A couple missed one mortgage payment in 20 years. Now, they have to sell.

For 20 years, Brian and Jessie McDonough from Hampshire, UK, were the perfect borrowers. Every single month, they paid their mortgage on the dot, and Dr Brian McDonough says the family “never missed a payment” over that period. 

But two years ago, everything changed when they accidentally missed a mortgage payment by three days. 

“In February 2022 my wife got a new job, and we did not know we missed a mortgage repayment, when her pay day changed, Dr McDonough told The Mirror. 

“We didn’t know that it hadn’t come out of her account.” 

According to Dr McDonough, the bank did not contact them to let them know the payment had been missed for six days. When they received the phone call, he reports they paid the late instalment “within 20 minutes”. 

Despite the family clearing up the mistake, the bank’s automatic credit system applied a black mark that caused the couple’s credit score to plummet. 

With a lower credit score, their credit card interest rates reportedly soared from 0 per cent to 30 per cent. 

Now, the McDonoughs and their two children have been forced to sell their family home and move in with Dr McDonough’s parents. They state they are unable to downsize or rent a home because they are failing credit checks as a result of the 2022 blunder. 

“I’ve no problem with paying the mortgage payments – it’s the interest on our existing debt which is now double our mortgage payments,” Dr McDonough said. 

Dr McDonough believes that overreliance on digital credit checkers causes significant problems in cases of human error. 

“They are basically leaving us homeless because they rely on a computer,” Dr McDonough said. “The robots are failing us.” 

The family’s local MP has reportedly written to the bank on two occasions, asking them to help the McDonoughs. 

A spokesperson from Metro Bank, the family’s mortgage lender, said: “We have sympathy for the situation Dr. McDonough and his family are facing. As a responsible lender we follow our policies and procedures which do not allow us to lend to any customer without the necessary credit checks.” 

“Our specialist also spoke with Dr. McDonough to discuss ways we may be able to help with his mortgage payments. While de declined to pursue any of these options at the time, he is welcome to arrange another appointment with us in the future.”