive account, cross referenced to a compendium of evidence.

Hi, I hope someone might be able to provide some general advice. I am trying to reclaim £450 in Platinum Card membership fees, I have already unsuccessfully been through their complaints process and they've sent me the FoS leaflet. 1 - I've had both a British Airways Amex card and a Platinum Amex Charge card (with flexselect credit) for almost ten years. The latter has a membership fee of £450, paid in December 2 - I hadn't actually used the Platinum Card for two years until April 2015 when I tried to use it to pay for a hotel abroad - declined, despite my statement telling me I had over £1000 of my £3500 Flexselect credit available 3 - I rang Amex, and they essentially told me that because I was a risky customer, they were declining to put through my charges. Yes, late last year I ran into financial difficulties and had problems making loan and credit card payments and this will have affected my credit file 4 - However, at no time did Amex tell me I can't use the card. There is no notification on my online account, and I have received no letters or phone calls, so this is the first I had heard of it 5 - In fact the card does work sometimes. It usually works for smaller (less than £20) amounts in supermarkets etc. Not always. Yesterday an £8 charge went through, today a £17 one didn't 6 - I wrote to Amex making a complaint asking that my card be downgraded to one of the free ones, and that as I had been sold a card I can't actually make full use of, that my year's membership should be refunded 7 - Amex has rejected the complaint saying I could only have a pro rata refund (which I guess would be £300 odd) and making me aware that they can basically stop me using it when they want as it says so in the Tcs and Cs I would now like to complain to the FoC. The basis of my complaint will be that Amex knowingly sold me a card membership I can't make full use of, and never told me that I can't fully use the card. Had I known this, I would not have paid them the £450 at the end of last year. I have two questions: 1 - There is £550 due to be paid next week, some of this is from the small purchases I have been able to make - public transport, small supermarket shops etc. The rest is from my flex select balance. I am in a position to pay this, but would there be any grounds for me not to, if I am disputing the account? Or would this make things worse and I should just pay up as normal. 2 - Because the Amex card seems to work for most smaller charges, does this in any way negate my complaint? The £450 membership is sold with various travel benefits, but as I discovered I can't actually use the card when travelling Any other advice of how I should approach this with the FoS is appreciated. Thank you for hearing me out, all being well I'll look to submit my FoS complaint in the next few days

Hi all Apologies for the long post but I have been lurking/reading for a quite a while now and wondered if somebody could explain in laymans terms if there's any chance of me having a default removed from my credit file as I can't really make sense of all the jargon?! I had a student account with Santander that had a maxed out £2000 overdraft. I had been reducing it slowly after graduation and managed to reduce the limit to -£1000 with a £350 cash deposit (which was a large sum of money to deposit into the account at that time). Only a few days later I went to New York and couldn't make a payment on my current account debit card (I'd forgotten to notify the Halifax that I was going abroad) thus used my Santander card - completely forgetting that I'd actually reduced the limit after making the deposit. This transaction went through fine, shortly after I received a letter to say my interest free graduate/student account had been changed to a current account, and I needed to pay back the overdraft immediately and would be accruing charges and interest until it was paid back in full. After finishing university I was only able to find work part time at a bar. So I set up a £50 a month payment plan. A handful of times I knew I would struggle to be able to make the payment but I always called the bank to let them know either prior or on the due date to make alternative arrangements and this always seemed satisfactory. Santander have sent a trasnscript letter, outlining they would have told me at the time of the calls that it could effect my credit score but I don't recall this. I struggled to clear this account in full, and felt I had done well in doing so, particularly having started to clear the account so soon after graduation - only to find out so many months later that the account that it had been registered as a default. The only reason I am even aware of the default is because a finance company declined my application. I then used a credit reference agency (Experian) to get an explanation and the result came back that I had a default that I was not aware of. I've received a FRL from Santander instructing to go to the FOS, which I will. I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea on my chances with this one? I received no default notice, and there is no 'D' on my credit score? In fact, there is no '1, 2, 3' it goes straight from solid green ticks to '5, 5, 6, 6' - which are the four months immediately after the account closed and I had to pay back the £350 to get out of my unplanned overdraft and THEN start the payment plan. As a student who'd just graduated from a fashion degree (not cheap) on a part time bar wage I find this to be unfair treatment. My account was managed well prior to the overdraft reduction and managed well after the three or four months where I struggled when the account changed over. I don't actually know why it was changed to a current account?! The account is now settled and had been for over 12 months, but remains open (but unused). Any advice at all would be incredible, I don't really have anyone to break this down to me in layman's terms… my mum's advice was 'well you just learn about these things along the way'. Sure… one default in mum! It's extremely frustrating as my credit score is actually ranked 'good'. Many thanks in advance! I really appreciate any advice, no matter how little W

If a credit card account is in arrears and PPI claim is up-held by bank, do they offset all of refund against arrears ? Will this also include the net 8% statutory amount or will that be mine ? I have tried looking on FOS website for some clarification for this circumstance but I cannot find anything ? Thank-you

