Thank you for your reply and advice and yes all 3 credit refrence agency’s have been checked and everything is correct with no debt at any other address. It clearly shows on each report that she’s been living at her current address since 2014 and the electoral register on the reports also confirm this. All very strange

Hello everyone I’m looking to get some help if possible please my partner recently applied to open a new HSBC bank account for the cash incentive via the online system. The account she applied for some reason was declined but then instantly offered a standard basic account instead which she accepted and the card and pin arrived a few days later. The following week another letter arrived in a large envelope again from hsbc this time stating they had now closed the account without warning or notice due to not meeting the banks criteria. Strange but ok fair enough she’s not wanted as a customer until she noticed it was hand signed by someone from the fraud analyst department Becoming very worried she contacted the bank who refused to tell her anything and was then advised to send a SAR request to HSBC bank and also CIFAS. Friday she received a letter from CIFAS with a Single CIFAS FRAUD listing from HSBC BANK under the heading APPLICATION FRAUD that she did not list a previous address with adverse history APPLICATION GRANTED This is absolutely disgusting she’s done nothing wrong currently been living in the same house since June 2014 so we’ll over 4 years now. HSBC application page clearly asks for 3 years address history which she’s obviously listed her current address so nothing makes sense at all. She’s sent the HSBC ceo a email who’s replied today with this ( I can understand your frustration in that we ask for any addresses in the last three years and you moved four years ago, so shouldn't have to supply another address. However, we had information there was adverse credit data accrued in your name at a different address within the last three years. I'm very sorry for any confusion caused but we have correctly followed our process. We also correctly reported the instance to CIFAS, as we have an obligation to do. I'm understand this may not be the outcome you were looking for but I hope this has helped to explain our position. If you feel the information we had was incorrect, you may want to check with the Credit Reference Agencies. We use three agencies, Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. ) We are both extremely upset and worried about this issue as she’s done absolutely nothing wrong and is now obviously petrified that all her other financial dealings with other banks etc will see this and close everything down. What do you suggest we now do and has anyone else had issues like this previously that could advise we would be very grateful

Hello everyone I’ve had a email this afternoon from the ombudsman service to say that brighthouse have now responded to them and I’ve attached the letter he sent me today. I’m a bit concerned though on his response and on exactly what brighthouse have issued him compared to what they sent me in my SAR request. I’m also unhappy that I now have to do all the running around gathering everything he’s requested when brighthouse should have already had this information when they did the affordability checks My complaint is against brighthouse not doing the correct level of checks yet it’s now me providing the evidence instead of brighthouse which I find wrong He also states about seeing my credit report from 2011 to present yet that only lists things from 6 years so it wouldn’t show anything from 2011 that hes requested and he states brighthouse would have seen the information when they did the credit checks yet brighthouse never used to do credit checks until the last few years Here is the email he sent I’ve gone back to the business to ask them for their comments in relation to the point I mentioned previously as to whether your loans in May 2011 are in or out of our jurisdiction. As I’ve previously explained, it’ll be my decision as to whether they are, but in the interest of fairness I will consider the comments of both sides. However, having reviewed the files they’ve sent across, and the information you’ve provided, it’s now apparent that I’ll need substantial evidence from yourself to show that these loans were unaffordable at the time you took them. I’ll need to see: 1. A copy of your credit file, which you should be able to obtain for free 2. Your employment history for the period 01 January 2011 to present (you can get this from HMRC’s online portal) 3. Your bank statements for the period 01 January 2011 to present. As these go back several years you may need to write to your bank to request older copies of your statements, or visit a branch. As I explained previously, I’ll have to check to see whether I think the checks done by Brighthouse are proportionate. If they are, then that is the end of our process and will be my view on your complaint. That’s why I’ll need to see your credit report, because that will have been checked by Brighthouse before you took out the loans. If there was something in your credit report which I think should have alerted BrightHouse to a need for further checks, it’s unlikely I’ll think their checks were proportionate. If I think they weren’t proportionate checks, then I’ll need to consider whether the agreements were unaffordable at the time you took them out. In order to do that, I’ll need to see your bank statements and your employment history. That’s so I can work out how much you were earning, and how much disposable income you had with which to borrow. At that point, I’ll give you a call to discuss what I find and we can take it forward from there. I understand it’s quite a lot of information to provide, but please do let me have your bank statements, credit file, and employment history by Monday 28th May. If I don’t hear from you by then, I will have to make my view based on the information I have available. You can either email me the documents, or send them to the address below by post. If you’ve any questions or comments, please do let me know.

