Re: Your Mis-selling Claim Against PPI

Transcription

1 Address Date Re: Your Mis-selling Claim Against PPI Thank you for asking Refresh My Credit to handle your Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaint. We are committed to helping you achieve what is owed to you. We aim to process your claim speedily and efficiently. We will seek to recover the full premium you have paid plus compensation and interest. Your claim will be handled by an experienced case handler who is a member of our dedicated PPI Claims Team. Enclosed is the relevant documentation required to pursue your claim. Please refer to the Welcome Sheet for step by step instructions as to how to proceed. If you have any questions regarding you claim or completing any of these forms, please call us on we are here to help. Millions of pounds has already been paid out to people just like you. Don t miss out, return your claim pack TODAY and get back what is rightfully yours NOW! Yours sincerely "I received over 16,000 for PPI sold on my secured loan. I thought I had to have it to get the loan but Refresh My Credit proved otherwise... My new car is great... Thank you so much..." Mrs B. Portslade "I was so impressed by the service and speed at which I received my money... I have recommended Refresh My Credit to all my friends..." Mr C. Chichester PPI Claims Handling Team Refresh My Credit "Refresh My Credit discovered PPI on loans I didn't even know I had it on... Excellent Work!!!! " Mr J. Brighton "My Claims handler kept me informed every step of the way... Thank You for helping me win my money back from Lloyds" Mr P. Birmingham

2 Welcome to Your Personal Claim Pack Please return your Claim Pack within 7 days 3 No Win - No Fee & No Up-Front Costs Easy steps to get your money back The claim pack has been designed so that when completed we will have all of the documents and signatures necessary to reclaim the money that is owed to you. The Claims Advisor representing you has been allocated. Just follow these 3 simple steps and return your pack to us and we'll do the rest Sign Review the details we have already completed and amend anything that is inaccurate. Please try to complete any outstanding information; sign, date and return ALL documents where you see this symbol Documents Place the completed PPI Claim Pack into the FREEPOST envelope provided. Please include any documentation relating to your claim as this will help speed up us winning your money back for you (if unavailable then the agreement number will be sufficient). Post Put all signature documents into the FREEPOST envelope and get it back to us as quickly as possible so that we can get your claim underway immediately. If you have any problems just call us, we are here to help

3 Hints on how to find your Account / Agreement/ Credit Card Number To help us win your Mis-sold PPI Money back as quickly as possible we will need the Account/Agreement number for your loan/credit card/ mortgage account. To help you find these we have detailed below some helpful hints on what these numbers look like and where to look for them. Places to look for your Loan Account Number: Original Loan Agreement On your Bank Statement the Direct Debit for monthly Loan payment is paid from Annual Loan Statement Listed below are some of the more popular lenders we are successful in winning money back from for our clients and how the Account number may look: Lloyds TSB (12 digit number starting ) HSBC ( 8 digit number) Barclays (14 digit number starting with a 2) Alliance & Leicester (Now Santander) (8 digit number starting with a 3) Abbey (Now Santander) (8 digit number may be proceeded by 6 digit sort code) Royal Bank of Scotland (8 digit number) Natwest / /9 (12 digit number starting 200) Halifax - 7/ (9 digit number starts with a 7/ then 8 more numbers) Blackhorse (9 digit number starting with 3) Places to look for your Credit Card Number Credit Card statement Printed on Credit Card itself On your Bank Statement the Direct Debit for Credit Card is paid from ALL credit card numbers are 16 digits long normally broken down into groups of 4 numbers: e.g Places to look for Mortgage Account Number Annual Mortgage Statement On your Bank Statement the Direct Debit for Mortgage is paid from On any correspondence from your Mortgage Lender If you are at all unsure about supplying us the right Account/Agreement/ Credit Card Number, don t worry. Just send us any paperwork you have with any reference numbers on, and one of our trained Claims Handlers will work through it and will be able to ascertain the correct numbers to submit to the lenders. Copies of these documents are fine and we will return any original documents you send.