Really appreciate anyones help here!! I ordered an iPad quite a while back now back in 2013 from Very. It never arrived and I only got an empty box. I complained to very.co.uk and they would not refund me. I contacted my bank and they suggested I raised a chargeback and I got my money back. I kept getting letters from Very stating I owe them the amount and if I do not pay I will be contacted by a debt company. I contacted my bank and was told not to pay the debt as I had not received the device. I now have a letter stating I have a default notice because of this amount from Very and NDR debt company. I contacted very again and the debt company, no one is helping me and my credit is still being affected by this. Whoever I speak to I keep getting turned away. I then contacted the head office of Very (Shop Direct) and explained the situation. They replied saying I didn't reply to letters or emails (I did) and that because of the length of time they will not re investigate and I still need to pay the debt and that it may effect my credit score. I emailed and called and tweeted them. They stated that the item was sent out. I then contacted the head office and they investigated and concluded that nothing could be done. I reported it to the FOS 2 weeks ago when i received a default notice letter. I did not do anything before that as i was advised by my bank to ignore letters and to not pay anything. What do i do?! I never got the item so why should I pay the debt?! My bank even says do not pay it. Any info would be great!

We were sold a 25 year Standard Life Decreasing Term Life Assurance policy / Mortgage Protection Plan on our first property / mortgage in 1990. It was also a condition according to the company representative who we had the meeting with. We have moved twice since then and mortgage amounts increased (with same lender) but we continued to pay the same monthly premium. Should the original policy been amended / updated to coincide with increased borrowing / coverage ? Thank-you

hi, can anyone help with some historic info on Uncle Buck rollover/extension policy either via emails or have or historical references to the website c2010? I have made a formal complaint to them which i received final response today (which of course they refused to uphold). My complaint is based on affordability/irresponsible lending as in the 1st cycle of loans with them, they rolled my initial loan over 15 times without me paying the original loan back - simultaneously they gradually increased my credit limit. During this time i had a large no of payday loans and a terrible credit rating due to a gambling problem. I eventually agreed a repayment plan with them - after completion of the repayment plan, they then re-lent to me again and as you can imagine, the cycle continued until i agreed a 2nd repayment plan with them. At this stage, I asked them to permanently bar me as a customer but unbelievably they lent to a me a 3rd time and I ended up in a 3rd cycle of repayment Their reason for refusing my complaint was that they used a product called Lending Metrics to assess affordability. I am absolutely sure there no income/expenditure info required provided for the roll-overs but any help on the actual roll-over process would help? Given the debt I was in, any product that looked at my credit file would have seen my credit rating was terrible

Hi Got a call from FOS saying that they have upheld my complaint against LTSB. THe complaint was made in November 2011. OH got a letter today from FOS apologising for the delay in dealing with her complaint but they hope to make a decision in 9 months. She complained in August last year.

Hi My PPI claim for a Halifax credit card has now been with the ombudsman for FOUR years and counting, seemingly without an end in sight. Only 11 months of that was spent waiting for my case to reach the front of the FOS queue to be assessed. The remaining 3+ years has been purely down to delaying tactics, stonewalling, and worse by the bank. I apologise for the long post, but to provide some detail: In March 2010 HBOS agreed, in writing, that I was due a refund & that this should be calculated according to the FOS guidelines, as this was "the only fair and reasonable way of addressing my complaint." HBOS then proceeded to make an offer that in no way followed the FOS guidelines and refused to explain its calculation (which is/was also a requirement of the FOS). After several months of stonewalling I took my complaint to the FOS. Both parties have agreed from the outset on the total amount of premiums due to be refunded. Both myself & the bank have every single statement for the account (physical first-hand documents), meaning all the necessary information to make a fair calculation is readily available. HBOS falsely claimed the account was closed sometime in 2010, despite ALL documented evidence emphatically proving otherwise. The account remains open and has NEVER been closed, nor the balance cleared. As mentioned, HBOS has stated it has all the statements for the account & is basing its calculations on said statements (ie no periods of estimation) so it is inconceivable that this could be a genuine oversight. And yet the bank remains unwilling to explain how & why it wrongfully claimed the account was closed. This claim would have effectively wiped off several years of (27.95%) interest due on the refund, amounting to thousands of pounds - this is according to their own calculator/formula sent with their last offer/breakdown sent in January 2014 - which still claimed the account was closed. The account still has a substantial balance and has never been lower than the total number of premiums added at any given point. 100% of the account balance is due to PPI and has been for years - there have been no new transactions on the account since 2007. Again, this is all evident in HBOS' own breakdown sent in January. As a result, I have continued to make monthly payments to the same bank that actually owes me thousands of pounds, solely towards a balance that would not even exist at this point if it were not for the premiums wrongfully added to the account by the bank! Despite all this, HBOS seemingly refuses to even respond to the ombudsman's requests for either a recalculation or even clarification on its formula and its claim the account was closed. Month after month I get an update saying they are still waiting to hear anything back. I am in total limbo and have no idea what to do now. My case should be a relatively straight-forward one & I don't think it would be possible for me to have more substantial & conclusive evidence to back up my claim, yet HBOS seems to act with total impunity. Any advice whatsoever would be greatly appreciated. I feel I have nowhere left to turn. Thanks

