PPI - Correct Prodedure to claim back useless monthly PPI payments?

angry cat · 27th November 2006, 18:26

Hi Guy's

I am new to this particular forum, although I do have some experience in claiming back charges on other BAG forums.

My question is, does one follow the same format. 1. send preliminary letter, 2. LBA, 3. if the money is not refunded, then Issue a County Court Claim?
Also if one has to issue a CCC would it go onto an N1

Basically my problem re: PPI is against three credit card companies. I claimed on all three of the PPI policies because I became unwell, back in 2002, all three of my claims were eventually successful. However, the insurance payments were only for a limited time (at the time I didn't realise, due to the cleverly worded policies) and when the insurance payments ended I was left with huge debts to all three CC companies, the debts are made up of useless PPI monthly payments, that I had continued to pay all through my PPI claims, plus interest, as the monthly premiums are treated in the same manner as a purchase/transaction and then of course, charges because the insurer was often late in paying the cc company (I am in the process of getting refunds on the charges)

My illness, became long term but because of the wording on the policies, I was unable to make another claim - meaning that because I have not returned to work, I cannot make another claim, even though I have paid the monthly premiums up until quite recently! Also, any claim could be viewed as my having a pre-existing condition.
Not quite like car insurance is it!
Oh No, you can only have one accident - you can only claim once!

At the point of sale of the PPI approx. 6 years ago, I was not given sufficient information about the PPI that I agreed to when applying for credit card, it was a secondary box on the cc application form, which offered me 'Peace of Mind'.

Please advise me of the correct, step by step method in reclaiming the money that I paid out for something that could not be used.
Has anyone got a template preliminary letter?

Thanks
Angry Cat

dellydaisy · 27th November 2006, 18:42

Hi angry cat

im new to the ppi thing tooo so i cant help you with much

Ive used the info and letters that reidnet gave on his reid v lloyds 2 ppi insurance

It seems hes the one in the know!

good luck

angry cat · 29th November 2006, 09:38

Thank you for your response....
I have looked at the reid v lloyds 2 ppi and found the thread very enlightening!
However, my situation is different because the PPI that I had applies to Credit Cards, as opposed to a Loan.

If anyone is in the process of claiming back monies for credit card PPI, I would be pleased to know how they are proceeding...and if there is a suggested preliminary letter.

Love AC

reidnet · 29th November 2006, 20:56

HI AC,
I would go along the same lines to recalim your PPI the same way as if it was PPI on a loan. Write to them in the usual manner asking for a refund on your PPI. You will have to give them your reason as to why the PPI your are requesting a refund on is unsuitable or if you are claiming that the actual PPI was mis sold.

Good luck

If I can help you out I will, If not Im sure some others here will help out.

Ian

angry cat · 30th November 2006, 09:27

Thank You Reidnet !!

For some time now I have been in protracted correspondence with one of the CC companies (MBNA) who provided me with a Final Response. Due to that fact, they will not enter into any more communication with me.
Foolishly, I took my dispute to the FOS, who were useless! the FOS clearly did not fully comprehend the full facts. FOS investigated my Dispute for months and eventually ruled on the side of MBNA, I then appealed because of the FOS's incompetance but of course you cannot appeal against an Ombudsmans decision!!! The only further advice that I was offered from the FOS was, that I could take the matter to Court.
Yes, I now know that Mr. Ombudsman. However, at the time it did not seem to be a realistic step to take, given the astronomical costs involved in Litigation. At the time, I had not joined the BAG, my only source of information was by searching the internet, plus some advice from IBAS. Therefore, taking action against a major credit card provider re: PPI appeared to be an impossible task both financially and legalistic knowledge wise.

I will now start the process in reclaiming the unuseable premiums from all three companies:-
MBNA, Morgan Stanley Bank International Bank Limited & Egg plc who have all treated me in such a despicable manner sending debt collectors after me for debts that I now do not acknowledge, all whilst I was/am unwell. Debts made up of useless PPI premiums, interest and Penalty Charges.

I have issued a County Court Claim against Egg plc to reclaim Penalty Charges, could this claim be amended, to include the PPI. Perhaps that would complicate matters? what is your opinion.

Love AC

Keith22 · 30th November 2006, 11:25

Hi AC

I've been struggling with PPi for months now and been a bit too busy to post here. The problem seems to be that pretty well every case is different - there is no clear cut route to follow as with unlawful charges. My claim is with the Ombusdman but I don't hold out any great hopes. Whilst that is going on I'm trying to investigate the legal route via the SCC but it is slow going. I have access to a legal library via a client so I'm going to look at contract law etc. Proving that PPI was missold is not going to be easy but I'll post anything I find in my PPI thread

angry cat · 30th November 2006, 12:11

Hi Keith-
Thanks for your response-
Your right, every case is slightly different but the same principle must apply!
Have you looked at the CAB super Complaint, it was about PPI and makes for very interesting reading.
Re: The FOS, I personally gave them the 'thumbs down' ages ago, In my humble opinion, the are totally incompetant, they take too long to look at complaints and they are biased, after all it is the Financial Industry that basically finance them!!
Many members have sent letters to the FOS quoting a 'Vote of No Confidence'.
The FOS is a quango that was formed by the FSA who are a government body. However, the FOS state that they are not a government body!?
I personally requested a Freedom of Information Act disclosure regarding my case but was turned down.....I also requested a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) but was informed by the FOS that it would not reveal wery much?
Scandalous.
In a nutshell don't waste your time with them, the FOS will take for ever, drive you mad and at the end of the day, state that they will not uphold your complaint

You are quite right to look at contract law, that is were the answer lies.

