Barclays Bank UK PLC trading as Tesco Bank · DRN-5970286

The complaint Barclays Bank UK PLC trading as Tesco Bank provided Miss F with a £25,000 loan in April 2022. Miss F says the credit was provided irresponsibly. What happened The details of this complaint are well-known to both parties, so I won’t repeat them again here. The facts aren’t in dispute, so I’ll focus on giving the reasons for my decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. We’ve set out our general approach to complaints about unaffordable or irresponsible lending on our website, and I’ve taken this into account in deciding Miss F’s case. I’ve decided the credit was provided fairly because: • I think the checks Tesco Bank did before providing the credit were reasonable and proportionate given the credit limit it offered and what it knew about Miss F’s financial situation. • Tesco Bank’s checks showed that Miss F had no county court judgements, individual voluntary arrangements or defaults and no delinquent accounts. She had total unsecured debts of £3,320 and an outstanding joint mortgage of £229,000. Her credit accounts were up to date. Miss F’s credit check showed she had a low level of unsecured debt and it didn’t raise concerns about how she was managing her existing commitments. • Miss F declared that she was employed full time with a monthly income of £2,016. Having looked at the additional evidence Miss F has supplied this supports this income figure. Given Miss F’s low level of indebtedness and that her credit report didn’t raise any issues, I think it reasonable that third party data was used to model Miss F’s expenses. • Based on the credit costs from Miss F’s credit file, her contribution to the joint mortgage, and estimates for her living costs, Miss F had disposable income of around £806 to cover the repayments due on this loan (around £465) and any unforeseen costs. • Based on the information Tesco Bank gathered and what it knew about Miss F’s circumstances, there was nothing to suggest Miss F was likely to be unable to sustainably repay what she was being lent. This means I don’t think Tesco Bank did anything wrong when it provided the loan to Miss F.

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I note Miss F’s comment about the support she received when she told Tesco Bank that she was struggling and I am sorry to hear of the difficulties she has experienced. Miss F contacted Tesco Bank about a change in her circumstances, and she said she would be able to get back on track after she had sold her house. Two months of reduced payments were approved and then a lower rate of payments for a further six months agreed. On receipt of a default notice in August 2024, a 60-day hold was placed on Miss F’s account while she awaited the proceeds of her house sale. Miss F then made a payment towards her loan which brought her account up to date and her loan reverted back to its contractual terms. I think that this shows Tesco Bank did try to assist Miss F when she experienced financial difficulties. I’ve also considered whether the relationship might have been unfair under s.140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. However, for the reasons I’ve already given, I don’t think Tesco Bank lent irresponsibly to Miss F or otherwise treated her unfairly. I haven’t seen anything to suggest that s.140A or anything else would, given the facts of this complaint, lead to a different outcome here. My final decision My final decision is that I’m not upholding Miss F’s complaint about Barclays Bank UK PLC trading as Tesco Bank. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss F to accept or reject my decision before 17 April 2026. Jane Archer Ombudsman

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