Advice on whether to accept an offer

Cadleigh_2

I've had a settlement offer from BBBS. I calculate that, including interest, the final total could have been as high as £12,000, but they've offered me just under £3,000 (with interest already deducted to be paid direct by them to the inland revenue on my behalf), arguing that the other protection I had in place (eg a long-term job with guarantee of x month's salary in case of inability to work) was not sufficient to wholly render the PPI policy redundant.

Does anyone have any experience of appealing offers like this? If I did would I risk losing the lot?

[Deleted User]

Cadleigh wrote: »

I've had a settlement offer from BBBS. I calculate that, including interest, the final total could have been as high as £12,000, but they've offered me just under £3,000

Since we don't know how you calculated your redress (or indeed any details of your finance) it's impossible to comment.

Cadleigh wrote: »

with interest already deducted to be paid direct by them to the inland revenue on my behalf

They are deducting tax, not "interest".If you are not a taxpayer, you can reclaim this from HMRC.

Cadleigh wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of appealing offers like this

You can reject the offer and refer your complaint to FOS but, at most, you'll only ever receive a refund of what you actually paid. If this is a "Goodwill" offer (it will state this in your letter), then the Bank could indeed withdraw it altogether should you go to the Ombudsman.

In addition, the FOS queue takes upwards of eighteen months

dunstonh

They should give you a breakdown of the refund calculation. You seem to think this calculation is wrong. Why?

Cadleigh_2

Thanks for those two rapid responses. Sorry my initial post didn't contain much information - I wasn't sure how much I could safely post without potentially identifying myself, and whether that might be problematic in any way.

In short, my wife and I paid x in premiums over about a decade for a mortgage-related PPI policy which we never claimed on. We were told that we could only get the best interest rate on offer on our mortgage if we took out two insurance products with the building society as well as the mortgage, and since we already had a great deal on contents the only option was to take out PPI plus buildings. It was a very hard verbal sell - it wasn't presented as a choice. At the same time (we are talking mid 90s) we were sold an endowment policy to cover the additional borrowing. We tried pushing back on this at the time but they absolutely assured us that it was a safe buy. It's now horribly under-performing but when we claimed mis-selling the society investigated itself and declared there was no case to answer because there was no paper trail to prove the hard sell or false claims of guaranteed performance.

With this PPI product they are pretty much taking the same tack on the grounds that there is no paper trail to prove a hard sell. They are also making the point that my wife and I did not provide any evidence of alternative insurance in place which would have covered us in the event of unemployment or long-term sickness. We made the point that we were both in long-term jobs with very generous sick pay and redundancy entitlement, so were unlikely to have any problems paying our mortgage premiums if either of us lost our jobs, but the society has come back and said they are not prepared to accept the whole claim but will pay compensation in part because I had a secondary income, so the chances of me losing both employments and being unable to pay my half of the mortgage was slim.

The offer they have made, including interest (but with tax deducted) amounts to 42% of the total premiums we paid over that time. Hence my calculation that, with reasonable compound interest applied, the actual sum they are offering amounts to more like a quarter of what we could have expected if they had settled in full.

It's not their calculation I am questioning, but rather whether we should accept their offer as the best we can hope for under the circumstances, or whether it is worth appealing. It sounds from the advice so far that we should take their offer?

dunstonh

We were told that we could only get the best interest rate on offer on our mortgage if we took out two insurance products with the building society as well as the mortgage, and since we already had a great deal on contents the only option was to take out PPI plus buildings. It was a very hard verbal sell - it wasn't presented as a choice.

If it wasnt a choice and a requirement to get a deal then that is allowed. Equally, if its not a choice, there shouldnt be any need for a hard sell.

We tried pushing back on this at the time but they absolutely assured us that it was a safe buy. It's now horribly under-performing but when we claimed mis-selling the society investigated itself and declared there was no case to answer because there was no paper trail to prove the hard sell or false claims of guaranteed performance.

That is a very common outcome with unprovable allegations.

With this PPI product they are pretty much taking the same tack on the grounds that there is no paper trail to prove a hard sell.

An outcome you would expect. If they have no evidence to support your allegation then you need to supply it. As there is usually no evidence, you expect the complaint to fail on that particular point.

They are also making the point that my wife and I did not provide any evidence of alternative insurance in place which would have covered us in the event of unemployment or long-term sickness.

They are allowed to ask for evidence.

We made the point that we were both in long-term jobs with very generous sick pay and redundancy entitlement, so were unlikely to have any problems paying our mortgage premiums if either of us lost our jobs, but the society has come back and said they are not prepared to accept the whole claim but will pay compensation in part because I had a secondary income, so the chances of me losing both employments and being unable to pay my half of the mortgage was slim.

Whilst that can be a good complaint reason with loan and credit card PPI, it should be noted that the FOS have rejected complaints using that reason when it comes to MPPI. MPPI covers a major debt over a long timescale. It also typically pays out in addition to employer benefits (many types of loan and credit card PPI do not).

It's not their calculation I am questioning, but rather whether we should accept their offer as the best we can hope for under the circumstances, or whether it is worth appealing. It sounds from the advice so far that we should take their offer?

They are part upholding the complaint in one area which seems reasonable. The other parts of your complaint are very hard to prove and you would expect rejection with an MPPI. Whilst credit card and loan PPI may stand better odds, you need to remember that this is MPPI and most MPPI complaints are rejected as there are different issues. It is up to you if you go to the FOS or not. We dont have the audit trail to look at but based on FOS decisions over employer benefits and MPPI, you would expect them to reject. The unprovable allegation is an easy rejection.