How to Stop the RBS Technical Glitch Damaging Your Credit Rating
You may have been left out of pocket or unable to access funds following the unprecedented meltdown of the RBS computing system, but what about your credit rating?
Natwest, RBS, Ulster Bank and Think Banking are working to correct any transactional issues caused by problems with the RBS computer system.
However, there's more than just your current account balance to think about if you were affected by the issues.
So you don't end up getting stuck with long-standing credit issues that aren't your fault, you need to make sure your credit report remains unblemished by RBS's failure.
Credit reference agency Experian have told us that they are in regular contact with the RBS Group, but that you need may still need to take action to make sure your financial reputation isn’t tarnished.
Who’s at risk?
If you were affected by the RBS computer glitch the threat to your credit history will fall into one of three categories:
Exceeding your overdraft or credit card limit at RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank or Think Banking due to missing transactions
- Missing payments from your RBS, Natwest, Ulster Bank or Think Banking account to other 3rd party credit provider
- Missing payments to third party credit providers because you didn't receive funds from an RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank or Think Banking account
If you've had any of these problems, you need to keep a close eye on what your credit report now says about you.
Why is this important?
While being left without access to funds or updated online bank statements are perhaps a more immediate concern, damage to your credit report could cause long term financial hardship.
Essentially if your credit report is damaged it will make it more difficult for you to borrow money in the future, or at the very least make it more expensive to do so.
While the impact is less tangible, the difference of even an extra 1% on the cost of your mortgage could end up costing you thousands of pounds over the next few years.
It's for this reason that you need to make sure your credit report isn't tarnished with an effectual 'black mark' for something that wasn't your fault.
Should you be worried?
RBS CEO Stephen Hester has reassured all his customers that all default reports that the bank sends to credit reference agencies following late payments or exceeding credit limits caused by the glitch will not be sent.
This should mean that if your credit report is safe from RBS group defaults, caused by their technical issues.
However, if you missed or made late payments to a third party lender or exceeding your borrowing limit because of a delay sending funds from RBS you will need to do the following:
Contact the people you owe money to
If you think your credit rating may be at risk you need to contact all of the lenders you had problems paying or staying within your credit limit with to explain what caused the issue.
Given the scale of the RBS error, most creditors are aware that some of their customers have been affected.
However it still makes sense to get in touch as soon as possible to keep them informed of what’s cause the problem and to ask them to hold off reporting any delayed payments to your credit agency.
Check your credit report
If you haven’t already checked your credit report following the RBS glitch now’s the time to do it - you can find out how to do this by using our action plan: How to Improve Your Credit Rating.
Over the next few weeks you should check your credit report on a regular basis, so you spot anything that's added and can contact the company concerned.
Sort any issues
While most companies are likely to be reasonably sympathetic following the glitch, ultimately it's down to the individual discretion of each lender whether to remove any late payment notice on your report.
If your creditor refuses to remove a default or late payment notice caused by the glitch then you can add an explanatory note to your file.
A notice of correction will allow you to explain the reasons behind the missed payment so a lender would be able to see the root cause of the problem.
Taking these steps should help protect your credit rating from the problems caused by the RBS glitch, or at the very least make it clear to any future lender that they issues they caused were beyond your reasonable control.
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