secret commission payment from lender

pikie

I have been contacted by clear law solicitors saying I have a potential claim against ocwen or igroup for loans I had taken out between 1995 & 1998 they say they have successfully challenged these loans on the basis that the brokers who recommended the loans were tied to one lender and received a secret commission from the lender they are happy to do this on a no win no fee but if I win they will charge 35% plus vat if they are correct could I not claim myself and save money

roonaldo

what a load of rubbish, how do they know this? what secret commission? Also Igroup were a lender not a broker or intermediary. The fact that you had a Igroup loan/mortgage would indicate you had credit problems in the past. If so, then just forget this.

dunstonh

There comes about from the case: Wilson v Hurstanger. And that resulted in the individual getting £240 after a couple of court cases and appeals.

For the case to work, the broker has to have advised on a loan covered under the consumer credit act (so not a mortgage or many secured loans), they must not have been tied to a lender but independent/whole of market, they must have taken a fee from you AND commission and they must not have disclosed the commission in their documentation. It also has to be been taken out within the last 15 years or any claim can be statute banned.

The judgement was because there was a fee and commission and the commission amount was not disclosed. So, he ordered the commission to be refunded. Had it been commission only or fee only then it would not matter. Had the commission amount been disclosed it would not have failed.

Your problem is that court proceedings cannot be started more than 15 years after the date when the cause of action arose (whether the complainant was aware of the cause of action date or not). Plus, the claim would be against the broker and its quite possible that broker no longer exists.

I have been contacted by clear law solicitors

How did they contact you? Solicitors are not allowed to cold call.

Also, since the court case ruled that a refund of the commission was payable and most commissions are under £300, most claims companies didnt bother following us on this as it wasnt cost effective. However, a few less scrupulous ones have but did it in a form of advance fee fraud. They would initially say no win no fee but then a few months later come back and hit you with the line "our solicitors have looked at it and think you have a strong case to win £x thousands of pounds but to do this they now need a fee of £xyz. That fee is where they make their money.

pikie

can you tell me what does ROFRA stand for the letter I received said it existed between brokers and various lenders.

pikie

thank you for that dunstonh that was very helpful they wrote to me in december and followed up with email last month hoping for the go ahead which they wont be getting.

Brokerwise

pikie wrote: »

can you tell me what does ROFRA stand for the letter I received said it existed between brokers and various lenders.

The company has got your details more than likely from a old database of a bankrupt loan company and how they came across this date could be highly questionable at best or down right illegal at worst ROFRA was a right of first refusal agreement which means for an higher level of commission the lender got first refusal on a brokers business. The green paper in 1998 regarding sub prime lending mentions this and it is by John Bridgman I think. As far as I recall there was nothing illegal about this practice and would be impossible to prove

joe55

I have a similar case going thru clear law hopefully will find out next week


just a few pointers my case relates to a montage in 1998


my case was taken by clear law in June 2013 so I might be under that 15 years dead line in that case might be on a winner will keep you posted

DevCoder

Mortgages aren't covered by the consumer credit act so not sure how Clear Law are going to help (except take a fee)

magpiecottage

krisdorey wrote: »

Mortgages aren't covered by the consumer credit act so not sure how Clear Law are going to help (except take a fee)

Actually, you did need a Consumer Credit Licence to offer them until 30 October 2004.

From 1998, the Mortgage Code meant that all commissions were likely to be disclosed.

Prior to that they might not be but, as dunstonh says, the redress is the commission amount. To win, though, you have to prove that there was a commission, that it was not disclosed AND that you paid a fee for the service.

Given the time since it happened, that is quite a tall order.

joe55

The company GE Money/Ocwen has agreeded to make an offer ClearLaw have said ,just dont know what it is, sometime in the next 7 10 days will get the letter of offer.
i have not paid ClearLaw any fee i expect they will take there cut from any winning


will keep you posted

joe55

clear law have indicated the claim in the region of £3000