Posted on Jan 20, 2021 6:27 PMUpdated Jan 20, 2021, 8:04 PM
It’s a mishap that no bank would want to experience – and that every borrower secretly dreams of. At La Banque Postale, 30,000 mortgage loan files were mistakenly destroyed last year, during an archiving operation that went wrong.
As reported by Le Canard Enchaîné on Wednesday, the subsidiary of the La Poste group was the victim of a regrettable confusion on the part of a service provider, specializing in the archiving of documents.
In January 2020, it took away and deleted 2,052 cases containing around 30,000 mortgage loan files, when its original mission was to delete… 2,052 files.
Contacted, La Banque Postale put the incident into perspective, specifying that the vast majority of these loans – between 80 and 90%, according to our information – had already been repaid. And the capital remaining to be paid for those still “active” would be limited, because they would be old files.
In addition, the establishment recalls that in terms of real estate credit, unpaid bills only represent 1% of the total. ” It is more of an image risk than a financial risk », Assures a banking source.
No digital copy
For files that have disappeared, but whose credit is still running, it will, on the other hand, be difficult for the bank to claim what is due, if the borrower stops paying. In fact, given the age of the loans in question, there are very few digital copies of these files.
And any recourse against a client, in the event of a dispute, requires the production of an original document. What the bank no longer has …
« This failure of a recognized expert in archiving in the banking and insurance sector will have no impact on the protection of the rights of La Banque Postale customers. », Comments the group.
The subject could however be of interest to the financial supervisor. Rules do indeed exist to ensure the compliance of the archiving of credit files. Failure to comply can lead to sanctions, particularly financial.
The La Poste subsidiary believes that it has little to blame itself for, having notably been vigilant in choosing its partners. It remains to be hoped that the bank does not have too many bad payers among its customers.
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