4 You and Your Loan Details This Sheet Must Be Returned Lender IMPORTANT Loan/Credit Card /Mortgage/Agreement Number: Original Loan Amount or Credit Card Highest Balance Date loan taken out: (e.g ) Date if Settled: (e.g ): Your address at the time you took out the loan (if different from your current address): Are you in any of the following? Please check all that apply Debt management IVA Bankrupt None If the Loan/Credit Card/Mortgage was paid off early, then what date? How did you apply for your Loan/Credit Card/Mortgage? Has the loan been refinanced? Status of Loan/Credit Card/Mortgage (e.g. current/default/arrears/refinanced etc) IMPORTANT Please tick any of the following quotes that apply to you I did not realise that I had PPI attached to my account I was not aware that I had to pay interest on the PPI I was not informed that the PPI was optional I was working less than 37 ½ hours per week (i.e. less than full time) I was not fully informed what the policy did and didn t cover I was not informed about the full cost of PPI I had an existing medical condition that was not taken into consideration I was told by taking the PPI it would increase my chances of getting the loan I am self-employed so the policy would not have covered me if I was out of work Date

5 Letter of Authority This Sheet Must Be Returned Ref Number : Client Name : Client Address: Date of Birth : FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Loan Agreement No. To whom it may concern: 1. I/We authorise Refresh My Credit ( RMC ) exclusively to act on my/our behalf in the pursuit of a mis-selling claim in respect of advice and/or sales, relating to mortgages and/or insurances, made by the bank, building society, lender, insurance company, credit provider or other relevant party against which any complaint is directed ( the Firm ) and, if RMC believes that the claim has merit, to act on my/our behalf to seek compensation. This authorisation extends to the Firm s agents, representatives, associates and/or predecessors and will endure until I/we revoke my/our authorisation in writing. 2. I/We authorise and insist that the Firm should release to RMC, without delay, all and any information, whether deemed confidential or otherwise, as may be requested from time to time by RMC. I/We confirm that I/we have lawfully contracted with RMC and have expressly consented that all communications made from the Firm must be made directly to RMC. As of the date I/we have signed this Letter of Authority, I/we do not wish to receive any further correspondence from the Firm in relation to my/our complaint. Any wilful failure of the Firm to follow my/our express instructions with regard to dealing with Refresh My Credit whom I/we have contracted with, may render the offending party liable to legal recourse for procuring/inducing a breach of trade; breaches of the Competition Act 1988; The Enterprise Act 2002 and Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. 3. I/We give full authority to RMC to accept or reject any offer of compensation from the Firm and to refer my/our complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and/or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme on my/our behalf, if RMC determines this to be in my/our best interests. I/We confirm that RMC has informed me/us that access to your complaints process and the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is free of charge. 4. I/We authorise and insist that the Firm must make payment in respect of my/our claim(s) directly to RMC and that such payment be made only by cheque made payable to Refresh My Credit. I/We authorise RMC to pay any sums due to my/ourselves into their nominated client account. RMC will deduct any sums due and then make onward payments of the outstanding balance to my/ourselves. 5. I/We confirm that RMC has drawn my/our attention to how I/we may cancel my/our agreement with RMC. 6. I/We confirm that a copy of this Letter of Authority shall have the same validity as the original so that RMC may retain the original on file and copy it if needed by other firms and/or agencies. 7. If applicable, any information requested by RMC will be passed onto Deloitte, on behalf of the FSCS and I/WE authorise Deloitte to contact you to discuss any information passed to them by RMC.

