GE Money giving incorrect information to Irish Credit Bureau

Lemlin

In the middle of getting a mortgage at the minute. I have a car loan with GE Money. Had a loan on a previous car with them too. Anyway, the bank rang me to say one payment was showing up as missed with the Irish Credit Bureau on my previous car loan. A car loan that I actually cleared when there was 3k left on it.

I rang GE Money and it turned out this was a payment from years ago where they never received the direct debit because of some error. They blamed the bank at the time and the bank blamed them. They were paid in cheque anyway and I continued on with the payments until I cleared the loan.

However, some idiot in there went into the file and didn't read the notes (according to the girl yesterday) and sent the information onto the Irish Credit Bureau as a missed payment. The girl yesterday apologised profusely and said that she'll get a form sent to the ICB to wipe the record asap. They are also faxing me a letter confirming it was their fault to give to the bank.

I'm not too happy about this at all though. Is there anything I could do or what rights do I have?

jor el

Lemlin wrote: »

I'm not too happy about this at all though. Is there anything I could do or what rights do I have?

They're fixing the error, and accepting responsibility for it. What more do you want?

leeroybrown

Clerical errors happen. They appear to be doing their best to get it fixed quickly. Once they confirm with the ICB that the missed payment should be removed it'll be gone. Unless there are further delays or problems then you've done all you can do. Be thankful that you're dealing with a professional and helpful lender about the issue.

dudara

They're doing the right thing here by getting your record straightened out. And when it comes to the mortgage, you can get the bank to rerun their check and/or show them the letter from GE. It's a little extra hassle I know, but they are cleaning up the mess for you.

Lemlin

jor el wrote: »

They're fixing the error, and accepting responsibility for it. What more do you want?

No error in the first place would be a start. A person's credit rating is something very important. They shouldn't be making needless errors like this.

Surely the agent should have been checking the notes correctly before sending information through to impact something as large as a person's credit rating.

leeroybrown

Clerical errors happen. No process involving human processing will ever be completely error free.

Cabaal

Lemlin wrote: »

No error in the first place would be a start. A person's credit rating is something very important. They shouldn't be making needless errors like this.

Surely the agent should have been checking the notes correctly before sending information through to impact something as large as a person's credit rating.

yes they should have checked by to error is human, it sucks but as long as they corrected it in a reasonable timeframe and you still get the loan whats the problem?

seagull

Cabaal wrote: »

yes they should have checked by to error is human

I suppose you've just proved your humanity.

Nody

Lemlin wrote: »

Surely the agent should have been checking the notes correctly before sending information through to impact something as large as a person's credit rating.

ROFL; are you aware of the space shuttle that got blown up on Mars because someone coverted yards and meters wrong? Tens of millions wasted because some one could not check up something simple and it happens every single day.

That is why you always want to minimize human interaction and touches in a process because they WILL make mistakes by the very fact that they are humans.

Lemlin

Cabaal wrote: »

yes they should have checked by to error is human, it sucks but as long as they corrected it in a reasonable timeframe and you still get the loan whats the problem?

Spoke to GE Money again today. They now reckon I will have to wait on the letter until Monday :mad:

At this stage, I'm not happy at all. Its hard enough to get a mortgage without false information being on my credit file. I now had to ring the bank and explain that GE Money are holding me up yet again :mad: The woman there seemed rather cynical that they had promised me a letter yesterday but now said I had to wait until Monday. I'd say she's wondering at the back of her mind is there something I'm not telling her.

She also said that any information the bank are passing onto the ICB has to go through rigorous checks and be signed by at least one manager. You may all laugh and joke on about "human error" but why aren't GE Money going through these rigorous checks?

GE Money now reckon the application to have the false information removed was sent to the wrong department. They had to send it back and now the right department are only getting it today. It'll be Monday when they have it through.

How many mess ups can they make? Surely when they've fooked someone over they should be willing to push my letter to top priority and get it sorted.

Lemlin

leeroybrown wrote: »

Clerical errors happen. No process involving human processing will ever be completely error free.

Yes, but should they not have checks in place to ensure they aren't effecting something that has a large effect on someone's life.

