A couple with a mortgage complained it was the subject of mistakes by the credit institution concerned over a period of years. The errors were not discovered by the mortgage provider, but by the complainants. On inquiry it was discovered mistakes had appeared in 1997 but were not corrected until 18 months later. The problem arose when the account was transferred from a fixed rate to a variable rate of interest. The ombudsman found there were 19 separate mistakes during the 18-month period, resulting in the balance outstanding being overstated by several thousand pounds. Charges for late payments were overstated several times, resulting in arrears notices being triggered along with threats of legal action. The ombudsman found there was gross maladministration of the account, which caused great distress, anxiety and inconvenience to the complainants. He awarded £5,000 in compensation.