Hi people its been some time since i posted on here but i would like to get some legal advice if possible. I have been engaged in a legal battle with willowbrook and southern finance I’ve hit a brick wall and don’t know what’s the best step to take next. In June 2013 my step father was approached at his home by a mobility scooter sales man from willowbrook . He had brought a new scooter as a replacement for the one my step father already had . After the sales banter my stepfather was persuaded to trade in the scooter he had recently finished paying £4000 for and had only used appx 20 times, the salesman offered him £200 part exchange and a finance deal for £5700 for the newer scooter. My step father is 77 yrs old and has been being treated with morphine for his lower back pain over the last few years and is in no way responsible enough in mind to be signing massive finance agreements. The new scooter was delivered in mid june and upon first test found to be unsuitable because it caused my stepfather considerable pain when he tried to use it , so he contacted the seller and asked if it could be rectified he was told that the wheels were solid and that nothing could be done to make it more comfortable to ride. He then contacted me and asked me to help so i told him to return the goods under the sellers returns policy so he rang them and was fobbed off i rang them and had the phone put on hold then hung up on me , I contacted F O S office with my step fathers authorisation and asked them to help me return the goods under the sale of goods implied terms act 1973 and i asked that we move quickly and requested it be actioned before first payment on the finance became due and withing timescales and cancellation periods . After a short time we had a letter back stating that willowbrook don’t provide the finance they just arrange it, we then discovered who the lender was and wrote to R Raphael and son and awaited there response and waited then i phoned the F O S office to ask what was going on only to be told that the person dealing with the case had changed jobs at the F O S and that no action had been taken on the case this was in September 2013 and was already too late to implement supply of goods implied terms act. it was time to start again FOS then wrote to r Raphael again this went on until march this year when the case issued to an adjudicator who has found in favour of the businesses to my horror. I have not accepted the finding’s and asked the adjudicator to reconsider and he is not prepared to re’contact the business until i prove that my step father had phoned the company in June last year and he refuses to accept that we have been actively pursuing the company’s for financial redress since then. He has also told us that the evidence suggests my step father had accepted the goods. This is total crap are these people so stupid that they cant see what is laid out in front of them? I have fired evidences after evidences towards him via document scans that clarify the facts but still he awaits proof of one poxy telephone call.i have asked him to listen to recordings of calls i had with the ombudsmans office in june last year and he confirms there has been contact between me and his office.He also appears unaware of the credit ref agencys and the effects of adverse credit as he keepes asking why the finance is still being paid, I have asked to listen to the recordings he has of phone calls between my SF and me and the sellers and also asked if i should serve an SAR on the FOS to retrieve them. Since this question i have had no further correspondence . I believe that time scales alone have caused this case to go towards the seller and the lender and these time scales have been caused by the ombudsmans office , i am at my witts end with it and don’t know what to do next can somebody please help? Ps the Scooter has remained wrapped up in an unused state since the day it was delivered in an outhouse at my parents house the finance agreement is still being paid as my step father was worried about his credit rating. My step father is now permantly bed ridden and has 4 carers looking after him.

I've just been sending them that template letter that's been floating about along with a letter and 3 payslips from my employer as I'm well below the threshold. I've always deferred so they fortunately haven't got my bank details. I've received a couple of arrears letters including another as one telling me to only sign section 9 of the form. I've just sent them another back which is a mix of the template and saying how can I be in arrears when I'm under the threshold and have proven so. Also I received a phone call today from their call centre on my mobile. I have never given my mobile number to the SLC or them. how did they get my number? I'm not signing their form, I don't earn enough and have proven so. The whole thing stinks and also cheers to the people on these forums and elsewhere who are providing help and info. It's much appreciated in a world that cares more about money than people.

FOS Ombudsman upheld a very tricky complaint against Manchester Building Society, resulting in a liability of £37,000 being discharged and compensation of £1,000 being awarded. The adjudicator had turned it down, but the Ombudsman disagreed with that decision. It did take 12 months and 200 pages of evidence though!! My mum acted as guarantor for my son's first mortgage. Some years later it was changed from repayment to interest only (therefore bearing different risks and a different financial product) then later again to a buy to let mortgage. at no time was my mum advised by the Building Society of the change of product and risk, nor given the opportunity to object to the changes. When the house was repossessed (the full payment for the three months arrears having been returned!!! by the BS as my son was querying the arrears charges) It was deemed unreasonable of the BS to send a letter threatening then to repossess my mum's house unless she paid £37,000 immediately. This was the first time in a year of difficulties with the account that they had contacted her. It was adjudged that, since they knew she was his grandmother, they should have made sure that she not only took legal advice before agreeing to be a guarantor (which she did), but that the solicitor was given sufficient information about my grandson's credit status to be able to give informed advice(which he was not). Well worth the effort - but the extended worry did make my 77yr old mum very unwell.