It was the sudden and abrupt closure of my six-year-old current account without giving any reason, which triggered my troubles with the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank then demanded an immediate clearance of my overdraft amount which was strictly within the sanctioned limit. I expressed my inability to clear the entire sum of over £ 2000 in one go. Following an observation of the Financial Ombudsman Service that the bank should give me sufficient time to repay my OD limit, I was advised by the Credit Control Department of Royal Bank of Scotland to pay the OD in instalments. It was mutually agreed that I will clear the overdraft in equal instalments of £ 200 per month.

I abided by the agreement from my side and continued paying the instalments regularly till the time the overdraft was reduced to zero. The last instalment was paid in May 2007. Thereafter complete silence prevailed from the side of Royal Bank of Scotland. I was never ever contacted by any official of the Royal Bank of Scotland either by phone, by letter or by e-mail. I was under the impression that the OD has been paid off and nothing is due. Needless to mention that I still maintain a RBS Gold Credit Card with a reasonable credit limit, with all the payments up to date with my correct and current mailing address on the files of Royal Bank of Scotland. On 29th September 2007, I received a notice from Regal Credit Consultants Ltd. informing me that I owe a sum of £ 449.34 to Royal Bank of Scotland and the case is now being handled by this debt collection agency. I protested against the same seeking clarification as to why was a debt collection agency involved, when I am responding to all calls and fully cooperating with RBS Credit Control team making all efforts to clear the outstanding amounts. I was then informed by RBS Head Office (Over telephone) that Royal Bank of Scotland tried to contact me at my old home address and failed to get hold of me. I was accused of not informing Royal Bank of Scotland of my change of address which resulted in their failure to contact me. I replied that my current up to date address is available in your record as all my RBS Credit Card statements come to my new home address. I was told that the credit card department is separate from the Current Account Department and the Credit Control Department of Royal Bank of Scotland has recorded a default due to my failure to respond to their attempts to contact me. In short, without being given a chance to clear whatever was left of the outstanding OD amount, a default was recorded on my credit history at Experian and other credit rating agencies.

Following the receipt of a notice from Regal Credit Consultants Ltd., I immediately cleared the outstanding amount. This amount was paid on the same day on which I received a notice i.e. 29th September 2007. Now the problem is my credit history. I rang RBS Head office and spoke to a customer relations officer and explained the whole situation to him. He refused to help me on this account saying that the default recorded on my credit history was correct at the time of recording and will not be removed by Royal Bank of Scotland for the next six years. I protested against the same, but to no avail.

Then I wrote a letter to the RBS Customer Relations Manager on 24th October 2007 narrating all the events as detailed above. In reply I received a letter from the customer relations team of RBOS dated 15th November 2007 informing me that they are not willing to remove the default from my credit history. In January 2008, I filed a complaint against RBS with the Federal Ombudsman’s Office which is pending till today. My credit file has a blot of a default which has been settled ages ago. But every time, I apply for any financial deal, I get refused because of a default present on my credit history.

Is there a way out? Can anybody help?

In my view there is a LOT you can do about this ....but knowing RBS like I do (and I know them real well) you will have to fight them...Iwill be back with a few things to hit them with, in the meantime I am sure some other CAG members will be giving you pointers as well.

sparkie

Hi Sparkie1723,

Nobody else has cropped up with any idea. Could you please advise what could be done to undo the default on my credit history.

Thanks

Ray786

Ray

You have come to the right place!

You have given very informative information. Which helps the many people on this forum give advice without having to ask you loads more questions.

However, the VERY best person to help you is Sparkie! He's been doing this for a while now and I hope that he might take an interest in your situation.

D

Hi there Ray,

The first thing you should point out to the RBS is this.

They have all your personal details as you hold a Credit Card issued by them, irrespective of their statement that it is a different department, when you signed the Fair processing notice on the application for your credit card …it would have stated……."We will share your personal details and information to other companies in our group"….I would emphasise the words WE WILL share your details. This is a statement of intent and if they do not carry out this intent ....That is a negligent mis statement that has caused you loss and damage.... ( Mis-Representation Act 1967)

Therefore the responsibility for one department not doing what they said they would/will do is not your responsibility, it is the Bank as a group.

Therefore the default has been registered later by way of their negligence and failure to do what they said they will do and is therefore unlawful.

A Breach of the Second Principle of the DPA ..."a data subject must not be deceived or misled in the manner which his data is processed"

This is just for starters I will come back with a bit more later ..I’m a bit busy with the RBS myself but “I will be back” …l………..as Arnold used to say

sparkie

Have you been in contact with the FOS to find out what the delay is?

Have you done an SAR on the RBS as this should disclsoe the reason for the sudden account closure.

You say that you repaid until a zero balance. How come there was then a £440 odd balance outstanding. What was that due to?

Did they not send you any statements during your repayment - either to your old or your new address?

FOS says it has a long backlog. It will take another few months to deal with the application.

I categorically asked the reason for the sudden losure of my account. They refused to disclose the same or even discuss the matter further.

Although I repaid till the zero balance according to my calculation. But the bank calculates things differently. I think it was interest accrued plus the compound interest.

No. RBS did not send me any statement during the period I was paying them instalments - neither to my old address nor to my new address.