Thank you

UPDATE Morning everyone I’m just checking in to update you on where I am with brighthouse and the financial ombudsman service My case was finally assigned to a investigator last week and contact was made with myself for more information because he needed proof that I’d complained to brighthouse before the 6 year rule on the 2011 items which brighthouse bluntly refused to look into I issued him my proof along with other items that were included from my SAR request to help my case and I’m so glad to have received a email from the investigator this morning to now confirm that he’s happy with what I’ve sent in and that It proved that I’d complained before the 6 year rule and he will now be looking at all 2011 items He’s gone onto say he’s now got to request more information from brighthouse and paperwork etc but due to the issues brighthouse have faced it’s taking around 6 weeks to receive back the information but that’s fine as things are now progressing I’ve also sent brighthouse another email to request all the information that was missing from my SAR request if they don’t comply who do I then go to ? Is it the ICO ? Thanks everyone

Yes you are correct after further inspection they both look like they are from Lowell’s and she disputed it in December 2017 with the ceo as she didn’t think she had dealings with British Gas but turns out its Sainsbury’s energy who was actually run by British Gas. Yes she still has the emails sent and received from the ceo’s Office he also supplied the 2 bills for the accounts with estimated reads So would you recommend She sends them something with the new address just to make sure they don’t send a claim form to the old address to catch her out with a ccj ?

Just gone through her sent emails and she never told them of the new address only listed the previous address, so British Gas and Lowell must of obtained our new address from the credit reference agency.

Correct she moved from the property in 2014 I think it was and no contact with them since moving until the email she sent them a few months ago

Sorry i will In future

Hello everyone just looking for some advice please if possible my partner found 2 defaults on her credit report in December 2017 both for British Gas one electric and one gas. The amounts in total are £500 she sent a email to the ceo office to dispute the accounts etc, the office replied stating it’s from a previous address under Sainsbury’s energy and was from October 2013 and January 2014 so not statue barred and were apparently estimated reads. She completely forgot to reply back today 2 separate letters arrived to my new address from Lowell stating British Gas had sold the accounts to them and wanted payment. Upon checking her credit file today the defaults are still showing but now with £0 balances still showing as British Gas. Dose anyone know if they will now start adding charges to the debt ? Or how I’d go about doing a full and final settlement reduced amount to get it ended ? Any help is grateful thank you

Quick update - My claim is now currently awaiting an agent from the ombudsman service to take on my case but after chatting to the ombudsman service via twitter and then on the phone around a month ago the person pushed my claim on and also looked into me cashing the cheque. He came back after around 10mins and stated he personally gives me permission to cash the cheque because brighthouse have paid out in full for their mistakes and that’s not what my claim is for. I’m claiming for the items brighthouse feel they did the correct level of checks on he was also annoyed with way the final response was written in regards to cashing the cheque and no mention of full and final settlement he also made notes on the customer relations department refusing to talk to me about my complaint as it’s now with the ombudsman service again he wasn’t happy with that response and he’s added his thoughts to my case so all good on that front. The cheque has been cashed and cleared. I also requested my SAR information they had 40 days to comply and that deadline was up on Saturday 17th March. Friday 16th March 1 day before the deadline while I was out they hand delivered the information and left them with my neighbor so just in time I’m not very happy with the information though and there are lots of things that are missing like previous complaints not a single mention of the complaints made to the ceo office on whom I complained to a number of times over the years regarding irresponsible lending and other issues.. They have also used a black marker pen and hidden a number of things listed under comments ??? I was under the impression that wasn’t allowed As obviously it’s information about me and my recent complaints. I’d love some feedback on that if possible? They also included which I’ve been saying all along on how bad they were and included a incentive letter they issued me while I had 9 agreements running asking me to take out further items and they will reward me with gifts and vouchers lol bearing in mind this was sent when they have admitted they didn’t do the correct level of checks with no proof of income or expenditure. They also go on to say they have no information for my items before 2014 yet have included the information i needed about the items from 2011. They have contradicted themselves quite a bit I’m going to have a good read of everything over the next day or so and see what’s what to better my complaint with the ombudsman service.