Please be aware, that the above comment about the FOS is simply my opinion that is based upon my own experience - I could write a book!!!

Love AC

Keith22 · 30th November 2006, 13:05

Hi

The FOS does not have a good reputation - they find in favour of the client (across all complaints) in about 50 - 60%% of cases so its not a stunning record. They do have several case studies listed where PPI has been refunded. I sent in my complaint as it was free and gave me time to dig deeper into the legal aspects. I have a long list of background info, case studies, contacts, FSA, FOS, CAB BBC publications etc which I have been trying to collate for some time and which I intend to post on my thread - there are just not enough hours. At the end of the day I fully expect to find myself in court but I need to get my head round contract law. My experiences of Ombudsmen are not great - I once took on the government via the Parliamentary Ombudsman and ended up giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committe. PPI ought to be a doddle after that - if only! Mind you I didn't win.

reidnet · 30th November 2006, 13:53

I went to the FOS with my complaint too...That was a pure waste of good paper and a stamp..

They never even considered the complaint as they stated GE Money were not under their jurisdiction at the time...Thanks for nothing..lol

Also went to the FSA - They replied that they dont deal with individual cases but have passed my complaint onto the department that Monitor GE Money.

I also wrote to the FISA who GE Money / Purpleloans are regulated by..and Surprise Surprise ..Not even an acknowledgement of my complaint so far.

Ive also had my final FO letter from GE Money, so its a case of getting the statement of claim etc completed and head off to court with it, which is going to be fun too.. Because its around £5k Im going to look at heading down through the English Court System..Its just crap being in Scotland with the Small Claim Limits here of £750.00.

Ian

countrybake · 30th November 2006, 23:52

hi AC i have placed a claim with egg with the PPI, Charges and Default removal, I personaly think doing them all together helps especialy with the charges part as they tend to pay up everything as what happened with me with HSBC CC i had £60 worth of charges and £550 worth of PPI i was claiming back of which they paid up.

dellydaisy · 2nd December 2006, 13:45

Its good to hear PPI sucesses!

angry cat · 3rd December 2006, 20:00

Wonderful countrybake...
good news re: HSBC
Congratulations
ACX

di0430 · 12th December 2006, 13:58

Hi, Mine is also being dealt with by the ombudsman department right now, did get a letter back to inform us that our complaint was being passed onto the casework area for further investigation for further consideration and that they will write to us asap to keep us informed but nothing since.
We had sent all the docs and evidence regarding a mis sold ppi with nemo loans, to the ombudsman at the beginning of Nov 2006 and we then received the letter about this from ombudsman dept 22 Nov to inform us of the above stated.
When we had taken out a loan with nemo-loans they would not take no for an answer, as we did mention we can go for a cheaper alternative elsewhere (standlalone) so we were made to believe we had no choice. Then we had taken them up on this, but had some advice afterwards, thats when we were told to cancel etc and ask for full refund, and also complain about this being mis sold. We had done all this, but the company did cancel but still added the insurance on the loan with the new repayments etc, but they did not resolve this when we did ask them too, so thats why its now with the ombudsman.
I do hope things work out for you !! So have you had any feedback from the ombudsman dept yet ? Cheers. x

Keith22 · 12th December 2006, 14:29

Hi,

No news yet unfortunately.

The time scale:

Original complaint sent to FSO October 13th
Aknowledgement October 20th.
Initial assessment and passed to adjudicaor October 25th
Acknowledgement from adujuicator November10th
Letter from adjudicator Nover 17th asking for copy of company accounts to check turnover was less than £1,000,000!!!
Phoned adjudicator November 20th to check requirements and posted accounts same day.

Nothing heard since.

I guess its just a waiting game now. It will be interesting to hear the bank side of things (assuming the adjudicator passes their comments on to me - I don't really know how this all works)

Good luck - keep me informed!

di0430 · 12th December 2006, 21:42

HI THANKS FOR GETTING BACK TO ME.
I HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU TOO.

