Personal Loan Decision Reference 2023-0289

• Case Outcome: Rejected
• Year: 2023
• Date: 20 December 2023
• Reference: 2023-0289
• Subject Matter: Personal Loan
• Finantial Sector: Banking
• Conducts Complained Of: Refusals (banking),Dissatisfaction with customer service

Decision Ref:

2023-0289

Sector:

Banking

Product / Service:

Personal Loan

Conduct(s) complained of:

Refusals (banking)

Dissatisfaction with customer service

Outcome:

Rejected

LEGALLY BINDING DECISION OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND PENSIONS OMBUDSMAN

This complaint relates to the manner in which the Provider dealt with the request by the

Complainant for a Covid-19 related payment break in respect of the repayments due on a

loan.

The Complainant’s Case

The Complainant submits that he has a personal loan with the Provider which appears to

have been taken out in or around February 2020. The Complainant also explains that his

business had been forced to close on account of the Covid-19 pandemic and that

consequently his income had been reduced to only €250.00 (two hundred and fifty euro)

per week which he says the Provider would have been aware of from his bank statements.

The Complainant says that, in or around February 2021, he requested a “payment break”

in respect of his repayment due on the loan from the Provider, “until [he] get[s] back to

work.” The Complainant says that this request was not properly dealt with in that, at the

time he made his complaint to this office, his request for a payment break had not been

decided despite his having had “many discussions” with the Provider regarding his

circumstances and his request.

The Complainant says that the Provider treated his request as a loan application rather

than as a request for a “payment break” until he returned to work. The Complainant