Blackpool family trapped in financial nightmare after naming error
Marc Thomas has been embroiled in a tussle with VW Financial Services after his details were mixed up with another customer
By Paul Faulkner, first published on 4 September, 2024
It’s just one letter – but a Blackpool family say they have been trapped in a financial nightmare due to a mistake over a name.
Marc Thomas has been embroiled in a tussle with VW Financial Services after his details were mixed up with another customer whose name is Mark Thomas.
Now the error is being investigated by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The mix-up happened when father-of-two Marc, who is married to Lisa, updated his address with VW Finance and his details were subsequently merged with those of the other Mr Thomas with whom he shares the same date of birth.
The error went unnoticed until Marc applied for a loan to fund improvements at a house he and Lisa had bought in Marton – only to be turned down as he had unwittingly been linked to the credit history of the other Mark Thomas who lives in Wales.
Marc says this meant he and Lisa had to delay work on their new home, and extend their stay in their rental property which they say has left them around £15,000 out of pocket due to financing two properties.
Marc, 54, who works as an engineer, says he flagged up the mistake with VW Financial Services in March this year but his address is still linked to the financial details of the other Mark Thomas.
He said: “It all began back in 2020 when my parents died and we lived next door to each other so we sold their house and our own, and decided to rent a property until we found our new home.
“We had a car lease agreement with VW Finance and I let them know the change of address. Because of the pandemic, it took us about three years to find our new home and we were able to buy it in cash.
“But we wanted to borrow so we could carry out renovations. I’ve never had debt or credit cards, so according to my broker, I was a lender’s dream. But my application for a loan was turned down.
“So I had to have a credit check. My credit file showed when I told VW Finance of my change of address, they applied the same change of address to a guy in Wales with the same date of birth and the same name apart from he spells Mark with a ‘k’.
“I wanted to borrow £60,000 but I couldn’t get anything as all his credit history had been applied to me. In the end, I had to borrow the money in other ways, such as from family members.
“But it has meant we have had to extend our stay in our rental property as our renovations were delayed. It has cost us about £15,000 and I think we should be compensated by VW Finances for this mistake.
“But it is not just the financial side, it is all the stress it has caused us as we have been caught up in this nightmare through no fault of our own.”
Despite several phone calls and emails to VW Financial Services, the company has failed to respond to a request from the Local Democracy Reporting Service for a comment.
However, the London-based office of the Financial Ombudsman Service has confirmed it is looking into Marc’s case after he lodged a complaint to investigate.