Contacted by the bank regarding PPI claim eligibility!

mattrowley

I have been contacted directly by RBS with a letter suggesting I may be eligible to claim PPI.
They have sent me a form to fill in and requested I send it back to them with any previous info I still have regarding a now closed Credit Card account I had some years back.
Ive looked into it and although I have little info regarding the account I still have a few statements showing I was paying PPI even though I dont recall it being explained when I took out the account. I was self employed at the time of opening the account and think I may be eligible to claim . Is it better to follow the guide to reclaiming step by step as listed here on MSE or should I send the form back to the bank? Im a little unsure if this form just makes the process more straightforward or if it complicates the procedure. I couldnt find any info on here regarding being contacted directly by the bank. any info would be greatly appreciated

Nasqueron

It's being sent so they can timebar future complaints, nothing more should be read into it than that (i.e. they're not saying it was miss-sold, just present).

Self-employed status could work if the policy didn't cover that, if it did then it's no use.

Follow their form, it'll contain the same stuff as the MSE guide does and if the bank needs anything else they will let you know

dunstonh

I have been contacted directly by RBS with a letter suggesting I may be eligible to claim PPI.

What you have received is a CCL. It is not a letter suggesting your complaint may be successful or not. It is an invitation for you to complain if you feel you were mis-sold. The only trigger for you to receive this letter is if you had PPI. The purpose is to allow them to start the timebar clock (3 years).

I was self employed at the time of opening the account and think I may be eligible to claim .

Many types of PPI do cover the self employed. So, whilst you should mention it in case they dont (or have too onerous conditions), it may or may not be a valid reason.

s it better to follow the guide to reclaiming step by step as listed here on MSE or should I send the form back to the bank?

Do what the bank say. Not MSE. The MSE method is not required as that covers a range of scenarios that do not apply to you.

Alpine_Star

dunstonh wrote: »

The only trigger for you to receive this letter is if you had PPI. The purpose is to allow them to start the timebar clock (3 years)

That's incorrect, I've already told you this.

The trigger is the root cause analysis requirements imposed by FSA. Where banks identify recurrent sales problems they are required to send CCLs to those tranches of non-complainant customers who may have been affected because there is a higher than average chance they were mis-sold to.

Please read PS 10/12 before giving out any further misleading advice http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/policy/ps10_12.pdf

dunstonh

Its not incorrect. CCLs are also going out where no issues are identified.

Alpine_Star

dunstonh wrote: »

Its not incorrect. CCLs are also going out where no issues are identified.

''Also'' huh? Even if that was true then why tell the OP the ''only'' trigger was that he had PPI?


I can only be thankful not to have to rely on your 'advice'.

wolverines

Nothing wrong with what Dunstonh said. The guidance document you refer to is from 2010 and as you may have noticed a lot has changed in PPI since then. Banks are required to send a letter where there are known issues with the sales process as per guidelines however, there is nothing to stop them from sending additional letters.

Banks ARE sending these letters to people where no RCA issues have been identified in order to commence the timebar process. As you will appreciate, they are keen to bring a sense of finality to all this

The self employed issue will entirely depend on the terms of the policy booklet. Some cover it, some don't. If you wish to proceed then just complete the form and return it.

Alpine_Star

wolverines wrote: »

Banks ARE sending these letters to people where no RCA issues have been identified in order to commence the timebar process.

Call me unconventional but given the choice of believing the official, published reason and an unsubstantiated one parroted by some anonymous soul on an internet forum I'll stick with the evidential version.

Alpine_Star

mattrowley wrote: »

I couldnt find any info on here regarding being contacted directly by the bank. any info would be greatly appreciated

For what it's worth here's the FSA guidance to banks http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/guidance/fg12-17.pdf

dunstonh

I can only be thankful not to have to rely on your 'advice'.

I can only be thankful not to have you as a client.

Call me unconventional but given the choice of believing the official, published reason and an unsubstantiated one parroted by some anonymous soul on an internet forum I'll stick with the evidential version.

FG12/17 told firms what they had to do to timebar a complaint.

Where a firm actually believes there was a mis-sale, they have to investigate the sale without the consumer asking. Where there is the possibility of a mis-sale, they can issue the CCL which is an offer to have their sale reviewed. Every bank has suffered upheld PPI complaints. So, they can send out CCLs to every single customer if they wanted to. Some banks have been heavily sending them out. Some have not.

magpiecottage

Actually, the guidance is really only a clarification of something that has been the case for a long time. The reality is that anything that ought reasonably to put a consunmer on notice that they have cause to complain would be sufficient.

Examples I have seen include significant falls in the value of underlying investment, written confirmation of a fee to be charged (where the complainant alleged that the adviser had previously promised to charge a lower fee), and a significant increase in the cost of cover on a policy.

It does not need to come from the business being complained to, either.

In this instance, some businesses have been forced to review cases but there is nothing to stop them issuing such letters to individuals outside that population and, if appropriate, seeking to rely on that to timebar complaints. That could be either because the business has insufficient time to discriminate or a commercial decision to issue it to everybody.