This Is North Devon
07:00 - 28-August-2008
A PREGNANT woman, her partner and their two young children were left on the brink of homelessness — because of a bank "computer glitch".
Michelle Price, 30, and her partner Danny Chappell, 33, who is the manager of Somerfield in Ilfracombe, secured a £117,000 mortgage for a new family home in Bideford.
But just a couple of weeks before the planned move on September 4, their mortgage broker told them the offer was being withdrawn because Mr Chappell had a bad credit history with Barclays.
Barclays admitted the debt information was out-of-date but the mortgage lender, Halifax, said the couple still could not have the home loan. Meanwhile, the couple had given notice to leave their rented home and had nowhere to live.
A few days after a call from the Journal , Halifax said the mistake had been rectified and the loan could go ahead as first planned. Mr Chappell said he was delighted by the turnaround but was furious that his family had been put through weeks of needless turmoil.
Mr Chappell paid off a £7,000 Barclays loan two years ago. He had missed payments and his credit rating became temporarily poor, but he worked hard to restore the rating, which is now good.
For weeks, the couple were sure that plans for their dream home were in tatters.
Ms Price, who works part-time in Somerfield in Pottington, Barnstaple, said: "I have been in such a state. We are so stressed; I have been signed off work.
"We went for the mortgage over a month ago and we were accepted, and they said Danny was a very good risk.
"We handed in notice on our three-bedroom house in Fremington. We got a mortgage, with shared equity, for a new house in Union Close in Bideford."
But just weeks before they were due to move, a second routine credit check by the mortgage broker wrongly showed that Mr Chappell had a bad credit rating. The mortgage offer was withdrawn.
Ms Price said: "All our stuff is packed and we have got to be out of our house on September 11; they have signed over the property to somebody else who is moving in.
"Barclays say there is a glitch on the system but they have not been very helpful or sympathetic."
The couple have a four-year-old boy, Kellen, and a two-year-old girl, Jorgina. Ms Price is also 20 weeks pregnant. The couple have no family in the area who can give them temporary accommodation.
The family is now hoping the credit rating mistake is not repeated before their move date.
A spokesman for Barclays told the Journal : "We have written to the customer on August 18, confirming that his details are inaccurate...what I can't say is where the fault lies." They said the problem was being investigated as a priority.
A spokesman for Halifax, which offered the mortgage via a broker, said on Tuesday this week the original mortgage had now been re-offered.