Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money · DRN-6197639

The complaint Miss B complains about the way in which Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money handled her request for a write off. What happened Miss B holds a credit card account with Virgin Money. Following a secondary cancer diagnosis in October 2024, Miss B contacted Virgin Money and asked it to write off her debt. Virgin Money asked Miss B to complete an income and expenditure form. Miss B completed the form and included income from her partner, who was helping to maintain bills. Virgin Money asked Miss B to resubmit the income and expenditure form as a sole form with only her details. Miss B submitted a sole form which showed zero income and outgoings of £697.38. Virgin Money asked Miss B to wait until her benefits application was completed so it had an accurate picture of her financial position. Miss B requested updates on her write off request and provided further evidence. She completed another income and expenditure form showing disposable income of £0.41p. Virgin Money requested three months of bank statements, which Miss B provided. Virgin Money reviewed the request on 31 March 2025 and made a final decision not to write off the debt on 19 May 2025. Miss B complained to Virgin Money. She was unhappy at how long it had taken for them to reach a decision on her write off request and the lack of information about timescales. She was also unhappy that her request for a write off had been declined. In its final response, Virgin Money said it appreciate that the wait had caused Miss B distress but said that each request was reviewed on a case-by-case basis and sometimes took longer if it required up to date financial information to make a decision. Virgin Money said that in Miss B’s case, the delay was due to needing confirmation of her up to date financial position before it could proceed. In relation to the decision to decline the request for the write off, Virgin Money said that the three months bank statements provided by Miss B didn’t match the figures listed in her income and expenditure form. It said it was unable to disclose its decision making criteria. Miss B remained unhappy and brought her complaint to this service. She says the income that Virgin Money saw on her bank statements was a donation from a local charity and she doesn’t feel she was given enough time to explain this before the final response was issued. Miss B wants the debt written off. Our investigator said they couldn’t ask Virgin Money to write off the debt because this was a business decision for Virgin Money. The investigator said that Virgin Money hadn’t handled the write off request reasonably because it had caused Miss B distress by failing to communicate with her and making her wait three months for a decision on the write off causing her distress when she when she was already in a distressed state. The investigator recommended that Virgin Money paid compensation of £150 to Miss B. Miss B didn’t agree so I’ve been asked to review the complaint.

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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. I know it will disappoint Miss B, but I agree with the investigator’s recommendation of £150 compensation. I’ll explain why. I’ve read and considered the whole file, but I’ll concentrate my comments on those points which are most relevant to my decision. If I don’t comment on a particular point, it’s not because I’ve failed to take it on board and think about it, but because I don’t think I need to comment on it in order tor each what I think is the right outcome. Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge what a difficult time this has been for Miss B. I understand how frustrating and distressing it must’ve been to wait months for a decision on the write off from Virgin Money. Miss B has said that she still wants the debt written off. She’s explained that all her other creditors have written off her debt. I’m only able to look at the circumstances of this complaint so I’m unable to comment on Miss B’s other creditors. However, what I will say is that all businesses have their own criteria when it comes to debt write off, and these criteria will vary from business to business. The fact that Miss B may have met the criteria for write off with another lender doesn’t mean that Virgin Money is obliged to reach the same decision. The decision to write off a debt is one that only the business can make, and not one with which this service can interfere. Whilst I can’t require Virgin Money to write off the debt, I can look at whether Virgin Money treated Miss B fairly. Miss B made her write off request in December 2024. She made Virgin Money aware of her situation and provided details of her income and expenditure. At that time, she had no income but was applying for Employment Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment. Virgin Money said it would review the write off request once Miss B’s application for benefits had been determined. I don’t think this was an unreasonable of Virgin Money, because benefits are treated as income, and so in order to get an up to date picture of Miss B’s financial situation, it was necessary to wait to see if Miss B was entitled to any benefits. I can see that Miss B submitted a new income and expenditure form showing that she had disposable income of 41p. I can’t see that Virgin Money responded to this and after around a month, Miss B contacted Virgin Money for an update. At this point, Virgin Money asked Miss B to provide 3 months bank statements. Miss B provided these on 22 March 2025. It wasn’t until 19 May 2025 that Virgin Money communicated with Miss B again to advise her that her request for a write off had been declined. As I’ve said, the decision on write off is one for Virgin Money alone. However, looking at what happened, I think Virgin Money treated Miss B unfairly. I say this because it failed to communicate with her as regularly as this service would expect and delayed the decision on write off for around 2 months after Miss B submitted the information requested. On any analysis this is unreasonable delay, but the circumstances of this complaint mean that the impact of the delay on Miss B was more significant than it otherwise might have been with a customer who was not suffering from a terminal illness. I agree with the investigator that Virgin Money should pay compensation to recognise the

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distress caused by the overall lack of communication and the delay in advising Miss B of the decision not to write off the debt. I’ve thought about what’s fair and reasonable compensation. It isn’t the role of this service to punish a business but instead to compensate for the impact of the error or service failing. I’m assisted by the guidelines published by this service on fair compensation. Having regard to all of this, I think the sum of £150 is fair and reasonable. Putting things right To put things right Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money must pay Miss B compensation of £150. My final decision My final decision is that I uphold the complaint. Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money must pay Miss B compensation of £150. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss B to accept or reject my decision before 23 April 2026. Emma Davy Ombudsman

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