Lifestyle Claims

Hi....
We too paid a large sum of money to Lifestyle claims.....
Woke up suffering "byers remorse"....
Paid them the money in november......
Still waiting......!
This group informed us that they were regulated by the ministry of justice.....[which is why we paid the money] Does anyone here know whether or not we have been robbed ...And should we report them to the ministry of justice for frauldulent activity......?

Alpine_Star wrote: »

Do you realise how ridiculous this reasoning is?

Which part? Lol. The company insuring they're not wasting their time or other companies having done the whole "fining" thing?

dunstonh wrote: »

1.So, the OFT and MoJ having to issue warnings about claims companies doing this means they are talking out of their backsides as well then? Or the many companies that the MoJ have shut down or the ones that Police are now taking action against under advance fee fraud.



2.So you are saying that the ones that break the rules by taking an up front payment prior to issuing their terms and charges in writing are better than the ones that collect a fee only if successful?



3.Cartel was the biggest. They were shut down. I believe Kerobo were bigger. They were shut down.




4.Really? What is the success rate on unenforceable credit then? I mean the real figures, not the lies that the claims companies tell people.



5.Please provide evidence that backs up that 85% of MPPI were mis-sold? You won't be able to as you cant. However, what has PPI got to do with unenforceable credit which I was referring to in the bit you copied and pasted.


6.There has been one successful court case on that front. That was because the broker was independent and took a charge and a commission and didnt disclose the amount of the commission. There is absolutely nothing wrong with commission or fees as long as it is disclosed.



7.Cartel said the same thing before they went under and took the money of those that signed up.

I'll address each point one by one rather than having to copy and paste repeatedly

1. I meant in regard to Lifestyle in particular, which is what you made it sound like.

2. As far as I'm aware, taking an upfront fee isn't breaking the rules. The MOJ regulates them closely and doesn't seem to have a problem with it....if there's something on the MOJ site that states it's against some sort of rule then the left hand doesn't seem to know what the right is doing! Or they're as unscrupulous as our MPs
Also, they can't take a fee until the customer receives it in writing. That's perfectly true! Payment is only taken once the customer has received it in writing in the form of an email or a letter.

3. Cartel Client Review were shut down because they had a massive backlog of claims to go through. They were accepting people's money but could not keep up and people's claims were going over the quoted time period where they were meant to see results.

4. Currently, Lifestyle don't make unenforceability the focus of their calls because of some change that's left things a bit shaky on whether people can even claim for unenforceabilty anymore. Probably our lovely government re-evaluating whether the banks should be crippled as much as they have been (I can't remember what this change is right now though ) I only worked there a week and a half . But PPI and extra charges have been the focus while I've worked there. I've never even mentioned unenforceability and was told to scrub it out from my script during my training. All I know about unenforceability is that if a Credit Limit on a Credit Card is increased without the customer requesting it, that's irresponsible lending and they can look into having the balance zeroed.

5. Apparently it's backed up by a survey by 'Which' Consumer Magazine.

6. Well I know people who've signed financial agreements and the extent of being made aware of the extra charges was "so this is how much you'll be paying back a month. Is that alright?" They of course said yes as they assumed the Bank employee had their best interests in mind. That and not having a calculator handy in order to work out that there were hidden added fees.

7. Already covered above.

Now I'm not advocating these claims management companies at all. I think it's disgusting that it's so difficult for people to get the full sum back by themselves. A lot of the time, the customer gets ignored or the lender might try and offer a paltry amount and once you cash the cheque, you've accepted it as a settlement. etc etc

dunstonh wrote: »

The posts above were suggesting the money was taken before the letter arrived.

Nah. Credit/Debit card details are taken, but they aren't allowed to actually process the payment until the customer has confirmed they've received all the info in an email or by post.

Cartel closed as they couldnt finance the return of the money as the bulk of what they took was in respect of unenforceability claims. When that door closed in Dec 2009, they would have had to return the money paid up front but by then over £20 million had been taken off people and most of it had been drawn out of the business. The problem with that model (which is one many claims companies use) is that the refunds are paid for by new sign ups. Ultimately the money coming in will stop and the ones left without refunds will lose their money when the company fails.

Kind of what I've been told then, but not really. lol. Basically they took people's money but couldn't deliver the goods. Gotcha. Just so you know I was told this by another CMC i worked for briefly, not Lifestyle. I get around But i stand corrected.


In December 2009 there were some test cases on it and they all found in favour of the lenders. That basically shut down the unenforceability claims. Nothing do with with the Govt. However, if you look at post #9, you will see that they are still using unenforceability as a potential claims reason.

Well we were specifically told not to (and remove it from the outdated script) but I guess some of the long term employees have kept emphasising it (not that that's an excuse)

That is wrong. Its certainly a sale reason that claims companies often use but there isnt any truth to it.

I was not aware of this. Forgive my naivity. Could you be more specific about how it's wrong?

The figure from Which was the product class in general. Not individual types of PPI. For example, some secured loans are potentially as high as 99%. yet monthly payment MPPI is likely to be in single digits. Single premium MPPI is near 99%. So, when a catchall percentage is used it is not correctly presenting an accurate figure unless its placed in context. So, if the 85% figure is used and mentioned MPPI for example then someone with monthly payment MPPI is going to think they have an 85% chance of success. Yet in reality its much much lower.

Again, forgive my ignorance. I guess I should have researched a little before jumping down your throat. :rotfl: There are just a lot of people who will be adamant that everything is a scam and don't back it up with anything but their paranoia, and that annoys me a bit so I made an unfair assumption. You obviously know what you're talking about so I apologise.

proving it is hard though and as it will need court action it will be time consuming and expensive. Plus, in that court case, the court ruled that the commission received should be repaid to the borrower. Commission on mortgages is around 0.3%. So, £100k mortgage would generate around £300 commission. Most claims companies have given up on this because its not cost effective as the chances of success are low as it requires fee AND commission (commission only or fee only wont win) and the amount you can win is likely to be less than the charge you pay the claims company.

I don't think anyone would be advised by Lifestyle that they'd be able to claim back thousands JUST on the fees and commissions. I at least would never have done that while i worked there. It's mentioned as an afterthought more than anything. The main focus is the PPI and we'd say "we'll also be looking into extra charges".

So how would you personally suggest people reclaim their money, in light of how the banks have been known to both ignore and fob customers off with paltry offerings by cheque which count as a settlement if they pay it into their bank? I know this website has a template letter but what's the success rate of that? And how does one ensure they're getting the full amount back?