YES Financial Services offering to make a claim for me?

mbycharter

Hello all
I am hoping that someone can put me on the right track regarding a possible PPI re-claim...
Some years ago I bought a mortgage through a broker called APS Financial Services. Recently I received a letter from YES Financial Services Ltd saying that they "act for" APS (who I understand to be closed down) and can help me reclaim a single policy PPI that I apparently took out at the time I took out the mortgage.
Frankly, I would struggle to find all the relevant paperwork to confirm all of this, so was wondering if I should just give them a chance to recover the money, in exchange for what I imagine would be a 20 - 25% fee? Or, should I try to find the necessary paperwork and make the claim myself?
It seems odd to me that YES Financial Services should want to alert me to a claim against a company that was part of them, so is there a hidden agenda here that I should know about?
Anyway, thanks for listening and any advice or light that can be shed on this situation would be gratefully received:)
mbycharter

dunstonh

It's disgraceful what they do. Its very unprofessional and given the reports of what they do and how they do it, then the unprofessional tag really sticks.

Frankly, I would struggle to find all the relevant paperwork to confirm all of this, so was wondering if I should just give them a chance to recover the money, in exchange for what I imagine would be a 20 - 25% fee? Or, should I try to find the necessary paperwork and make the claim myself?

add 20% VAT to their charge as its vatable. Single premium MPPI is considered bad advice. Its one of the few areas with MPPI that is bad. You dont need a claims company as a simple three sentence letter would do the trick.

mbycharter

Dear Dunstonh
Many thanks for your swift reply - presumably I need to be able to quote the exact details of when the policy started and how much I paid (which could prove tricky), but also what do I do if the broker that sold me the policy is defunct? The letter says the broker was a part of YES Financial Services (who wrote me the letter), so should I direct the letter to them!?
Is there a scam going on here whereby my claim would be met by a separate body or fund (because the broker is out of business), but YES get to make their commission - therefore making money out of claiming against mis-sold policies that were effectively sold by themselves originally? That really would be unbelievable, if they were getting away with it!

dunstonh

presumably I need to be able to quote the exact details of when the policy started and how much I paid (which could prove tricky)

Nope. You just need to state that you were sold single premium MPPI that was added to your mortgage and you paid interest on rather than being set up monthly from your account with no interest deducted.

but also what do I do if the broker that sold me the policy is defunct?

If they were a network member, you complain to their network as they carry the liablity. If they were a representative and an insurer, you complain to the insurer. If they were directly authorised then you complain to the FSCS.

The letter says the broker was a part of YES Financial Services (who wrote me the letter), so should I direct the letter to them!?

Yes

Is there a scam going on here whereby my claim would be met by a separate body or fund (because the broker is out of business), but YES get to make their commission - therefore making money out of claiming against mis-sold policies that were effectively sold by themselves originally? That really would be unbelievable, if they were getting away with it!

Legally its not a scam but its immoral. Advisers like me would have to pay your redress rather than YES as we all have to pay into the FSCS each year. Yet, YES, if they do the complaint for you, will take a cut of your redress but dont have to pay a penny towards the FSCS as they are no longer authorised in that category. They get to earn out of you twice. The earn for mis-selling and then earn again for putting in a mis-selling complaint against one of their companies that no longer exists.

mbycharter

I though it might be something like that - they have the database of all the people they mis-sold the policies to and then earn again by handling the re-claims! That really is immoral and there's no way I will help them to get away with it, so thanks very much indeed for your kind assistance and I will pursue the claim myself and update the thread if I get anywhere with it.
Thanks again for your invaluable advice...
mbycharter

mbycharter

Dear Dunstonh
I thought you might be interested to know that I wrote to YES Financial, asking for a refund of monies owed under the PPI policy, as discussed.
I had a response the next day from the "Compliance Manager", stating that they categorically have no connection with APS Financial Services (despite their letterhead saying it's a "trading style" of YES Financial!) and merely purchased their database.
He sounded very nervous when I said I had doubts about the legality of this use of my data and asked him to write to me again explaining their reasons and legal justification for using my data in this way, so that I can forward it to the ICO for checking. Something tells me the response will not be so quick this time!
It's all too easy to let these sort of companies get away with bending the law, so if they have stepped over the line in terms of data protection, I will do my best to ensure they are brought to account.
My understanding is that a database can only be sold on for use in a similar way to that which it was compiled for - in my opinion, using it to make claims AGAINST the company that compiled the data does not fit within that description!
I will let you know what happens...
mbycharter

dunstonh

Good luck and yes, please do let us know.

AndyPanned

I would take a look at this y3sfinancialservicesfacts.wordpress.com

great company wouldn't put anything past them

Compmanager

Firstly, I would like to point out to AndyPanned that y3sfinancialservicesfacts.wordpress.com does not refer to Yes Financial Services Limited, based in Cheshire, England - I think y2sfinancialservices may be from the USA.

Secondly, dunstanh should know better than to make comments about someone he knows nothing about - especially when he begins his remarks with 'disgaceful' and 'unprofessional'.

The original blog from mbycharter referred to a PPI policy he claimed was sold by Yes Financial or a subsidiary (Yes doesn't have any subsidaries).

Sadly, he was mistaken but would not accept that the policy he bought was sold to him by an entirely different company - that was APS Mortgages (UK) Limited from Swindon - but it ceased trading in 2007 or 2008 (and the FSA cancelled its authorisation in January 2009).

Yes Financial Services Limited did not commence trading until 2nd December 2009 and is based 150 miles from where APS Mortgages had their office. At no time did the two firms have any legal or financial connection whatsoever.

Yes Financial is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and it registered several trading names (which any firm is entitled to do) with the FSA, the OFT and the Information Commissioner. It declared its detailed business plan to the regulator (that included the use of such names) prior to authorisation.

mbycharter was apparently upset that I was not able to authorise payment to him of any compensation - on the very reasonable grounds that we were not liable for the sale (that was an entirely different firm that ceased trading before we even came into existence). It is disappointing that he has chosen to discredit us by posting comments on a public website rather than accept the facts, but that is his privilege I suppose - I am merely putting the record straight.

dunstanh offers himself as an expert on financial services matters and posts lots of comments on this site but he really should check his facts before making ill-informed and derogatory comments.

He was also incorrect in his advice to mbycharter how to pursue his claim because he assumed that Yes and APS Mortgages were one and the same.

The correct place to refer a claim when the original provider has ceased trading (or cannot meet its financial liabilities) is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, although you do need to provide evidence to support your allegations - and the FSCS will only consider claims where the advice was provided on or after 14 January 2005 (or 31 October 2004 for mortgages). For more information, refer to the FSCS website

For what it is worth, Yes Financial is not authorised to handle compensation claims but there are two claims companies (one of which specialises in PPI claims) based in the same building and we work closely with them. They refer suitable enquiries to us and vice versa - Yes Financial neither pays nor receives any remuneration for client referrals; we simply regard it as a useful value added service for our mortgage and insurance clients.

Compliance Manager, Yes Financial Services Limited