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PPI claim opens nightmare can of worms for me.
NobodyEverybody
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi,
I will try and keep this brief.
I setup a LTD company with a friend of mine in 1999. Our bank was AAA (false name for sake of this forum). The small business advisor turned out to be ruthless and made a small fortune out of us making us pay £750 for debentures (making us assume responsibility for payment) if we ever needed a loan and then a few months later if we asked for an overdraft extension to get us through a project until we got paid he called us into the bank and told us he was calling in the debenture, switching the business loan to a personal loan, the personal loan had to pay off the business loan/overdraft and then he would give us an overdraft. He did this sort of tactic on us at least three times and PPI was virtuallyalways part of the parcel. If we didn't have PPI we couldn't have anything.
A year or so on and my business partner/ friend leaves (mainly due to our dealings with the bank) and I take on all responsibility (I think again he converted everything to a personal loan, with PPI, purely because my friend left). Many times I could have walked away but I was honest and hung in there. At one point we worked out 40% of our debt (about £10,000) had been through bank charges alone. Rather naively I was brought up to believe you needed the bank on your side to succeed in business (and never need PPI) so I would often phone him up, the small business advisor, to get advice about potential jobs, quotes etc.. I remember one day when I asked him if he thought I was going in with a good quote he said to me - I am not here to give you business advice. I responded "but you're a small business advisor" and he laughed at me and said "I am here to make money from you." Me being trusting and naive to business he made a shed load out of me.
A few years later, many more loans consolidated, more PPI etc he is now managing a branch and I make a decision to work for a company and to pay everything I owe off to AAA. Six months later I have paid back approx £10,000 and am clear. They offer me another loan (providing I take PPI of course) and I foolishly take it as my partner and I want to take a break and travel.
We come back to the UK three years later. I have made all my monthly payments but for some reason we (AAA) have a falling out (I can't remember over what, probably more charges) so I finally pick up the phone and call Halifax. I explain how much I have paid AAA over the years and how desperate I am to get away from them, can they help? Of course they can! They offer me a loan to cover everything owed to AAA (provided I take PPI of course). Around 2005 they give me a £7500 loan. I remember this day as it was a profound moment in my life. I went to the branch in Canary Wharf and withdrew a wodge of cash. I took my envelope of money (I thought it was about £7000) and popped into AAA. In the midst of Canary Wharf lunch break I stood patiently in the queue and when I got to the cashier told the lady "I wish to pay this money into my account and sever any ties with AAA". She asked if she could talk me out of it. I said my mind has been made up long ago. Please take the money and close my accounts. Whilst she started doing this she called the assistant manager over and he asked if there was anything he could do to change my mind. I stood my ground and once I was informed all money was paid in and the accounts were now being closed I walked away leaving them with a polite but very much needed on my part "AAA you have been the blight of my business since day one, up yours" and as some guy in the queue was laughing/half applauding me with a massive weight from my shoulders now gone I walked out and never looked back.
(That is the back story)
A few years later and the PPI scam comes to light. Now I can clearly remember at least 4 times I had had PPI forced on me. The most recent one was with the halifax the others were with AAA. I guessed at the time the AAA ones were dead because I didn't bank with them so I pursued the Halifax one and with the help of this site got paid a mighty £3000+ back out of the £7500 loan. Amazing!!!
A few months later and having now helped a couple of friends get their money back I decided it was worth me looking into AAA. After all, that man, the small business advisor, I remember being sat in the branch, him cancelling this, adding that.. Adding PPI and me interrupting saying "oh come on this is not fair we only need a thousand pound for a month" or something like that and him saying if I had any problems I can cancel everything right now and he will call it all in (which he knew we wouldn't be able to pay and basically close us down). So I start digging through old accounts and find an old AAA loan still within the time frame of making PPI claims by a few months. I phone AAA and raise my complaint. I go to MSE website print out the form and send it in. A few weeks pass and no response from AAA. A few months pass.. Still nothing. I keep thinking I must chase this up. Eventually make a call to them and they say they never received it. I tell them the date I called and raised the complaint. Give them my complaint/ref number.. They say nothing on record.
I fill out all the forms again and after some chasing up today I get my settlement offer... £288.. On a £3500 over 3 years loan. Not very good.. However, it was the next part of the letter that blew me away. They said I also still owe them £2,206 so they could just knock it off of that!!!
WHAT???
I phoned them today. They can't really tell me what it's for but say I have an outstanding amount owed. It was sent to a debt collection agency I should speak to them. Obviously I don't want to start alerting debt collection agencies to supposed monies owed but I am certain from the bottom of my heart AAA gave me a settlement figure and I remember when the Halifax loan was approved I took out the cash, put it in an envelope and walked over to AAA. I had made sure it was enough to clear everything. I have been proud of this moment in my life. I have told the story many times of the guy in the queue agreeing with me when I walked out of AAA for the last time.
