Hi,

A while ago, for various reasons (including being a doormat and allowing someone to leech off me) I got into credit card debt. Paying it back has been a nightmare. I live frugally and pay as much above the minimum payments as I can afford. The balances are going down, but slowly.

It's been stressful and I hate thinking about my debt. My brother has been pushing me to make PPI claims for ages now. (The two worst credit cards are ones I've had for years, and at the time I got each one, the PPI box was pre-ticked and I was told when I phoned to activate each card that it was compulsory). I didn't claim as it seemed like stress and hassle and I figured I wouldn't get anything anyway.

My brother has been really pushy, and last week pulled up the Resolver website and pushed me into claiming. So I did. One of those claims was with Capital One.

When I made the claims, there were separate forms for Plevin claims and traditional claims. My brother told me to make standard/traditional claims, and said Plevin should be a last resort if the standard claims were rejected. So in both cases, I didn't claim under Plevin.

Capital One have responded already, saying they are writing to me, they hope I am satisfied with the outcome etc. I checked my Capital One account this morning, and there are several debits and credits, each with the word "Plevin" in the description. Adding them up, apparently I am getting a cheque for nearly £2500. I was happy about this - I can make huge overpayments on these two cards, plus keep a little back to tide myself over this month. (Living frugally due to debt feels mentally exhausting, I was depressed about being the shabby aunt who only buys cheap presents and gives handmade gifts, so for once I went a little over budget on Xmas gifts for my nieces and nephews.)

I told my brother and he's outraged on my behalf. He says he's annoyed that they've responded as if I'd made a Plevin claim, when I didn't. He says the fact they've coughed up so fast means they know I am entitled to more under a standard claim, and they are just trying to appease me and weasel out of paying the full amount I'm owed.

Is he right? I'd assumed that they would have looked at my claim and decided I'm owed nothing, but have then looked at my claim again under the Plevin ruling and paid up there. My brother is convinced this is a "lowball offer" to make me go away, in the hope they won't have to pay out what he says I'm "really owed".

Should I accept the Plevin payment and just drop the original claim? Or should I push back? My brother says a standard claim could end up theoretically leaving me with enough money to pay off a big chunk of my debt. He's convinced I'm due more.

I have no idea what to do, and no idea how I should proceed. There are template letters for claiming and appealing claims, but not for "well, you've paid me under Plevin but that's not what I claimed for, so please look at my standard claim".

Any advice would be much appreciated, as I'm really not sure what I should do. It seems daft to send them this cheque back and potentially end up with nothing, but my brother is convinced I'm owed more, due to being told PPI was a compulsory charge. He thinks Capital One know this and are just trying to appease me. I'm just confused...

Many thanks for any advice anyone can offer.

OK - I've done a bit more digging and based on other people's cases, the situation seems to be:

1. They've rejected my original PPI claim - I was expecting this. Therefore they have automatically checked my claim against the Plevin ruling, and paid out accordingly.

2. In theory, I can possibly pursue my original claim by escalating to the ombudsman, but there is little chance of success (I have no proof, so it's just my word against theirs). Again, as expected, and partly why I never bothered making a claim before.

3. In the unlikely event that the ombudsman ruled in my favour, they would simply deduct the amount already paid. If the ombudsman ruled in their favour, I could still claim under Plevin. This would mean potentially up to 2 years of stress and waiting, only to probably end up with the same payout that I have now.

I messaged all this to my brother, who is still being pushy, but I've told him I'm happy with the Plevin payout. It's going to really help me out and reduce the amount of time it takes me to being debt free. If I keep making the same card payments I'm making now, I'll be paying way more than the minimums and will clear them quicker. Which feels like a good start to 2019.

And TBH one of the relatives I was helping out financially (part of the cause of my debt snowballing in the first place) was my brother. My sometimes unemployed, sometimes under-employed brother. Who, in his last pushy message, told me "But in theory you could be due [X amount] in which case you could give me a few thousand!"

Yeah. No. I'm hoping the letter explaining things will turn up today. And the cheque, of course.

I still have another claim in with a different credit card company, but probably won't get a response from them for about 7 weeks or so. I'm expecting a rejection but will be doubly happy if it's another Plevin payment.

that's the trouble with resolver, its useless for PPI stuff.

send cap1 and sar, which is what you should have done in the first place

always get all the info first before putting in a complaint

then they can see yo know what you are talking about

not followed some speculative template website tool.

as for paying your debts, if these are old, pre 2007 or with a powerless dca - them send each one a CCA request.

its morally satisfying to pay ones debts, trouble is, whom you pay - morally - couldn't care less about you, they just want your money.

if any of you debts are defaulted, paying them off quicker wont improve your score either.

dx

What is 'Plevin', please?

just type it in any search engine..

Oh... it's commission... but how would you know if they'd earned commission... they are hardly likely to own up to it, especially when they deny PPI even existed, as in my case which had to be sorted out by the Ombudsman... What about people who sell insurance/pensions who earn commission ... or is that different?