My Mortgage Lender Has Damaged My Credit Rating – HELP!

Put your complaint in writing to the Woolwich and include evidence of what you have said here. Send a copy the letter to Call Credit and make sure you keep a copy for yourself.

If you are not happy with the final responses you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman - see >>> http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

You may be able to claim damages if you can prove that you have lost money due to an error on the part of the Woolwich. You will need to take professional advice on this - see >>> http://www.property118.com/member/?id=1945
.

"I thought I should pay the mortgage on the 9th of each month and so the following month I phoned the Woolwich"

I no longer trust building societies and banks with their ever increasing use of phone - ie no written record. Have tried to get them to use email without joy. IF I have to use the phone I always record the call.

In my humble opinion the problem lies with you thinking you can change the payment date without written confirmation..... but I could be wrong.

I have a similar issue at the moment with EE Orange and have had similar issues (not involving my credit files) with other companies in the recent past. I believe cutbacks on staff and company mergers cause this kind of thing - their internal processes become sloppy and communication between departments breaks down with customer service going out the window!

Follow Mark's advice about writing to Woolwich and Callcredit (it's also possible to email Callcredit - I contacted them this way recently about my Orange issue). Keep copies.

You can also get a notice of dispute put on your credit file with all three credit reference agencies - this means that when you apply for any credit, someone has to actually read through your file instead of just an automated scoring. It means the application takes longer to be approved, but at least you get to put your side and if it's a minor thing or a misunderstanding, you've more chance of being approved.

I'd also be inclined to check your Equifax and Experian files too if you haven't already.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "14/08/2014 - 12:48":

Thank you Mark Alexander. I have already complained to the Woolwich and now I am waiting for them to complete their investigation and get back to me.

Kind Regards

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "15/08/2014 - 09:24":

Hi Mandy

Thank you for your advice. I am now waiting for the Woolwich to complete their investigation. I have not yet written to Callcredit but i will now do that and get them to put notice of dispute on my credit file.

Kind Regards
Yunis

Reply to the comment left by "Mike W" at "14/08/2014 - 13:27":

Hi Mike

I agree with you in hindsight I should not have relied on the words of the Woolwich member of staff.

Having said that my mortgage payments still go out on the 3rd of each month, regardless of the fact that I wanted payments to go out on the 9th of each month.

So effectively my instructions were ignored while at the same time I was banished.

Kind Regards
Yunis

Reply to the comment left by "Yunis Abdi" at "15/08/2014 - 13:25":

Good luck, Yunis.

It really is a disgrace that companies are allowed this kind of power over such trivial things, especially when it seems they don't even stop to consider before placing these remarks on customer's files.

In the US, I believe they can only report a late payment if the payment is actually 30 days late - a bit fairer than the UK.

I want to remortgage at the moment (my mortgages are with TMW), but I'm reluctant to initiate this until 2 silly little late payment notifications are removed from my files.

These were placed by EE Orange over a mobile dongle contract that they were supposed to change to PAYG at my request, but didn't action at the time.

Their customer service team have apologised and agreed to remove the remarks, but their accounts people seem unable or unwilling to action this! In the meanwhile, I've contacted Callcredit, but they haven't come back to me.

Hi Mandy

Thank you so much for your earlier advice, I have now written to Callcredit & raised an objection, dispute as well as what they call notice of correction.

By the way good luck to you too with your effort to get EE Orange to remove the 2 late payments on your file.

If I can give you any advice considering my recent experience, it would be don't attempt to apply for a mortgage before you manage to get EE Orange to remove the 2 negative entries on your file, or at the very least you come to some sort of compromise/solution.

Also be proactive and explain to your mortgage broker, new lender about the issue with EE Orange.

In my case I had no idea that the Woolwich was secretly reporting me to Callcredit and was not able to explain why I had negative entries in my file.

One of the reasons why I was really disappointed with the Woolwich was that they have never ever written to me or contacted in anyway to inform me that my mortgage payments were late. Normally you would expect a lender to write to you and warn you if you are late with your mortgage payments.

Kind Regards
Yunis

Reply to the comment left by "Yunis Abdi" at "17/08/2014 - 21:12":

Thanks, Yunis.

Yes, you'd think they'd have written to you about your apparent late payments...

It seems that all these companies have too much power, and that lately that is being abused, as it seems the rules and legislation rely on them to self govern, putting the onus on them to ensure they have sufficient internal controls in place. However, it looks to me that because of staff shortages, lack of training and lack of adequate internal procedures, this hasn't always been happening...