Scared to claim

hola22

Hi there

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice please.

A few years ago we found ourselves in financial trouble and as a result started amassing charges. The worst culprits were HSBC applying charge after charge to our bank account but I know I can't claim these back due to the failed court case, right?

Anyway, my question is about those things we can claim back: PPI and credit card charges. I am sure we have quite a few and I am so grateful for the guides on here because I am terrible for paperwork etc so I know it will not be an easy task but there is a guide.

HOWEVER, I'm scared to do it. We are now on a more even footing and working on clearing our debt. We are snowballing but paying the minimum on some loans/credit card so will take a while and do have outstanding balances that we could not possibly hope to clear "just like that". My worry is, if we claim, would any of these companies shut our account and demand outstanding balances to be repaid? As a 'punishment' of sorts??!

I understand fully, and would be fine with, them using any refund owed to go against outstanding balance (i.e. if we owed £2k on card A and they said we will give you £1k back and just apply it right away and we still owe £1k) that would be fine as we WANT to pay these debts off. But is there any chance they would say fine, go away then and give us the other £1k right now?

Thanks and I hope I made sense!
hola

amersall

If you have reasons for mis sell
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance#step2
Then put a claim in.

If you win redress the redress may be used towards the Loans/CC you may have, any surplus will given back to you, you will get the 8% back to you and this is taxable, so you need to contact HMRC to pay the tax on this, unless it is paid by the bank before you get the payment.
Hope this helps.

hola22

Thank you I understand they may pay it towards the remaining debt - that is absolutely fine. I'm worried about them then closing the account and demanding we pay everything off which we couldn't afford to do... Anyone experience this?

[Deleted User]

hola22 wrote: »

Thank you I understand they may pay it towards the remaining debt - that is absolutely fine. I'm worried about them then closing the account and demanding we pay everything off which we couldn't afford to do... Anyone experience this?

This is unlikely to happen at all unless you are in arrears with agreed repayments.
There have been instances I've read on here of redress being used to clear all of an existing debt (sometimes without the customer's permission), but I've not heard of any lender demanding the remaining amount of a debt after redress has just been used to service a part of that debt. The lender will normally simply re-structure the loan without the PPI element, warning you that you are no longer insured.
As Amersall said above, be certain you have clear cut reasons for complaining about mis-selling of payment protection, though. Start by finding out exactly what PPI you have paid in the past or are currently doing now. If you don't have paperwork, request that your bank supplies this information (it may cost £10 for each lender) and then decide whether to proceed with a complaint using the link Amersall provided.

magpiecottage

A lender can "set off" redress (i.e. money it owes you) against money you owe it - but only money it is entitled to. That means it can use it to pay arrears (including money it has written off).

However, it cannot "punish" you.

It may, though, be within its rights to recover costs involved in dealing with a fraudulent complaint - so make sure you are honest with it.

hola22

thank you all, I will definitely ensure we are right to claim before I try and we are not in any arrears - just have outstanding debt we are slowly paying off :0)

Thanks!

WETHINK

3.9.2

DISP 3.9.2 G This rule for PPI provides opportunity to seek not only recovery of PPI or claim on PPI policy but also seeking the excessive charges:T
In assessing redress, the [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]firm [/FONT][/FONT]should consider whether there are any other further losses that flow from its breach or failing that were reasonably foreseeable as a consequence of the [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]firm’s [/FONT][/FONT]breach or failing, for example, where the [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]payment protection contract’s [/FONT][/FONT]cost or rejected claims contributed to affordability issues for the associated loan or credit which led to arrears charges, default interest, penal interest rates or other penalties levied by the lender.

magpiecottage

This is guidance, rather than a rule and the words "reasonably foreseeable" mean just that.

In most cases, the default is not attributable to the PPI because the lender will have assessed affordability of the entire loan, including a loan for a PPI premium (and we have not been told it was set up that way).

It therefore seems that the financial difficulties were something the lender could not have reasonably foreseen.