The bank could easily have just said no and not come back to me and asked me to explain the false information. A broker has already told me that several banks would do that, especially at the minute. The minute they see a missed payment or something of the like, someone is instantly declined.

So the "clerical errors happen" line doesn't sit here tbh. This is information that could really effect someone's life. GE Money shouldn't be just sending it through so easily. Even the woman in the bank said that.

leeroybrown

Lemlin wrote: »

She also said that any information the bank are passing onto the ICB has to go through rigorous checks and be signed by at least one manager. You may all laugh and joke on about "human error" but why aren't GE Money going through these rigorous checks?

Of course they said that. Banks make these cock ups from time to time too. The bank's "rigourous checks" will probably involve the person who misread the file passing a request to a manager who in turn signs off on it on the basis that there was a missed payment without any further examination.

Lemlin wrote: »

Yes, but should they not have checks in place to ensure they aren't effecting something that has a large effect on someone's life.

As I said, you can never have sufficient checks in place in a human process to ensure that errors don't happen.

It's not particularly peasant but there's not much that you can do about it in practice.

El Camino

Banks have serious obligations in this regard from a Data Protection perspective. They have an obligataion to keep your information accurate and up to date. This would appear to be a failure on their part to do so. You could politely point this out to them and suggest that you are considering referring your concerns to the Data Protection Commissioner. I'm sure that will get them moving...

I've also seen incidents where the Financial ombudsman has ordered compensation to be paid to an individual who was unjustly impacted in such a manner. It might be worth a look and I'm sure referring to such incidents will ensure a more swift response.

jor el

Lemlin wrote: »

Spoke to GE Money again today. They now reckon I will have to wait on the letter until Monday :mad:

But how exactly are they going to get a letter sent out over the weekend? A mistake was made, poor form and hard on you, yes, but mistakes happen, but it is being rectified. And of course it would be better if the mistake wasn't made in the first place, but it has, and you can't change that now. You're looking for the impossible.

MOH

Nody wrote: »

ROFL; are you aware of the space shuttle that got blown up on Mars because someone coverted yards and meters wrong? Tens of millions wasted because some one could not check up something simple and it happens every single day.

Uh, no. they're sending shuttles to mars now

ejmaztec

MOH wrote: »

Uh, no. they're sending shuttles to mars now

We all make mistakes.

Lemlin

jor el wrote: »

But how exactly are they going to get a letter sent out over the weekend? A mistake was made, poor form and hard on you, yes, but mistakes happen, but it is being rectified. And of course it would be better if the mistake wasn't made in the first place, but it has, and you can't change that now. You're looking for the impossible.

How am I looking for the impossible? I phoned on Thursday. They told me they would have a letter on Friday. I then rang Friday and they said it would be Monday as they had made another mistake and sent it to the wrong department. Is it asking for the impossible to ask that they send it to the correct department? Or that they rush it through because they are now making a catalogue of errors?

I rang again yesterday and it now turns out they are saying that the other department (which they had no problem telling me has a 24 hour turnaround) failed to reach its targets so hasn't gotten to my file yet. Is it that much to ask that someone in there does their job correctly?

I'll post more on this below but I already have a complaint typed out and have told them I'm going to the financial services ombudsman, which I have every intention of doing.

Lemlin

El Camino wrote: »

Banks have serious obligations in this regard from a Data Protection perspective. They have an obligataion to keep your information accurate and up to date. This would appear to be a failure on their part to do so. You could politely point this out to them and suggest that you are considering referring your concerns to the Data Protection Commissioner. I'm sure that will get them moving...

I've also seen incidents where the Financial ombudsman has ordered compensation to be paid to an individual who was unjustly impacted in such a manner. It might be worth a look and I'm sure referring to such incidents will ensure a more swift response.

I've already told them I am going to the financial services ombudsman. I rang again yesterday and got nowhere with them. They said that their other department, which supposedly has a 24 hour turnaround, hasn't gotten to my file yet, despite it allegedly being sent to them on Friday.

I'm also writing to ask them for all the information on my file which they say will take 3 weeks to get. Does anyone know if I am also entitled to ask for tapes of the conversations?

My partner also rang for me at one stage because I was at work. They spoke to her about the file until they realised she was speaking on behalf of a disgruntled customer and then they pulled out the Data Protection Line. They had no problem discussing the file until they noticed there were problems.

