Landmark Mortgages has been told to pay £500 compensation for the "upset and frustration" caused by a direct debit error.
It was the second time Landmark had made an error with the complainant's payments in under a year, causing the Financial Ombudsman Service to call it a "pattern of mistakes".
The firm was told to pay the woman, named as Miss K, £500 in compensation and has since apologised for the "poor service".
Miss K took out a 'Together' mortgage with the former Northern Rock many years ago.
The Fos explained the mortgage consists of a standard mortgage alongside a linked unsecured loan so the required payment is made to both.
In July 2023, Landmark informed Miss K she had not made the required payments on her unsecured loan.
She claims to have contacted Landmark and spoken to an adviser who told her that her mortgage was in credit by around £550, but her unsecured loan was in arrears by around £420.
However, she then spoke to another adviser who said her mortgage was up to date and the unsecured loan was £500 in credit.
Having been reassured there was no issue, she took no further action.
Landmark subsequently found it had made an error, following a conversation with Miss K in March 2023, where it set up the direct debit to only collect the mortgage payment, not the unsecured loan element.
That meant that no payments for the unsecured loan were collected in April, May, and June.
Landmark initially offered to pay Miss K £250 compensation and said that it had amended her credit file to remove the record of the July missed payment, but said that Miss K would need to make arrangements to pay the missed payment of around £480.
Miss K was not happy with this and too her case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Ombudsman’s decision
The ombudsman pointed out this was the second time in less than a year that Landmark made a mistake with Miss K’s payments.
She changed bank account in 2022 and at first the direct debit switched over without issue but, a couple of months later, it was cancelled by Landmark.
At the time, a Fos investigator in the case found Landmark's offer of £200 compensation was fair.
It was the resolution of that complaint which directly led to the most recent complaint. Miss K had accepted the investigator’s outcome and contacted Landmark in 2023 to pay off the missed payments and set up a new direct debit.
It was at this point Landmark made its second error, setting up the new direct debit to only collect one of the two payments.
The ombudsman said the previous mistake was a relevant factor.
The report said: "The mistake in this case followed on from, and compounded, its previous mistake. That increased the upset and frustration Miss K already felt."
The ombudsman said the most recent issue was not an isolated error and is instead part of a pattern of mistakes Landmark has made with Miss K’s direct debit.
