PPI being used against unknown debt?

Davey30

Hi,

Its my first post so I apologise if Im in the wrong place. I took out a loan with Welcome Finance in 2002 which had PPI on, I subsequently cleared the loan and took out another in 2003 again which had PPI. This was a stipulation of the loan being agreed.

In 2004 I fell into difficulties and in the end my father paid off my debt to WFS.

I went through the complainys procedure with WFS and having spoken to them yesterday my claim was upheld and awarded £1795 however they now claim that I have a balance with them and it was being offset against this. I disputed this on the telephone and was told I will have to go to the FOS once I receive the letter.

Now I know the loan was paid however the problem is my father passed away in 2010 so I dont know how I can prove this? Will I have to simply let this go? I expressed my disappointment and anger at there decision and the operator was understanding but said WFS have done all thats required.

Thanks

dunstonh

Was the FULL loan paid off or was a reduced amount agreed as a settlement (i.e. they wrote off a bit of the debt)?

Where a write off is involved, the lender is allowed to use the redress against the debt written off. If no write off was involved and the full amount paid then the money (or any difference) should come to you.

Davey30

The loan was fully paid off, surely they would of chased me for this had I not paid but ive never had letters or anything.

dunstonh

Davey30 wrote: »

The loan was fully paid off, surely they would of chased me for this had I not paid but ive never had letters or anything.

No. When a debt goes bad and is passed to a collection agency they will often accept a reduced amount as full and final settlement. This means they draw a line in the sand and will not come after you for the amount written off.

However, when you start asking them to pay you money when you never paid the full amount, they are allowed to set off the redress against any value they wrote off.

Think of it like this. Someone borrowed £100 from you. However, they didnt pay it back and after a bit of hassle it was agreed they would pay you back £80. You agree to that as it is better than nothing. Then later on, you get into a situation where you have £10 of their money. Would you keep it or put it against the £20 you lost out on?

Davey30

I totally understand that but the loan was paid off by my father, the figures they gave me today were that nothing was ever paid which I know to be incorrect.

jellie

Ask them to provide a statement of the loan repayments, which will include your father's payment plus the balance which then remained.

Or, do a Subject Access Request (cost you £10) which will give you all the information they hold on your loan, including details of the repayment your father made, the reason he paid the amount he did, and why it didn't settle your loan. You can then take it from there.

Or, you can refer this to the Ombudsman. However, they might tell you that the issue is a balance dispute not a PPI refund problem and you need to make a complaint about that first. Plus, it will take months for them to review it.

If it were me, I'd go down the SAR route and see what you can find. You have six months to go to the Ombudsman from the date of the company's final decision letter anyway.