Rejected PPI Claim and time running out!

hogman252

Please can anyone help me!

I am new to these forums but don't know where else to turn.

I took out a Mortgage with Leeds and Holbeck Building Society back in 2004, and they automatically added PPI into the Mortgage deal but said it was free, for the first 6 months. After that time period, my mortgage repayments went up, but no notification was ever given to me prior to the increase, or information to say that the PPI was entirely optional.

When i questioned this many months later, i was told that i didn't need to have the PPI and that i could cancel it if i wished. This is what i did.

However the essence of my claim is that i was led to believe that i had to take the PPI as part of the Mortgage deal, despite the fact that i told them at the time of application that i was self-employed.

Anyway, i made a claim for mis-sold PPI against the Leeds a while back and then waited. Because of work committments, i forgot about this and some eight months later, i then rememberede that i hadn't heard anything from the Leeds. I rang them, and they told me that the claim had been rejected and that i had been informed of such via letter. I absolutely reject this, in that i never received any such letter of rejection from the Leeds. In fact even now, all they have since provided me with is a photocopy.

I went to the FOS, explaining the situation and time limits. They said they would investigate.

The FOS has now come back to me another eight months later, and stated that upon investigation, the Leeds has complained to them that they cannot investigate the case because it is outside of the six month deadline after they sent me the rejection letter.

So i believe that the Leeds may have drafted a letter and kept it on file, but purposely did not send me the letter rejecting my claim until i rang them, which was outside of the six month deadline. And now FOS are more prepared to believe that they sent me such a letter, than they are to believe that i never received such a thing, so they have said there is nothing else that they can do.

I cannot beleive just how cynically the Leeds has behaved.

Please someone, help!

societys_child

However the essence of my claim is that i was led to believe that i had to take the PPI as part of the Mortgage deal, despite the fact that i told them at the time of application that i was self-employed.

MPPI normally covers self employed, have you checked the policy?

So i believe that the Leeds may have drafted a letter and kept it on file, but purposely did not send me the letter rejecting my claim until i rang them

Very very unlikely they would single you out and hide the letter from you. If you're making that allegation, you'd have to prove it.

hogman252

Thank you so very much for replying.

I'm sure that the PPI wouldn't have covered me as i was self-employed but even that isn't my real problem.

If there is no basis to my claim, then i am happy to accept that once it has been properly investigated, but i am saying that the FOS will not investigate it because the Leeds has complained that such an investigation would be after the six month time limit.

And i am saying that my taking it to the FOS would not have been outside of this time limit had i actually been informed that my claim had been rejected by the Leeds, within a reasonable time.

Does no one find it very convenient that the Leeds can only supply me with a photocopy of my rejection letter and not until after the deadline has expired?

I'm not suggesting that the Leeds has purposely done this to me, but is there anyone else out there who has not received the rejection letter from the bank or building society, who upon questioning, are told that such a letter was sent out and that it is now too late to take the case elsewhere?

FOS are saying that i have to prove that they didn't send me the rejection letter. How can i possibly prove that something didn't happen?

dunstonh

owever the essence of my claim is that i was led to believe that i had to take the PPI as part of the Mortgage deal, despite the fact that i told them at the time of application that i was self-employed.

First of all and as already mentioned, MPPI nearly always covers the self employed. Secondly, they dont have to tell you it is optional in so many words. They just have to not tell you it is compulsory. However, as that is a verbal discussion that is unprovable either way, that point is weak.

The FOS has now come back to me another eight months later, and stated that upon investigation, the Leeds has complained to them that they cannot investigate the case because it is outside of the six month deadline after they sent me the rejection letter.

That is the outcome you would expect.

So i believe that the Leeds may have drafted a letter and kept it on file, but purposely did not send me the letter rejecting my claim until i rang them, which was outside of the six month deadline.

If you wish to provide the FOS with your evidence to back up that allegation then the will take it on board.

And now FOS are more prepared to believe that they sent me such a letter, than they are to believe that i never received such a thing, so they have said there is nothing else that they can do.

The letters are usually logged and expectation that they were sent it acceptable.

I'm sure that the PPI wouldn't have covered me as i was self-employed but even that isn't my real problem.

What is your complaint then? If its just the unprovable allegation then that is an easy rejection and that was never likely to be successful (most allegations without evidence fail unless there is another reason to uphold or you get lucky with an auto payout).

Does no one find it very convenient that the Leeds can only supply me with a photocopy of my rejection letter and not until after the deadline has expired?

Not at all. Indeed, it seems logical. a) you said you never received the letter. So, they cant supply you the original as it was posted to you. b) the systems and controls in place would have had this logged and that is why they are able to produce a copy.

