Claims companies - contracting out cold calling

We often see posts on here from people cold called. Here is a pretty good site that discusses the rules that these claims management companies are meant to work under:

http://www.advicenow.org.uk/go/feature/feature_346.html?pkgid=34

I draw your attention to: uninvited, calls at your door, phones you or comes up to you in the street or visits you in hospital trying to persuade you to make a claim. This is called 'cold calling in person' and is banned under the new rules

To see if the company is regulated to be a complaints management company you can view http://www.claimsregulation.gov.uk/search.aspx

A number of companies are still cold calling and are not regulated. We know from posts here [and experience in the case of the advisers here] that they are still cold calling and spouting a bunch of lies to try and get you to pay an up front fee.

Remember, these companies are not authorised to give financial advice (they are not regulated by the FSA) and if they are not on the claims regulation register then they are not authorised to handle claims. Even if they are, they shouldnt be cold calling you.

A typical approach is to ask you if you have contracted out and if you say yes, they will tell you that you have been mis-sold and that you can claim large amounts of compensation as long as you pay a fee up front. Things to be wary of here (ignoring the fact they shouldnt have phoned anyway) is that how do they know if you have been mis-sold or not? They havent been privvy to your files or adviser or havent even asked you if any of the benefits of contracting out apply to you. The FSA have only identified less than 5% of individuals who may have been mis-sold in their recent research.

Also, with pensions, if redress is payable, this is typically added to the pension scheme and not paid to you in your pocket. So, if you agree to a percentage fee (typically 20-30%) plus VAT, you will have to pay this out of your own pocket.

So, take care if you are called. Perhaps make a note of their name and where they are from and report them because if you dont, then someone else out there will say yes to them and lose money.