Unexpected NatWest letter

Steve_B_4

I received a letter from NatWest which was not expected.

I may be due for a refund on PPI that was taken out on loans going back as far as 2004.

I'm assuming that as they mentioned these loans then I would be eligible for a refund (assuming I meet the criteria) even though they were almost 10 years ago?

Has anyone else received one of these letters?

dunstonh

I may be due for a refund on PPI that was taken out on loans going back as far as 2004.

Are you sure the letter says that? The leters going out at the moment are the standard CCL which let you know that you had PPI and invite you to complain if you feel they were mis-sold. Natwest have not made any investigation into your case to give any indication of whether you have a complaint or not. The letter just allows them to start the 3 year time bar clock ticking.

I'm assuming that as they mentioned these loans then I would be eligible for a refund (assuming I meet the criteria) even though they were almost 10 years ago?

If your complaint is successful, then yes.

Has anyone else received one of these letters?

Yes. Many providers are issuing CCLs at the moment.

Steve_B_4

Sorry Dunston, you are correct it is just the standard letter saying that I had PPI on the following loans and that I may wish to raise a complaint about them.

Have they publicised that they would be sending these out? It came as a (very welcome) bolt out of the blue

dunstonh

Have they publicised that they would be sending these out?

Yes. Discussions with the regulator on the format of these has been covered in the media (if you are inclined to read the financial press). It is mainly the banks that are issuing these. The lenders are not doing this for your benefit. They are doing it so they can apply the three year time bar in 2016 which will put an end date on their liabilities rather than be dealing with PPI complaints for the next decade or so.

The assessment and redress of Payment Protection Insurance complaints published in August 2010, the FSA was quite firm that the publicity about PPI mis-selling, which, even then, had been very significant, would generally not be enough for a firm to reject a PPI complaint without consideration of its merits on the basis that it was made outside of the relevant time limits (and for the firm to object to the FOS considering such a complaint).

The FSA’s view was that “for a customer to be aware for the purposes of starting the three year time limit running for a potential PPI mis-selling complaint, they would need to have become, or been made, aware of both a potential problem with the sale of their policy and potential financial loss resulting from that.

FSA guidance published 13 July 2012, “Payment protection insurance customer contact letters – fairness, clarity and potential consequences” covered a number of things. One of the “consequences” of sending a customer a contact letter (CCL) compliant with this guidance is that the customer who receives it “is likely to have received sufficient awareness to trigger the start of the 3 year time limit (if it has not already begun) for bringing a complaint about the mis-sale of the policy as a result of any of the key sales findings set out in the PPI CCL” and possibly about the mis-sale of the policy more generally.

Hence why we are seeing CCLs being sent out en masse now.

Steve_B_4

Thanks Dunston - very informative

mathand1

Steve_B wrote: »

I received a letter from NatWest which was not expected.

I may be due for a refund on PPI that was taken out on loans going back as far as 2004.

I'm assuming that as they mentioned these loans then I would be eligible for a refund (assuming I meet the criteria) even though they were almost 10 years ago?

Has anyone else received one of these letters?

Yea I had a very much simular letter today from my bank and to be fair I rang them up and after requesting older information they gave me all my loan ref No's and time loan taken out and finished.
They will sending me a form in the post so who know's?

Am I right in saying that I would be better off carring out this proceedure rather then asking one of them many PPI companys to do the work for me?:huh:

dunstonh

Am I right in saying that I would be better off carring out this proceedure rather then asking one of them many PPI companys to do the work for me?

They still get you to do the work. They just put a stamp on the envelope for you.

Steve_B_4

Mathand1, based on the experiences of friends I would steer away from claims companies. One of my friends has been charged around 30% of what he was paid by the bank following his claim.

In contrast to this I used the template available on this website (for a separate PPI claim to the one listed above), which started the ball rolling.

When the bank rejected my claim I contacted the FOS who have been successful in progressing my claim