Beleaguered Natwest , RBS and Ulster Bank customers are still reeling from the banks’ technical glitch. A computer fault on Friday afternoon left thousands of customers unable to access their accounts. The error has been fixed, but RBS are now struggling to deal with a backlog of more than 100 million transactions. Recent reports suggest that customers could be affected until the end of the week.
We’ve been in touch with Darren from Experian to find out whether the banks’ technical glitches will hit your credit rating.
Experian have been receiving questions about this, and there are really two elements to it. Firstly, many current accounts carry an overdraft facility and, because this is a credit agreement, information about how these agreements are managed is shared on a monthly basis with the credit reference agencies (CRAs).
As a result, misdemeanours such as overdraft infringements, bounced cheques and refused direct debits would normally trigger adverse data to be registered with the CRAs. However, we have been in regular contact with the banks in question and they have assured us that they will take steps to make sure that any adverse data caused by these IT problems is not sent to the CRAs.
Even if adverse data were inadvertently recorded, if it is spotted by the bank or by the customer (checking his or her own credit report) then the bank would be able to amend its own data and rectify the matter.
The second element is around payments due from customers’ current accounts to other credit providers. Lenders usually exercise a little discretion before registering late payments on people’s credit reports.
Experian recommend these steps:
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Customers affected should contact all of their creditors to make sure, if payments are still delayed, they are aware of the reasons and can then take this into consideration.
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Affected people should keep a close eye on their credit reports so that if late payments do crop up, they can very quickly raise the issue with the lender or lenders involved. It would ultimately be each individual lender’s decision over whether to remove a late payment from someone’s credit report in instances like this.
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If you found a late payment on your credit report, took it up with the lender and they refused to remove it, you could of course add a statement to your report (called a notice of correction) to make sure anyone using the data in the future is fully aware of the circumstances.
If you’re thinking about switching current accounts, take a look at TotallyMoney’s current account switching tool.
{Image: Howard Lake}