Noted sorry

That’s now done and sent off thank you again it’s all been included, just reading this letter it’s absolutely laughable at there excuses I can’t wait for the ombudsman to read it

100% currently filling in their forms online as we speak can I ask what about the items 3 from May 2011 just outside of the 6 years that they claim it to late can I include these ?

Sorry I’ve just had another read of this and In fact it states at the end they are not upholding my complaint for 5 agreements as they state the correct checks were completed for instance it says against the Acer tablet i issued a single payslip and no expenditure form ? It also states because I had a good payment record that was good enough ? I don’t think so somehow so this is definitely going to the ombudsman service. Dose this mean I can’t cash the cheque then now as I’m disputing the other items ?

UPDATE 3/02/2018 Hi guys the long awaited final decision letter has arrived and yet again they completely lied on the phone yesterday (nothing new ) the letter is actually quite in depth and lists all costs and reasons it’s around 5 pages long. In a nut shell they have stated that I was 1000% correct and on 10 agreements taken out from November 2011 - July 2014 the correct checks weren’t completed for instance some agreements had no income or expenditure what so ever like I stated all along and also some were simply Used with a single wage slip no expenditure completed and then other agreements assessed using simply my payment record as again I’ve stated all along It states they are not refunding the £3553.50 made towards the cash value of the items during my rental period as you have received the benefit from having the items ( Where do I stand with this part as the cash value is completely over the top and only used to take out the agreements had I not used Brighthouse I would have purchased these items far cheaper in say currys ? The letter goes onto say there is another 3 x Agreements they haven’t included because they were taken out in May 2011 and it’s just outside of the 6 years by a few months because I made the complaint in October 2017 is that allowed ? They clearly have the information as they have listed all 3 items in the letter ? I only stopped paying them well under the 6 years so can they be included because they are very high value items ? MIA SETTEE X 2 SAMSUNG SMART TV APPLE IPAD BREAK DOWN OF PAYMENT FOR CHEQUE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID £6828.86 CASH PRICE OF ITEMS £3553.50 DIFFRENCE BETWEEN TOTAL PAID AND PROPORTION OF CASH PRICE PAID,I.E INTEREST & CHARGES APPLIED £3275.36 8% SIMPLE INTEREST ON DIFFRENCE £950.49 TOTAL PAYABLE (INCLUDING 8%SIMPLE TAX) TAX DEDUCTIBLE ON INTEREST £190.10 TOTAL PAYABLE TO YOU £4035.76 It then states it’s their final response and I have 6 months to go to the ombudsman service So what do you guys think ?

Brilliant fingers crossed then thanks

Quick update = No letter arrived today I contacted customer relations and they stated the escalations department are the ones that had been dealing with my complaint and the refund is for their redress program the one I called about in October to be told I wasn’t entitled to anything ������ which is why I made the complaint due to taking out 3 items in July 2014. They apparently didn’t have the figures to issue me and stated it also won’t tell me in the letter so I’m a little confused on how I’m supposed to know what’s what. What I have done this afternoon is I’ve sent off a SAR request to Brighthouse with a £10 cheque asking for all my information including credit agreements and all correspondence and also the proof of what affordability checks they have completed on me. I have looked at my credit report today on noodle there is still 17 settled accounts from them on my closed section with partial account numbers will have to see exactly what they have to say about all the other items because they never completed any affordability checks on me what so ever other than asking for payslips on the very odd occasion never once asking about outgoings or doing credit checks etc had they done them they would never had lent to me due to my financial situation hence the reason for using Brighthouse in the first place. I will say though that around 3 years ago I tried to order a 3 piece suite and that was the only time in all them years they did actually do the affordability checks I walked away because I wasn’t used to the scrutiny of the young woman asking for and then dissecting my bank statements asking about the lottery payments and gambling etc along with other stuff I actually cancelled the application half way through and walked out and never ordered from them ever again which was a blessing in the end. Has anyone ever done the SAR request to Brighthouse just looking to see what I can expect to receive back from them in terms of what I’ve requested ?