I have told them I do not accept the PPI offer and demand to know what this supposed £2,206 is from. I asked why AAA never contacted me in all this time? Why the debt collection agency never contacted me? I asked what happens if someone doesn't pay a debt of this amount and she informed me it would be passed on to solicitors and then court. I asked why I had never heard a single thing from anyone? Why had it not effected my credit rating?
At the end if the day I got a settlement figure from AAA and now they say I owe them another £2000. I wholeheartedly dispute it. I would never have borrowed X amount from one bank to only partially clear a debt. Can anyone advise?
I have phoned Halifax to get the date and time I got the loan and the cash out of the account but all they can tell me is the loan date (because it goes back almost 10 years they can't access it). The loan dept couldn't really tell me anything either. I explained I just needed the loan date and then the date and time of the cash withdrawal I made on the day the loan went into the account. They can't go back that far.
I have also been looking into how I can dig deeper to those early days when the small business advisor used to make hundreds:thousands out of me each year. Is it worth pursuing? I reckon it's about £20,000 + of loans from circa 99-2005 and most would have had PPI and never once would I have ever requested or needed it. I can clearly remember two times it was forced on me. Maybe others.
Sorry such a long post but I am utterly devastated. Every dealing with AAA in my life has cost me thousands. My naivety and trusting of them cost me my business really. I have been a sole trader ever since. Is there anything I can do? I have raised a complaint with the Ombudsman but really, AAA have ruined the youthful aspect of my business life. I genuinely believe if I had never dealt with the small business advisor our company would have been much better off in the early days. I lost business partner because of him. I paid everything back off my own back and then paid it off again via a loan from another bank which I then paid back off my own back. Now I try and claim PPI and random figures are being plucked out of the sky. Can I take them to court? I really feel they were unethical probably unlawful and still to this day blight me.
I will try and keep this brief.
I setup a LTD company with a friend of mine in 1999. Our bank was AAA (false name for sake of this forum). The small business advisor turned out to be ruthless and made a small fortune out of us making us pay £750 for debentures (making us assume responsibility for payment) if we ever needed a loan and then a few months later if we asked for an overdraft extension to get us through a project until we got paid he called us into the bank and told us he was calling in the debenture, switching the business loan to a personal loan, the personal loan had to pay off the business loan/overdraft and then he would give us an overdraft. He did this sort of tactic on us at least three times and PPI was virtuallyalways part of the parcel. If we didn't have PPI we couldn't have anything.
A year or so on and my business partner/ friend leaves (mainly due to our dealings with the bank) and I take on all responsibility (I think again he converted everything to a personal loan, with PPI, purely because my friend left). Many times I could have walked away but I was honest and hung in there. At one point we worked out 40% of our debt (about £10,000) had been through bank charges alone. Rather naively I was brought up to believe you needed the bank on your side to succeed in business (and never need PPI) so I would often phone him up, the small business advisor, to get advice about potential jobs, quotes etc.. I remember one day when I asked him if he thought I was going in with a good quote he said to me - I am not here to give you business advice. I responded "but you're a small business advisor" and he laughed at me and said "I am here to make money from you." Me being trusting and naive to business he made a shed load out of me.
A few years later, many more loans consolidated, more PPI etc he is now managing a branch and I make a decision to work for a company and to pay everything I owe off to AAA. Six months later I have paid back approx £10,000 and am clear. They offer me another loan (providing I take PPI of course) and I foolishly take it as my partner and I want to take a break and travel.
We come back to the UK three years later. I have made all my monthly payments but for some reason we (AAA) have a falling out (I can't remember over what, probably more charges) so I finally pick up the phone and call Halifax. I explain how much I have paid AAA over the years and how desperate I am to get away from them, can they help? Of course they can! They offer me a loan to cover everything owed to AAA (provided I take PPI of course). Around 2005 they give me a £7500 loan. I remember this day as it was a profound moment in my life. I went to the branch in Canary Wharf and withdrew a wodge of cash. I took my envelope of money (I thought it was about £7000) and popped into AAA. In the midst of Canary Wharf lunch break I stood patiently in the queue and when I got to the cashier told the lady "I wish to pay this money into my account and sever any ties with AAA". She asked if she could talk me out of it. I said my mind has been made up long ago. Please take the money and close my accounts. Whilst she started doing this she called the assistant manager over and he asked if there was anything he could do to change my mind. I stood my ground and once I was informed all money was paid in and the accounts were now being closed I walked away leaving them with a polite but very much needed on my part "AAA you have been the blight of my business since day one, up yours" and as some guy in the queue was laughing/half applauding me with a massive weight from my shoulders now gone I walked out and never looked back.
(That is the back story)
A few years later and the PPI scam comes to light. Now I can clearly remember at least 4 times I had had PPI forced on me. The most recent one was with the halifax the others were with AAA. I guessed at the time the AAA ones were dead because I didn't bank with them so I pursued the Halifax one and with the help of this site got paid a mighty £3000+ back out of the £7500 loan. Amazing!!!
