Reclaiming PPI question

Protocol45

I'm currently in debt management with Baines & Ernst. During a standard phonecall, they advised me to pursue claiming back PPI and recommended a company, in fact they actually got the company to phone me.
After some conversation, I had to squeeze the percentage out of them. 39% of what I receive, no win no fee.
While I thought that was high to say the least, I thought, well easy come easy go. If they don't get me the money back I would never see it.
Now I have 2 issues, I hope you all can help me with.
Firstly, they told me that when Black Horse pay the money back, they could either give me a cheque, or more likely, pay off some of my outstanding debt to them. Fine. But heres the issue, the claims company said that if Black Horse do write off some of the debt, I still have to pay this company its 39%. Which equals at the moment about £2600.
So my debt management company who is supposed to help me keep out of debt etc has recommended a company which could get me in more debt by thousands.
I'm more annoyed at the fact when I first spoke to these claim people, they stated that Black Horse cannot decide for themselves what to do with the money and its 100% my choice. Now I'm told its 100% up to them and I have to hope its not writing off some of the outstanding balance, otherwise I'll owe another debt to this company.
so my 2nd point is, can I cancel these people and pursue the issue myself, bypassing them completely?
I'm about 50% complete. They have sent me a letter from BH saying that they will pay me money are are just working out the figures. I have to sign the paperwork sent by Black Horse and send it to this company who then send it on.
Any advice?

dunstonh

Firstly, they told me that when Black Horse pay the money back, they could either give me a cheque, or more likely, pay off some of my outstanding debt to them. Fine. But heres the issue, the claims company said that if Black Horse do write off some of the debt, I still have to pay this company its 39%. Which equals at the moment about £2600.

This is where you need to be careful. If your DMP has resulted in some debt being written off then any PPI refund will go towards that debt. If no debt it written off but you are in arrears, then the PPI refund can go towards that. Some cases, even when you are not in those positions, the lender will re-write the loan as if PPI was never taken and handle the refund within the loan balance.

In any of those circumstances, you still have to pay the claims company and it has to come out of your own funds.

So my debt management company who is supposed to help me keep out of debt etc has recommended a company which could get me in more debt by thousands.

This is just another reason why claims companies are considered to be modern day scammers.

so my 2nd point is, can I cancel these people and pursue the issue myself, bypassing them completely?

If you are still within the cancellation period of employing them to reclaim you can. If not, its too late.

Protocol45

Many thanks for the info.
I phoned the claim company. You were correct, they say they have gone too far into the process and cannot cancel now. I could pay a "cancellation fee" but this figure seems a guarded secret. It would seem I have no choice but to go ahead with the procedure and see what happens. One thing is certain, I will owe them about £2300 by the end of this process.