Reclaiming ombudsmens fees

DAVE_THE_DOG

A bit of a twist to the PPI mis selling situation. As a retired IFA, I remain open to claims of mis selling from my previous clients. I have recently had a particular claim against me rejected by the Financial Ombudsmens Service. Whilst I am of course pleased with the result it has still cost me around £600 to defend this, which is not refundable. I now feel obliged to attempt to recover this amount from the client, possibly via the small claims court if necessary. I wonder if anyone has had any experiences of this situation. Many thanks.

dunstonh

There has been a few murmurings and suggestions that an IFA was taking someone to court to reclaim their fees from someone that put in complaint without substance. Don't know what the outcome was though.

amersall

I hope you can get this back, it is disgusting that you have to pay a fee even when the case was rejected, big banks can suck it up, people like you cannot, it is a shame the FOS cannot make the complainant pay the fee, good luck and let us know how you get on.

roonaldo

The FOS case fee is waived for first 25 cases.

Also it should never be £600. It's £550 plus PPI additional fee of £350, its going to be £900 if they are charging you.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/businesses/answers/funding_a5.html

dunstonh

roonaldo wrote: »

The FOS case fee is waived for first 25 cases.

Also it should never be £600. It's £550 plus PPI additional fee of £350, its going to be £900 if they are charging you.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/businesses/answers/funding_a5.html

That is the theory. Problem is that many IFAs are networked and the network gets the first 25 not the individual IFA firm.

DAVE_THE_DOG

Appreciate your replies. Will need to decide what steps to take, if any, in near future. I have read on the fos website the situation re the first 25. I was indeed a member of a network. Re the fee figure of £600 i merely quoted this on the basis i received 66% of commission earned and therefore am being asked to pay 66% of fos costs. Again ta for the comments.

magpiecottage

The fee is £850 for PPI complaints, win or lose.

However, if there was never any PPI in the first place then it should be dismissed as frivolous and vexatious.

Unfortunately, network members have a contractual obligation to pay.

David Cameron said that he wanted to clamp down on the compensation culture before the election so you may want to write to your MP, particularly if they are Conservative and ask why he said one thing but is now doing another.

Alpine_Star

The Financial Services and Markets Act sec 230 (3) does not provide for ''the making of an award against the complainant in respect of the respondent's costs''.

In other words I don't think that you have a hope.

Annisele

I think you should take advice from your network before you attempt to recover from the client - I'm reasonably certain your network will have seen this sort of thing before.

If you do take the client to court, there's a risk they will open a new complaint with the ombudsman service to say you are wrongly charging fees...

magpiecottage

Alpine_Star wrote: »

The Financial Services and Markets Act sec 230 (3) does not provide for ''the making of an award against the complainant in respect of the respondent's costs''.

In other words I don't think that you have a hope.

I agree - except that a number of independent advisers have succeeded in pursuing claims against ambulance chasers (who have settled out of court).