She said that we'd ring back later and asked the fella there for his name and the name of his manager. He gave her his name but said he couldn't give his manager's name under the Data Protection Act!!!!! Since when can you not give a manager's name under the Data Protection Act!? She tried explaining to him that his manager's name didn't fall under information on the file so he should be able to give it but he refused to do so.

I then rang yesterday evening. At the third time of asking the agent, I got a manager. He explained that the staff shouldn't have told me the information they did. And that they couldn't do a letter so they shouldn't have said one could be done. Another department would have to do the letter. I asked him did their staff always give out "false and misleading" information and he denied the information was "false and misleading" - what else is telling someone you will have a letter for them when you haven't the authority to say that :mad:

He said another department (the one with the magical 24 hour turnaround time that they aren't meeting) should be doing the letter. I asked why they set targets they couldn't reach and he said GE Money are a company that are honest with people and don't fob people off like sales companies. So what exactly are they doing to me?

He also said this was the first he'd heard of the file. Now either he or an agent is lieing because we were told earlier that a manager was looking into the file.

I'm sure there are plenty of people on here work in call centres but every rule of basic customer service is being broken here.

1. They are telling us they will look into things and call back at certain times and they don't.
2. They are making promises to us that they can't keep.
3. The manager, who should be looking to calm us down, told us he may not be at his desk when we ring tomorrow. Would it not be better to say he may not be at his desk but he would ring us back?
4. Their manager and the staff are happy to lay the blame on each other or on another department. Should they not be respresenting the company as a whole, particularly the manager?

He left it with me that he would get onto it and have something for us this morning. I'd like to point out that at no stage did I use foul or abusive language with them. I did argue my point but I think I have every right to.

Since Thursday we've been fobbed off and told we'd have a letter. We have been feeding this information back to the bank and it now looks to the bank like there is some sort of problem we are trying to hide as we have been telling them we'd have a letter since Friday.

foggy_lad

you should get off the phone to these clowns and write an old fashioned letter to them and also email them a copy, they will fob you off on the phone till your ears fall off but can not ignore an official formal complaint as it is your next step before legal action.

you should report this to the financial ombudsman but their first reply to you will probably be to ask you to make a formal complaint to the company.

leeroybrown

You do seem to be past the simple 'clerical error' stage now. They've had their chance to quickly resolve the problem and have now strayed into the 'incompetence' area. As foggy_lad says you now need to enter the area of a formal written complaint.

Lemlin

foggy_lad wrote: »

you should get off the phone to these clowns and write an old fashioned letter to them and also email them a copy, they will fob you off on the phone till your ears fall off but can not ignore an official formal complaint as it is your next step before legal action.

you should report this to the financial ombudsman but their first reply to you will probably be to ask you to make a formal complaint to the company.

Heard from a girl in their complaints department this morning. She said that the error has been amended on their side but that they are waiting for the ICB to update their file.

I've already told them I'll be writing a letter and asking for all of the notes on my file. I have the letter typed up and ready to go. Did it yesterday evening when everything was fresh in my memory and didn't mind spending an hour doing it because I'm that wound up.

I just want to get the letter at this stage and then I really am going to tackle them. The attitude on here is too much the attitude of Irish people - "mistakes happen" etc. The funny thing is I work in a company where we deal with UK and Irish people and its amazing what Irish people will put up with compared to our counterparts across the water.

Yes, mistakes happen but you don't fook someone over repeatedly when you're that in the wrong. There is no way I'm going to let this one drop. I will be sending them in my formal complaint and then following up with the ombudsman.

Lemlin

leeroybrown wrote: »

You do seem to be past the simple 'clerical error' stage now. They've had their chance to quickly resolve the problem and have now strayed into the 'incompetence' area. As foggy_lad says you now need to enter the area of a formal written complaint.

Incompetence! They've fooked everything they could up so far.

I'm wondering if the cleaner in GE Money can do his job correctly at this stage because it doesn't seem anyone else can. Between three different staff we couldn't get one to look after us properly and all they seem concerned with was trying to keep us away from speaking to a manager.

jor el

Lemlin wrote: »

Heard from a girl in their complaints department this morning. She said that the error has been amended on their side but that they are waiting for the ICB to update their file.

