THE “ethical” bank has been forced to pay a customer £2,000 in compensation after it discriminated against him because of his age”.
Peter Day was only 59 when he applied to extend the term of his mortgage by five years in order to lower his monthly repayments to help him pay for the wedding of his daughter Emily.
But the Co-operative Bank turned him down purely on the grounds of his age — a decision that “appalled” Mr Day, who has spent most of his career working in banking, including a period for the Co-op itself. He was Nationwide’s head of banking and savings operations in the 1990s.
The Co-operative Bank has been forced to change its lending policy after a watchdog ruled that it had discriminated against a 59-year-old borrower.
The Financial Ombudsman Service told the self-proclaimed “ethical” bank to pay nearly £2,000 in compensation after ruling that it had not acted fairly or “within the terms of the Equality Act”.
Peter Day was turned down when he applied to extend the term of his mortgage by five years to help him to pay for the wedding of his daughter, Emily.
The Co-op rejected him purely on the grounds of his age. Mr Day, who has spent most of his career working in banking, including a period for the Co-op itself, described the decision as appalling.
He said that he had taken his case to the Ombudsman for the sake of other customers. He is quoted as saying that the bank had not taken into account that he was a good existing customer and thy had every opportunity to check that he could afford the increase.
The financial ombudsman ordered the Co-operative Bank to pay £500 compensation plus the £1,389 that it had cost Mr Day to switch to another lender.
The bank changed its policy after the ruling and extended its maximum age limit for mortgage repayment from 68 to 75. They apologised to Mr Day that we were unable to resolve his original complaint to his satisfaction.
A spokesman for the ombudsman said: “We have received a number of inquiries of this kind and will look into each case based on its individual merits.”
Have you ever been refused a loan or mortgage extension on the grounds of age? Please do let us know. Ed