FOS are saying that i have to prove that they didn't send me the rejection letter. How can i possibly prove that something didn't happen?

You cant. I get about 1 or 2 misposts delivered to me a week. I repost them but others may not. However, that is not the fault of the person/company sending the letters.

On the plus side, your complaint is extremely weak and was statistically destined for failure. The FOS reject most MPPI complaints. So, you probably would not have got anywhere anyway.

hogman252

Once again, thank you for your reply.

However i feel that we are missing the point.

I have not gone into the full reasons and details given as to why i feel that i have a valid claim, so any discussion as to the strength of my claim is not really necessary. So please just move on from that issue.

The issue is what can i do to persuade the FOS to look at my claim properly instead of rejecting it out of hand because it is outside of the six month time limit. And it is outside of the six month time limit because the Building Society claim that they sent me a rejection letter, and i would swear upon my mothers life that i never received such a letter.

I am extremely careful about filing everything, and have correspondence files going back twenty plus years, so it is inconceiveable that i received such a letter and did nothing about it, and then subsequently lost it.

What can i say to the FOS to make them look at my claim?

dunstonh

The issue is what can i do to persuade the FOS to look at my claim properly instead of rejecting it out of hand because it is outside of the six month time limit.

You cant.

And it is outside of the six month time limit because the Building Society claim that they sent me a rejection letter, and i would swear upon my mothers life that i never received such a letter.

They dont have to prove you received it. Just sufficient to indicate that it was sent.

What can i say to the FOS to make them look at my claim?

Nothing given that what they have told you they want is impossible for you to provide.

I have not gone into the full reasons and details given as to why i feel that i have a valid claim, so any discussion as to the strength of my claim is not really necessary. So please just move on from that issue.

It is more a case of balancing the energy you are putting into it now with the reasons you have given so far being very weak and easily rejected and the fact that the FOS reject most MPPI complaints (complete opposite of loan and credit card PPI). if it was loan or credit card PPI where you would expect to win statistically then I can understand frustration. But with MPPi and weak reasons, it may well just be better to put it down to experience given the requirements you cannot meet.

magpiecottage

The bottom line is that FOS WILL accept a complaint outside the time limit if it believes it is more likely than not that you did not receive it.

The problem is that the building society has provided evidence that shows it was sent. Over 99% of post would get through within a week at most if correctly addressed so the evidence is massively in its favour.

You may be the 100th case but, to FOS, it is far more likely that you are not.

hogman252

magpiecottage wrote: »

The problem is that the building society has provided evidence that shows it was sent.

The only evidence that they have provided as far as i am aware is a photocopy of the drafted letter, as they have given to me, but i don't see how that in any way proves that they sent the letter.

Could i perhaps go back to FOS asking that they show me what evidence Leeds have shown them to prove that they sent the letter. What do you think?

dunstonh

The only evidence that they have provided as far as i am aware is a photocopy of the drafted letter, as they have given to me, but i don't see how that in any way proves that they sent the letter.

They dont have to prove it. You have to prove they did not.

Could i perhaps go back to FOS asking that they show me what evidence Leeds have shown them to prove that they sent the letter. What do you think?

They would have given the FOS a copy of the letter and the date of it.

As you are the one that is alleging a criminal activity (fraud) then the onus is on you to back that up.

-taff

hogman252 wrote: »

Please can anyone help me!

I am new to these forums but don't know where else to turn.

I took out a Mortgage with Leeds and Holbeck Building Society back in 2004, and they automatically added PPI into the Mortgage deal but said it was free, for the first 6 months. After that time period, my mortgage repayments went up, but no notification was ever given to me prior to the increase, or information to say that the PPI was entirely optional.

When i questioned this many months later, i was told that i didn't need to have the PPI and that i could cancel it if i wished. This is what i did.

However the essence of my claim is that i was led to believe that i had to take the PPI as part of the Mortgage deal, despite the fact that i told them at the time of application that i was self-employed.

Besides the fact that self employed are covered by mortgage insurance, you are also missing the point.

They gave you free cover, told you it would last 6 months,and then you didn't cancel it.

There is no misselling because they gave it to you for nothing.....

hogman252

dunstonh wrote: »

Not at all. Indeed, it seems logical. a) you said you never received the letter. So, they cant supply you the original as it was posted to you. b) the systems and controls in place would have had this logged and that is why they are able to produce a copy.

If it is so logical that they cannot produce the original because they sent it to me, then how can they even produce a photocopy?

And if there are systems in place to log that they sent the letter, then why, when i claimed that the letter was not sent, either to them or the FOS, have they not produced the log from their system of the letter being sent?