3 days to fix the error is pretty good. The only issue I'd have is with the false information they gave to you about which department was responsible for what, and sending you the letter where they accept responsibility.

Since the error has been fixed, I'd doubt the financial ombudsman will care, unless there are further repercussions resulting from their handling of the issue. Your best bet is a formal complaint with GE regarding their poor customer service, and misinformation, and see what they say.

Lemlin

jor el wrote: »

3 days to fix the error is pretty good. The only issue I'd have is with the false information they gave to you about which department was responsible for what, and sending you the letter where they accept responsibility.

Since the error has been fixed, I'd doubt the financial ombudsman will care, unless there are further repercussions resulting from their handling of the issue. Your best bet is a formal complaint with GE regarding their poor customer service, and misinformation, and see what they say.

3 days may be pretty good but why tell us 24 hours and have 24 hour targets that they tell customers if they can't meet them?

We would have told the bank it'd take 3 days to get the letter if they had just told us that.

The formal complaint is already ready to be sent. Am I within my rights to request copies of the phone conversations??

RangeR

Lemlin wrote: »

3 days may be pretty good but why tell us 24 hours and have 24 hour targets that they tell customers if they can't meet them?

We would have told the bank it'd take 3 days to get the letter if they had just told us that.

The formal complaint is already ready to be sent. Am I within my rights to request copies of the phone conversations??

I believe, under the data protection act, you are. I may be wrong, though.

Cabaal

Lemlin wrote: »

Am I within my rights to request copies of the phone conversations??

If they record them I'd imagine you can request them under the Data Protection Act, you'll need to find out how much the DPA request is because they aren't free they usually cost 10e off hand

They can take upto (afaik) 40 days to respond to such requests, the law allows for this btw

Lemlin

Cabaal wrote: »

If they record them I'd imagine you can request them under the Data Protection Act, you'll need to find out how much the DPA request is because they aren't free they usually cost 10e off hand

They can take upto (afaik) 40 days to respond to such requests, the law allows for this btw

They told me it costs €6.35 so I've told them I'll pay that.

I don't mind how long it takes but I'm not letting it rest. I'll also be bringing all the information to my solicitor when I go to see her about the house and seeing if I can make any legal challenge.

Between my partner and I we've wasted about €30 in credit ringing them so I think they should be reinbursing that at least.

Cabaal

Lemlin wrote: »

They told me it costs €6.35 so I've told them I'll pay that.

I don't mind how long it takes but I'm not letting it rest. I'll also be bringing all the information to my solicitor when I go to see her about the house and seeing if I can make any legal challenge.

Between my partner and I we've wasted about €30 in credit ringing them so I think they should be reinbursing that at least.

Yeah that amount seems about right, they can legally charge a fee and if you refuse to pay it then you won't get anything

In fairness without incurring costs you eally don't need to just make a formal complaint to GE and in the end they'll likely give you a goodwill payment.

Legal action really isn't needed for this tbh, you can of course persue it but your only adding more costs on for the heck of it

Lemlin

Cabaal wrote: »

Yeah that amount seems about right, they can legally charge a fee and if you refuse to pay it then you won't get anything

In fairness without incurring costs you eally don't need to just make a formal complaint to GE and in the end they'll likely give you a goodwill payment.

Legal action really isn't needed for this tbh, you can of course persue it but your only adding more costs on for the heck of it

Finally got the letter at 3 o'clock today.

The whole item was passed onto the complaints department today and they looked after it well.

I'm going to finish the complaint this evening and send it in tomorrow. I still want my solicitor to look over all the records they have about me when I receive them.

This info shouldn't have gone onto the ICB in the first place and I'm going to make sure they think twice about making a hash of someone else's profile like this.

worried shooter

Complain to the FSO. GE are chancing their arms.

Lemlin

worried shooter wrote: »

Complain to the FSO. GE are chancing their arms.

Complaint is fully written out with all the inidviduals names on it. It is 8 pages long! I feel that strongly about this.

I've requested all the information off the file and the recordings too. I am sending it onto them by snail mail, email and fax.