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Kinlochbervie pensioner with 'highest credit rating' shocked after Clydesale Bank turned down loan application


By Mike Merritt

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Alison Sinton.
Alison Sinton.

A woman from Kinlochbervie has turned down a bank's £50 'goodwill gesture' after it initially refused her a loan.

For 25 years, retired Kinlochbervie Primary School secretary Alison Sinton was a loyal customer of the Clydesdale Bank.

But when she decided to seek a loan from them for the first time recently she was shocked to be turned down – only for the bank to come back a few days later offering the £5000 she was seeking – but at a staggering 27.9 per cent annual interest rate.

Now the Clydesdale has admitted it did not treat the 69-year-old well enough and has offered her a £50 goodwill gesture, which Mrs Sinton says she will refuse.

“I have been living with my son Sam and his partner in Kinlochbervie, but now that cases of coronavirus are rising and they work, I have managed to get myself a small sheltered flat in Dornoch,” she said.

“As I’m to be so far away I decided to buy a little car so as I can visit. I have a good income and have been with the Clydesdale Bank for 25 years, never defaulting.

“I assumed a loan of £5000 would be a formality. I filled out the online application and was immediately refused. Stunned, I decided to try to find out why. It took three days, about 20 calls, held online for sometimes 40 minutes, with no information at the end of it but that I must have a bad credit record.

“I was up two nights in a row crying and trying to find out how this could possibly have happened as I have never not paid for anything.

“I found the credit rating sites they said they took information from as I had thought my records were excellent, but stranger was the fact that nobody had done a search on them."

Receiving "the highest credit rating" from Experian she then worried somebody had stolen her identity before a call from the bank confirmed her records had not, in fact, been looked at and the refusal had been down to something about her income on the application.

“We sorted this out and although he stressed that rescinding a declined loan was most unusual he was prepared to offer me £5000 at 27.9 per cent interest," Mrs Sinton said.

“I was exhausted, had lost two nights sleep but still had enough spirit to tell him what he could do with it.

“That a bank can treat a customer of my years in a pandemic in this way is beyond belief. I was terrified about my credit records and have found it hard to stop crying.

“My income is well above the level for a £5000 loan and a lot more if I had chosen. There had been no time for credit checks or indeed any kind of checks at all except it must have looked at my statements and not recognised where part of my income came from.

“It’s a glitch that will cost them a lot of money. I want people to know of my experience and that banks should not treat people like this.”

A spokeswoman for the Clydesdale said:”Mrs Sinton’s original application was declined as, based on the information she provided in the online application form, she did not meet our lending criteria. In a subsequent phone call, a member of our sales team took Mrs Sinton through the application and the additional information she was able to provide resulted in a review of our initial decision.

“The interest rate we offer customers is based on their loan requirements and their individual circumstances. Our lending decisions are influenced by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, income level and monthly expenses; how long the customer has lived at their address; if they have any dependants, as well as considering the customer’s credit score.

“While we are comfortable with the process and offer made to Mrs Sinton, we recognised that she felt we didn’t live up to the high standards of customer service we expect of ourselves and have offered her a £50 gesture of goodwill.”


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