Sold debt court case / PPI claim

[barrone]

Hi all, have a few questions on a sold debt / PPI claim.

 

Friend took out a credit card (with MBNA) with 12k limit in 2004. Included PPI (which he believes was mis-sold).

 

He went into default on the account some time ago, and the debt was sold by MBNA to a debt company, who have been chasing him through the courts for it.

 

His argument is that because the PPI was originally mis-sold, the ~13k now owing should be covered by the PPI refund + interest / penalty rate. The debt company lawyers are saying the PPI was not mis-sold, and even if it were, the payout would not be enough to cover all the debt (they accept it would be reduced to around £3500 if it were mis-sold and then paid out according to THEIR calculations).

 

Three points:

 

1. The debt company have said the original application for the credit card was made online, and that there was no other contact between my friend and MBNA other than the signed documents he returned via post. (Their point being, if there was no personal contact between them, there could not be any "selling" of PPI and ergo, it could not be mis-sold).

 

However my friend can't even operate a computer and does all his banking on the phone, so he definitely didn't apply online. I had a look through the original application documents from MBNA that were submitted to court as evidence - and indeed, on the form with my friend's details (name/address/employment/etc) the box for "IP Address" is totally blank. Which I think proves his point that it was not an online application, ergo there WAS contact between him and the bank.

 

2. I'm a bit concerned the court might say "OK, maybe you have a case for mis-sale with MBNA, but you still currently owe this amount of money (~13k). The PPI claim might wipe some or all of that out, but it is a separate matter."

 

My friend points out that without the PPI and associated interest, there would not be a debt like this in the first place. I see this point, but am wondering how best to word it for the court submission we have to make soon. He wants to ask the court to have MBNA joined in the case as a third party, because his contract was not with the debt company but with MBNA. (So it's important to have MBNA joined in the case to stop judgement being given, until the outcome of the PPI claim is determined).

 

3. The debt company lawyers have suggested a figure for the PPI / interest in the theoretical event that it was mis-sold (but have NOT disclosed the calculations they did to achieve that figure, and how they calculated the interest). We know that there are multiple ways to calculate the interest on these claims. We've not done our own calculations yet, but obviously don't want to simply rely on theirs, which may not take into account compound interest and/or the 8% penalty rate I think is meant to be applied - or, at least, may not apply these things in the proper order.

 

Thanks so much for any and all assistance/advice on this. We're doing the court case on our own, so really appreciate any help with either the PPI element, or good suggestions on the legal side of things

[AndyOrch]

Hi barrone and welcome to CAG

 

 

You must deal with the claim first and the defence...missold PPI can be used to mitigate but its not a defence and there are no guarantees that a DJ will entertain it.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Andy