Nationwide

[Robertxc]

I'm currently having to use the Ombudsman to get Nationwide to remove the Default they posted at Equifax. Nationwide are only prepared to mark it as 'settled', even though they've agreed a full refund of charges.

 

I'll let you know ho w I get on.

[BankFodder]

That is very nasty of them.

I think that it shows that we need to advise people not to accept goodwill payments without an agreement to remove default entries.

I shall put an entry into the FAQs

 

However, if the Ombudsman won't help you the there may be other ways.

 

Did you accept the payment in full and final settlement?

[Robertxc]

Well, it's a little complicated...Nationwide are suing me for for £1500 after I told them I was only going to pay £600 (I deducted the charges). At this point they demanded all their money back and started their collection process. When they sued me, I put in the defence version of the argument which everyone here uses: they can't sue me for penalty charges. I also put in a counteclaim for damages of £200 per month until the default notice which they had posted is removed, on the basis that if there had been no charges, there would have been no default.

 

When we got to court they offered to walk away from their claim, if I walked away from mine "with no costs due by or to either party". This suited me fine, and the lawyer on the day agreed that the default would be removed. Interestingly, they wanted to walk away from the whole thing, even the bit which I actually did owe them! Result...or so I thought.

 

The lawyer who was in the court was just a local agent for the big law firm who do Nationwide's dirty work for them. A short while after the hearing they made it clear that they were simply not prepared to remove the default, because as they saw it, the account was in default. They were only prepared to mark it as 'settled', which is no use at all.

 

We went through three seperate hearings with me refusing point blank to even entertain the idea of settling on those terms, especially since I was able to point to the Banking Code which specifically prohibits them from posting a default 'if the amount owed is in dispute'. Considering Nationwide posted the default a month after starting their action, they are hardly in a position to claim that 'the amount owed is not in dispute'.

 

This was beginning to get messy. Eventually, the judge decided that the matter of whether or not the Default should have been posted should be decided by the FOS. In order to do that, I'm supposed to make a complaint about it to Nationwide and request a 'final answer' before the FOS can consider it.

 

 

...and so far the 'final answer has not been forthcoming, so I have a couple of ideas about how to ramp up the pressure. I was very interested to see what Stephen managed to achieve with his threat of a Declaration.

 

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Russe11]

Ah well its seems you are best off getting your foot in first, why did the judge rule that the FOS should make the decesision, surley you was contesting the leagalities ?

[BankFodder]

On what basis did you calculate £200 per month?

[Robertxc]

Russe11, the sticking point to settling was the default, and this is what the judge wanted decided by the FOS

[Robertxc]

The £200 per month was calculated from the fact that as soon as the default hit my otherwise blameless credit file, I was instantly denied access to cheaper credit. I calculated that if I shopped around for the best mortgage deals etc., I could save about £200 per month - but obviously not with a Default on my credit file.

[BankFodder]

The £200 a month would have been struck out.

[Robertxc]

Probably, but they would have had to continue the case to find out. Remember, mine was a counterclaim, which would have been dealt with after theirs.

[Robertxc]

This topic was closed on 03/05/19.

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