6 Terms & Conditions This Sheet Must Be Returned Our Terms and Conditions of Engagement Reference Number: Your Claims Advisor: The text below explains in detail how we work with you and what we need from you. If there is anything you do not understand please contact us for a full and straight forward explanation on This Terms of business letter details our relationship with you, what you can expect from us and what we require of you, throughout the course of your clients 1. Our Promise We will always act in your best interests when pursuing your claim and will always achieve for you the best result that is realistically obtainable. 2. Correspondence It is important that if you receive any correspondence from the lender/insurer (the Firm), or their representatives, you should inform us immediately and forward it to us unanswered, so that we may deal with this on your behalf. This is particularly important with any offers made to you - we will evaluate any offers and determine whether we should accept or reject them. It may prejudice your position if you have any dealings directly with the Firm. 3. Scope of the Work The assistance we give you will relate to the misselling of Mortgages and/or Insurances only. We are not obliged to consider any issue or make any complaint or type of complaint, but if we commence a complaint about any matter for you, we will prepare it, deal with the Firm and, if they do not pay straight away, we will, if we believe it is appropriate, refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). We may cease to deal with your case at any time if we believe the chances of success are not high enough, but if we do this before we have won, we will not be paid anything. If the FOS finds against you, or we do not refer the case to them, you still have the legal right to go to court. However, we will not deal with this. The FOS is available without charge should you choose to deal with your complaint personally. 4. Costs & Charges Refresh My Credit operates on a No Win No Fee basis, which means the following: Upfront charges: We will not charge you anything If we lose your claim: We will not charge you anything If we discontinue your claim: We will not charge you anything 5. Our commitment to you: Only if we are successful and win compensation for you, will we charge you our Success Fee of 25% of the compensation plus VAT (charged only on the fee, not the whole award, at the current rate). For all successful claims, a minimum Success Fee of 25 will be charged. You authorise that we may deduct the Success Fee plus VAT from the compensation and pay the balance of the compensation to you within 14 days of receipt of payment of your final claim to be settled. 6. Your commitment to us: If we win compensation for you, you agree to pay our Success Fee of 25% of the compensation plus VAT (charged at current rate) to Refresh My Credit. If any compensation, or part thereof, is made to you directly, or the Firm credits the compensation directly to your loan account, credit card or other credit facility, you agree and contract to pay Refresh My Credit our Success Fee plus VAT within 14 days of payment of the compensation. Compensation means total of any sums offered by the Firm as a result of a claim including, but not limited to: gestures of goodwill; interest; reductions in borrowings; reductions in loan repayments; reductions in arrears; repayments of premiums and compensation. In the event that payment is made to you directly and you fail to satisfy our invoice, we shall take steps to recover any fees due to us under this Agreement. In addition to the unpaid invoice, you will pay Refresh My Credit a further recovery fee of 1000 plus VAT at the prevailing rate. In addition you will, at all times, keep us indemnified against all costs and expenses including but not limited to Court fees, interest and administration fees of recovering those fees from you. 7. Cancellation You have a right to cancel this agreement within a 14 day period from the date you sign this authority. After this cancellation period has expired, if you terminate your contract with us, this will be a breach of contract. In such an instance, we will reserve the right to charge, at a reasonable rate, for the time we have spent working on your case. We will not charge you anything, apart from the Success Fee, provided that you allow us to proceed with the claim until it is won or lost or until we can no longer deal with it. 8. Liability Attaining a successful outcome may require the cancellation of your insurance policy. Refresh My Credit accepts no liability to you for any loss, including but not limited to: financial loss; loss of insurance protection and/or loss of goodwill, howsoever caused, as a result of our handling of your claim(s). 9. Credit Check - To assist and validate the PPI Claim(s) that you have requested RMC to pursue, you authorise RMC through a third party (italk) to undertake a credit check. This credit check will be free of charge and will be sent to you on request. 10. Complaints In the unlikely event that you have cause to complain regarding the handling of your claim(s), please write to: The Complaints Department, Refresh My Credit, 142 Old Shoreham Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 7BD. A copy of the Complaints Handling Procedure is available on request

7 Customer Copy Please retain this page for your records. Our Terms and Conditions of Engagement Customer Number : Your Claims Advisor: The text below explains in detail how we work with you and what we need from you. If there is anything you do not understand please contact us for a full and straight forward explanation on This Terms of business letter details our relationship with you, what you can expect from us and what we require of you, throughout the course of your clients 1. Our Promise We will always act in your best interests when pursuing your claim and will always achieve for you the best result that is realistically obtainable. 2. Correspondence It is important that if you receive any correspondence from the lender/insurer (the Firm), or their representatives, you should inform us immediately and forward it to us unanswered, so that we may deal with this on your behalf. This is particularly important with any offers made to you - we will evaluate any offers and determine whether we should accept or reject them. It may prejudice your position if you have any dealings directly with the Firm. 3. Scope of the Work The assistance we give you will relate to the misselling of Mortgages and/or Insurances only. We are not obliged to consider any issue or make any complaint or type of complaint, but if we commence a complaint about any matter for you, we will prepare it, deal with the Firm and, if they do not pay straight away, we will, if we believe it is appropriate, refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). We may cease to deal with your case at any time if we believe the chances of success are not high enough, but if we do this before we have won, we will not be paid anything. If the FOS finds against you, or we do not refer the case to them, you still have the legal right to go to court. However, we will not deal with this. The FOS is available without charge should you choose to deal with your complaint personally. 4. Costs & Charges Refresh My Credit operates on a No Win No Fee basis, which means the following: Upfront charges: We will not charge you anything If we lose your claim: We will not charge you anything If we discontinue your claim: We will not charge you anything 5. Our commitment to you: Only if we are successful and win compensation for you, will we charge you our Success Fee of 25% of the compensation plus VAT (charged only on the fee, not the whole award, at the current rate). For all successful claims, a minimum Success Fee of 25 will be charged. You authorise that we may deduct the Success Fee plus VAT from the compensation and pay the balance of the compensation to you within 14 days of receipt of payment of your final claim to be settled. 6. Your commitment to us: If we win compensation for you, you agree to pay our Success Fee of 25% of the compensation plus VAT (charged at current rate) to Refresh My Credit. If any compensation, or part thereof, is made to you directly, or the Firm credits the compensation directly to your loan account, credit card or other credit facility, you agree and contract to pay Refresh My Credit our Success Fee plus VAT within 14 days of payment of the compensation. Compensation means total of any sums offered by the Firm as a result of a claim including, but not limited to: gestures of goodwill; interest; reductions in borrowings; reductions in loan repayments; reductions in arrears; repayments of premiums and compensation. In the event that payment is made to you directly and you fail to satisfy our invoice, we shall take steps to recover any fees due to us under this Agreement. In addition to the unpaid invoice, you will pay Refresh My Credit a further recovery fee of up to 1000 plus VAT at the prevailing rate. In addition you will, at all times, keep us indemnified against all costs and expenses including but not limited to Court fees, interest and administration fees of recovering those fees from you. 7. Cancellation You have a right to cancel this agreement within a 14 day period from the date you sign this authority. After this cancellation period has expired, if you terminate your contract with us, this will be a breach of contract. In such an instance, we will reserve the right to charge, at a reasonable rate, for the time we have spent working on your case. We will not charge you anything, apart from the Success Fee, provided that you allow us to proceed with the claim until it is won or lost or until we can no longer deal with it. 8. Liability Attaining a successful outcome may require the cancellation of your insurance policy. Refresh My Credit accepts no liability to you for any loss, including but not limited to: financial loss; loss of insurance protection and/or loss of goodwill, howsoever caused, as a result of our handling of your claim(s). 9. Credit Check - To assist and validate the PPI Claim(s) that you have requested RMC to pursue, you authorise RMC through a third party (italk) to undertake a credit check. This credit check will be free of charge and will be sent to you on request. 10. Complaints In the unlikely event that you have cause to complain regarding the handling of your claim(s), please write to: The Complaints Department, Refresh My Credit, 142 Old Shoreham Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 7BD. A copy of the Complaints Handling Procedure is available on request