I DID EMAIL THE OMBUDSMAN DEPARTMENT TODAY-SO JUST WAITING FOR A REPLY FROM THEM NOW, THIS WAS TO ASK THEM IF ANY FURTHER UPDATES HAVE BEEN SENT YET AS WE HAVE HAD LOTS OF MISSING POST.
SO BASICALLY SINCE OUR COMPLAINT FORM WENT IN WITH THE EVIDENCE ETC THE ONLY LETTER WE HAD BACK WAS DATED AS STATED 22 NOVEMBER 2006 TO INFORM US THIS HAS BEEN NOW PASSED ON FOR FUTHER CONSIDERATION AND THAT WE WILL BE KEPT INFORMED OF THE PROCESS.
I AM AWARE THIS CAN TAKE UP TO 6 MONTHS OR SO ACCORDING TO THEIR BOOKLET/LEAFLET, BUT ISN'T THAT ONLY IF IT GOES AS FAR AS THE ACTUAL OMBUDSMAN AND NOT THE ADJUDICATOR ?
FROM WHAT I CAN MAKE OUT THIS IS ALWAYS DEALT WITH BY THE ADJUDICATOR AT FIRST THEN PASSED ON FURTHER TO THE MAIN OMBUDSMAN IF THE CASE DOESN'T GET RESOLVED.
PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, AS THIS IS ALL NEW TO ME-CHEERS.

I WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED OF THE PROGRESS AS SOON AS I HEAR, WILL BE HAPPY TO KNOW HOW YOU GET ON TOO-THANKS.
GOOD LUCK !!

Keith22 · 13th December 2006, 09:14

Hi Di

I don't know too much about this and I may be wrong but what I think happens is that an initial complaint is assessed to see if it fits into the FSO criteria (i.e it is something they can deal with). If so it then gets passed to an adjudicator. They then get a copy of your file from the bank and go through the documentation of both sides. I think they then attempt to negotiate a settlement with both sides and it is this process which can take a long time. They then come up with a final decision which is binding on the Bank but not you - you can still take court action if you wish. As I understand things it only goes on to the Ombudsman if you object to the decision and can come up with some significant new evidence to change matters. There are some case histories on the FSO site but there have been a number of posts on this site which have not been happy with the decision they got from the FSO. I guess we just have to wait and see and this is the hard part.

I was once advised by a successful claimant to make sure that all relevent documentation was sent to the FSO - a bit like preparing a court bundle without the legal bits so this is what I did.

I think we have hi-jacked somebody elses thread here - it might be better to start you own so that people can keep track of your progress and help out.

Keep smiling - we'll get there one way or the other

di0430 · 16th December 2006, 00:34

HI KEITH,
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR REPLY, OOPS YES BETTER START A NEW THREAD, THINK I GOT CARRIED AWAY HERE LOL !!:o
I APOLOGISE TO ALL CONCERNED FOR HI-JACKING YOUR THREAD !!

YOU KEEP SMILING TOO, AND WILL KEEP YOU POSTED AND GET A NEW THREAD SORTED OUT SHORTLY. AGAIN GOOD LUCK !

DI. XX

Will Scarlet · 30th December 2006, 00:27

Was viewing this thread and thought I'd offer my two pennies worth.
Having been fortunate enough to have had dealings in the past with the Ombudsmen (FOS), my personal belief is that many people mis-understand what they actually do. In my experience they act as judge and jury in instances where consumers and financial organisations can not come to a mutually acceptable conclusion to a complaint that the consumer has made against said financial institution. They are there to view the "evidence" from both sides (this is not a legal thing) and to make a decison based on the arguments presented by both parties.
At no point will they ever pro-actively 'investigate' a case or side with either party. They will simply come to a decision based on the paperwork in front of them and make a ruling accordingly. Even though these decisions are deemed to be final, I have heard of Ombudsmen decisions being overturned.
In my opinion the FOS are a last resort and, if mis-sold, PPI should be pursued through the courts as opposed to through an already, over-worked FOS.

Keith22 · 2nd January 2007, 09:17

This is a good summary of the FSO process. Anybody going down this route should not be under any illusion that it is some kind of magic passport to recovery of monies. I think it is only suitable where you have a pretty clear cut case and can support your complaint with good evidence. I don't think that taking a flyer without something concrete is going to work. Having said that I am aware of people who have been successful via this route and certainly in my case is was worth a try.

Whilst waiting for the FSO I have been looking at preparing a case for taking to court and have been wading through all kinds of contract law and bits and pieces about mis-representation. To be honest I'm not making much headway. The decision in the CC is based on the balance of probablitlites so I'll plough on to see what I can come up with. Unfortunately there is such a wide variety of experiences with mis-selling PPI and I can't seem to find any examples of successful court claims yet.

reidnet · 2nd January 2007, 10:22

Hi Keith,
I am so far unaware of any cases that have gone all the way to court re the PPI. Maybe one of mine will be the first..lol. I am at stalemate with GE Money regarding mis selling and I have all the paperwork completed for sending to court. I involved the FOS , FSA and the FISA and to be honest they were not a lot of use in my case. The FISA who regulate GE Money did take the compliant further and a senior official from the FSA had spoken to a senior Director within GE Money who assured the FISA that they would get in touch and try and resolve my complaint. So far I have heard nothing further from GE Money, so its a case of polish up my statemnet of claim over the next couple of days and get it sent to court.

Ian

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