A few months later and having now helped a couple of friends get their money back I decided it was worth me looking into AAA. After all, that man, the small business advisor, I remember being sat in the branch, him cancelling this, adding that.. Adding PPI and me interrupting saying "oh come on this is not fair we only need a thousand pound for a month" or something like that and him saying if I had any problems I can cancel everything right now and he will call it all in (which he knew we wouldn't be able to pay and basically close us down). So I start digging through old accounts and find an old AAA loan still within the time frame of making PPI claims by a few months. I phone AAA and raise my complaint. I go to MSE website print out the form and send it in. A few weeks pass and no response from AAA. A few months pass.. Still nothing. I keep thinking I must chase this up. Eventually make a call to them and they say they never received it. I tell them the date I called and raised the complaint. Give them my complaint/ref number.. They say nothing on record.
I fill out all the forms again and after some chasing up today I get my settlement offer... £288.. On a £3500 over 3 years loan. Not very good.. However, it was the next part of the letter that blew me away. They said I also still owe them £2,206 so they could just knock it off of that!!!
WHAT???
I phoned them today. They can't really tell me what it's for but say I have an outstanding amount owed. It was sent to a debt collection agency I should speak to them. Obviously I don't want to start alerting debt collection agencies to supposed monies owed but I am certain from the bottom of my heart AAA gave me a settlement figure and I remember when the Halifax loan was approved I took out the cash, put it in an envelope and walked over to AAA. I had made sure it was enough to clear everything. I have been proud of this moment in my life. I have told the story many times of the guy in the queue agreeing with me when I walked out of AAA for the last time.
I have told them I do not accept the PPI offer and demand to know what this supposed £2,206 is from. I asked why AAA never contacted me in all this time? Why the debt collection agency never contacted me? I asked what happens if someone doesn't pay a debt of this amount and she informed me it would be passed on to solicitors and then court. I asked why I had never heard a single thing from anyone? Why had it not effected my credit rating?
At the end if the day I got a settlement figure from AAA and now they say I owe them another £2000. I wholeheartedly dispute it. I would never have borrowed X amount from one bank to only partially clear a debt. Can anyone advise?
I have phoned Halifax to get the date and time I got the loan and the cash out of the account but all they can tell me is the loan date (because it goes back almost 10 years they can't access it). The loan dept couldn't really tell me anything either. I explained I just needed the loan date and then the date and time of the cash withdrawal I made on the day the loan went into the account. They can't go back that far.
I have also been looking into how I can dig deeper to those early days when the small business advisor used to make hundreds:thousands out of me each year. Is it worth pursuing? I reckon it's about £20,000 + of loans from circa 99-2005 and most would have had PPI and never once would I have ever requested or needed it. I can clearly remember two times it was forced on me. Maybe others.
Sorry such a long post but I am utterly devastated. Every dealing with AAA in my life has cost me thousands. My naivety and trusting of them cost me my business really. I have been a sole trader ever since. Is there anything I can do? I have raised a complaint with the Ombudsman but really, AAA have ruined the youthful aspect of my business life. I genuinely believe if I had never dealt with the small business advisor our company would have been much better off in the early days. I lost business partner because of him. I paid everything back off my own back and then paid it off again via a loan from another bank which I then paid back off my own back. Now I try and claim PPI and random figures are being plucked out of the sky. Can I take them to court? I really feel they were unethical probably unlawful and still to this day blight me.
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Comments
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PS - I think I had to take out two debentures at a cost of £750 each time and both times he called them in within a matter of months and converted everything to personal loans. The nature of the business was that we would get a contract, be paid a deposit and on completion of the job get the full payment. A few times our expenses were higher than the deposit hence we turned to the bank for one month overdraft probably a thousand pound or there about's. I am quite sure one time I asked for £1000 overdraft for a month and he called in the debenture, converted it to a personal loan, then gave me the overdraft and I walked out owing £3500 over 3 years (I had protested strongly about this - I remember the day) the rest being PPI, interest and I think another debenture. Whilst I may have taken a few £10,000 + jobs my loans were never really much more than say £3000 yet he bumped me so many times I eventually ended up with about £10,000 debt over a couple of years and we worked it out as about 40% of that being bank related charges (PPI, overdraft fees, loan fees, interest etc).0
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Sounds like you need professional advice.0
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If you haven't acknowledged a defaulted debt in writing in 6 years it becomes statute barred. You can't unbar it either. Join Noddle and see what your credit report says.
Go to the debt free wannabe for more advice with that one.
This thread may be of interest
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4976713
this link may be of interest
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/25%20EW%20Time%20limits%20for%20recovering%20debts/Default.aspxNon me fac calcitrare tuum culi0 -
Thanks - sorry that was a long post0
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