8 Data Protection Act 1998 Subject Access Request Form Personal Information Title: Mr Mrs Miss Ms Dr Name of Bank: 1st Client Name 2nd Client Name Sex: Male Female Maiden/Previous Name Maiden/Previous Name Date of Birth: Telephone number Present Address Postcode Former Address (1) Postcode Former Address (2) Postcode Former Address (3) Postcode Under the provision of the Subject Access Rights granted to *me/us by the Data Protection Act, *I/we should be grateful if you would forward details of the relevant information relating to *my/our account/s and that fall within the terms of the Act, as listed below: 1. A copy of all original signed agreement/s. 2. A copy of all the terms and conditions that apply to the agreement/s. 3. Notice of assignment (if applicable). 4. Statement of all account/s. 5. Account transaction history (clients statements if available) and interest rates (APR). 6. A copy of all original application form/s. In consideration of the above conditions *I/we enclose the statutory fee of and respectfully request that you comply with this request within the prescribed timescales. Please also note that this has been sent by registered post. *I/we further request that you communicate directly with Refresh My Credit in respect of any aspects of the account, and further instruct that delivery of all correspondence relative to the SAR request be delivered directly to Refresh My Credit. Please note that placing any adverse credit entries against the above account holder(s)is an offence whilst the account is in dispute Please send the requested documents to: Refresh My Credit, 142 Old Shoreham Rd, Hove. BN3 7BD

9 Additional information Return if you have more than 1 claim The claim pack that you are sending back is for 1 claim only and the reason for so many signatures is that the British Bankers Association (BBA) together with Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will not accept a photocopied signature for us to act on your behalf. Many of our customers have multiple forms of finance, such as a Mortgage, Car Finance, Loan, Credit Card, Store Cards, etc. So rather than bombarding you with several PPI claims packs, our experience has been to get one claim underway with a dedicated specialist claims handler, who will be there to help you and advise you on how your claim is progressing and will immediately inform you of any offers of compensation and whether the offer made is reasonable and acceptable. Some customers are really worried about upsetting their bank so to put your mind at ease legally the bank CANNOT threaten, cajole or withdraw credit facilities whilst you are in dispute. Any wilful failure of the Firm to follow our express instructions with regard to dealing with this complaint, may render the offending party liable to legal recourse for procuring/inducing a breach of trade; breaches of the Competition Act 1988; The Enterprise Act 2002 and Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. So if you think you have more than 1 claim just jot down below the basic facts such as type of loan, who was the lender, what year did the loan start, when did the loan finish (or maybe you are still paying it off), what monthly payments you were making. Try and include any documents that will support your claim and we will get these additional claim(s) underway