Thanks both yet again for your advice I’ll wait for the letter to arrive and update once received

The letter simply says In relation to your complaint referenced above please find a cheque for £4035.76 Please refer to your Fiinal Response letter dated the 30/01/2018 Yours sincerely Brighthouse

Hello good afternoon everyone I’m looking for some help please with regards to BrightHouse. I was a customer for around 13 years in total and I’m ashamed to say spent in excess of £35k in total �� I finished paying everything off in April last year and it was the happiest day of my life in October 2017 I see the reports of BrightHouse being ordered to repay a certain amount of money back to its customers for not doing the correct financial checks. I was very excited because I believe I was never financially checked in the correct way because I was classed as a top customer never missing payments and spending so much on items they never actually checked that I could afford anything in truth we did struggle with the weekly payments not that they cared. It got to a stage that the manager would come to my house to sell me stuff and for me to simply sign paperwork I called customer services up in November 2017 and asked was I entitled to any refund to be told £0 even though I took out 3 large items in July 2014 I then went onto to make a complaint and state everything as I’ve stated above etc etc. I received a letter in December saying they were still investigating my complaint today completely out of the blue I had a BrightHouse letter that had to be signed for. Upon opening the letter it simply says please find a cheque for over £4K and a letter will follow shortly regarding my complaint. My question simply is if I cash this cheque before I receive the letter will I still be able to take it further with the financial ombudsman service ? Or is it simply if I cash the cheque I accept their decision and that’s the end of it ? Also has anyone had this kind of refund and claimed further ? thanks again and sorry for the long post

Hello good morning I’m struggling to sleep due to the constant worrying after yesterday’s phone call regarding my housing benefit and council tax Benefit claims. My partner started a new job at the end of September and after notifying the council of her new job I must admit was around a month after starting the claim was suspended for 2 months after them requesting pay slips and dates she called again yesterday for a update. She came off the phone in tears stating we are £7000 in arrears £5k in housing benefit and £1900 council tax arrears. We fully dispute the amounts owed it also transpires that they hadn’t even updated her previous new job that she started in February. They have now asked for the last 2 years worth of payslips which we have they have stated they will take £11 a week out of our new housing benefit Payments weekly to cover the £5k but council tax are demanding the full amount now something we just don’t have with the threats of court and prison could someone advise on what we can possibly do to get help with the council tax arrears ? I’ve asked for a new review to be done once I take in the payslips on Wednesday but that’s going to take a while to sort we currently are extremely worried with 4 young children a few days before Xmas I seriously don’t know what to do next thanks in advance and sorry for the long post

UPDATE I received a final response letter today off brighthouse they have completely ignored most of my complaint just wrote a load of rubbish about the early settlement figure I'm now going to the financial ombudsman service regarding everything and all my other issues and for anyone even thinking about using brighthouse please don't

Hello Rahul sorry to ask in the email I sent I stated that I wouldn't be talking on the phone anymore to brighthouse regarding my complaint and that I just wanted everything in writing along with The final response from brighthouse so I can seek help from the financial ombudsman service today I've had a missed call and message from brighthouse with a Watford number and asking me to call customer relations ??? Could you please pass on the message again that I will not be dealing with them on the phone and everything needs to be in writing please thank you

Yes I'm guessing I'm going to get the exact same treatment I'm just so glad I now have less than 6 months left and can finally move on. I'll post up the reply when I receive it