10 Consumer Factsheet Guidance on Using a Claims Management Company to claim for mis-sold PPI and how a successful claim may be taxed. Example 1: All compensation is cash in hand Mr A is awarded 3,000 compensation. From this compensation payment Mr A will be charged a fee of 25% ( 750) by the claims management company (CMC). He will also pay VAT at 20% ( 150), making the total bill Mr A will pay to the CMC, 900 In this example Mr A will receive a compensation payment of 2,100. Example 2: Compensation includes cash in hand award with loan and future instalment reduction Ms B is awarded 3,000 compensation. 2,000 of this award will be deducted from the outstanding balance on her loan. Ms B will be charged a fee of 25% ( 750) by the claims management company (CMC). She will also pay VAT at 20% ( 150), making the total bill Ms B will pay to the CMC, 900. In this example Ms B Will receive a compensation payment of 100 and a reduction of 2,000 off future loan repayments. Example 3: Compensation is used to offset arrears consumer has on credit card or loan Mr & Mrs C are awarded 3,000 compensation. The whole sum of this award ( 3,000) will be deducted from the outstanding balance on their loan. Mr & Mrs C will be charged a fee of 25% ( 750) by the claims management company (CMC). They will also pay VAT at 20% ( 150), making the total bill Mr & Mrs C will pay to the CMC, 900. In this example Mr & Mrs C will receive no cash payment. They will however, reduce their future loan repayments by 3,000. Mr Mrs C wil pay a fee of 900 to the CMC Taxation of your potential successful PPI complaint Please note that your offer may include 8% per annum simple interest on the amount of PPI refund plus any interest you were charged on the PPI premium. If this payment has been made gross, no deduction has been made for income Tax. The payment is taxable at your personal tax rate so under UK legislation you need to include this amount on your annual tax return if you currently complete one. Any potential tax liability as a result of this payment will be your responsibility. This award is in full and final settlement of your claim, and we have not advised you on the calculation of the offer made by the lender

11 Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) what is it? Payment protection insurance, also called loan protection and commonly known by the initials PPI covers debt repayment on loans, mortgages and credit cards in specific circumstances such as redundancy or sickness. The Financial Ombudsman Service has identified three main causes of complaint about these insurance products: 1. When the consumer tries to invoke the policy the claim is rejected by the insurance company. 2. The consumer is unaware of the existence of a policy on their loan, mortgage or credit card; at the time of the sale, the policy was not properly described; it was unsuitable for the needs of the consumer or the policy was not properly understood. 3. Where the consumer pays off a loan early, often only a small refund of premiums paid is offered. Using a claims management business to make a claim A number of claims management businesses are set up to make claims on behalf of consumers for the mis-selling of these policies. They are required to be authorised by the Ministry of Justice and are obliged to comply with strict conduct rules. Always check that a claims management business is authorised by the Claims Management Regulator before agreeing to them handling your claim. The Authorised Business Search on our website at: uk/about/cmr.htm tells you which businesses are currently authorised and which businesses have had their authorisation suspended or cancelled, and are no longer able to handle claims. This work is also carried out by some solicitors who are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Understanding the fees Many businesses offer what is known as a No Win No Fee service and typically charge a fee of 25% + VAT of the total compensation obtained. This is sometimes also charged on not only what you receive as cash in hand but also on any reduction in further repayments on your loan or any set off against any arrears you might have on your credit card. You need to read and understand the charges carefully as, if you have not paid off the loan or you are in debt, this can result in you receiving little or no cash in hand and you may have to find the fee from a source other than the compensation received. The examples above illustrate how this can work. Your situation could be even worse if you are currently in a debt management plan. Some businesses charge their fee upfront and you should shop around to make an informed choice before purchasing this service. When using a claims management business you have a cooling-off period and the Rules require that you receive written information about the service you are buying that includes examples of fees and charges. Can you claim yourself? The Financial Ombudsman Service has produced a comprehensive leaflet which can be found at: factsheets/payment-protection-insurance.pdf on how to complain about these policies yourself, without using a claims management business. Once you have gone through the complaints procedure of the business which sold you the policy and have received a final response to your complaint you can then approach the Ombudsman There are a number of online resources you may wish to visit to assist you in making the complaint yourself: Which? claims-management-companies/financial-claims--- do-it-yourself/ How do I contact the Ministry of Justice? If you are unhappy with the conduct of a business, or have come across an unauthorised business, you can contact them in variety of ways: Website: By consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk By telephone: / In writing: Claims Management Regulation, High Street, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1JS.