Lloyds Packaged Fees Rejection

Thinkerthinker123

Dear MSE Forum Members,

Following my recent claim to Lloyds Bank (through Resolver) for mis-selling packaged account fees, I got a call from the bank today and they said they have rejected my claim. To give you some background, the basis of my claim is based on two factors:
1) mobile phone insurance - bank refused my claim when my phone broke and said my phone had to be registered and also I couldn't locate my IMEI number because the phone was dead. I wasn't made aware of this when I signed up.
2) travel insurance - when I was sold the account, they asked me if I travel and I said yes, but I only recently became aware that the travel insurance provided covers within EU only, and doesn't cover non-EU. I was led to believe there would no exlcusions. Most of my travels except one in the last 9 years have been outside the EU.

I opened this account in 2011 and only became aware there was a problem with the benefits on the account when I filed my claim for mobile insurance in December 2017.

Lloyds's basis of rejection is that I should have filed my claim for refund within 6 years of the 'point of sale' as per FCA rules. Looking online, I gather the rule is either 6 years from point of sale or 3 years from point of discovering that there is a problem. If it is the latter, then my view is, it would be 3 years from Dec 2017 when I filed my claim for mobile phone insuranceand therefore I'm in time. However on the phone the advisor mentioned that they would have sent me annual statements for benefits received and by this they mean that I should have been aware of this earlier. I'm not sure I buy this argument and dont think this is reasonable. My only option now is, to refer my claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service, however i wanted to share my experience on this forum and see what others have to say about this. Has anyone had a similar response and how did you go about resolving this?

dunstonh

Lloyds's basis of rejection is that I should have filed my claim for refund within 6 years of the 'point of sale' as per FCA rules. Looking online, I gather the rule is either 6 years from point of sale or 3 years from point of discovering that there is a problem

This is how most PBA complaints end up now. Mainly as the banks have been sending out annual benefit statements and reminders that the account is optional and what sort of things it covers and what you need to do. It is those benefit statements that are used to trigger the timebar on PBAs.

Even the FOS are only upholding around 1 in 10 referred to them on PBAs.

Nasqueron

The 3 year rule starts from when you knew or could reasonably have known there was a reason to complain. This is crucial as it stops you creating your own start date for the 3 year rule as you are trying to do, effectively meaning complaints could go on forever.



This time bar can be started by closing the account or the bank sending you an annual statement benefit sheet listing what you were provided and a booklet showing the terms and conditions giving you the option to change the account etc - the FOS accept this as a reason to trigger the time bar.



If the time bar is applied correctly the FOS won't overturn it

Thinkerthinker123

Thank you, I need to go through my letters to see what these annual statement of benefits letters look like. But out of curiosity, can someone point me to the relevant legislation which talks about the 6&3 years capping rules please?

dunstonh

FCA DISP 2.8 https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/2/8.html

DISP 1.8
https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/1/8.html

Fos description: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/businesses/answers/before_we_get_involved_a7.html

normanna

I'm sure my PBA with Lloyds covers worldwide insurance. I've an Ultimate Reward account though which may be different from yours. I've always known I had to register my phone as it's in the T & Cs. You would have been aware of any travel insurance restrictions if you had read the T & C at the outset. You can't hold Lloyds responsible if you didn't read them I'm afraid. The annual statement reminds you of the benefits and suggests you check whether you still require the benefits and therefore the account - plainly written.

Thinkerthinker123

Many thanks, this is really helpful

Thinkerthinker123

normanna wrote: »

I'm sure my PBA with Lloyds covers worldwide insurance. I've an Ultimate Reward account though which may be different from yours. I've always known I had to register my phone as it's in the T & Cs. You would have been aware of any travel insurance restrictions if you had read the T & C at the outset. You can't hold Lloyds responsible if you didn't read them I'm afraid. The annual statement reminds you of the benefits and suggests you check whether you still require the benefits and therefore the account - plainly written.

thanks for this. i agree on the point of the travel insurance, but on the point about mobile phone insurance, i just reviewed my annual eligibility statement from 2018, and under the mobile phone insurance heading, there are 4 bullet points and none of them talk about the phone being insurance for a valid claim. so my argument to the bank is, none of these annual letters would have been prompted me to register my phone. i will just have to refer this to the ombudsman and see this through. :huh:

Nearlyold

Pretty sure the annual eligibility statement is a brief synopsis of the cover, and tells you to refer to the Terms and Conditions for full details of any cover. My Lloyds Gold Account T&Cs are 88 pages - interestingly there is no need to register your phone with the Gold account cover

normanna

Maybe I'm getting confused. I'm sure I had an account before or a previous version of Ultimate reward that stated that phones had to be registered but I'm pretty sure I don't have to do that now.

Nearlyold

normanna wrote: »

Maybe I'm getting confused. I'm sure I had an account before or a previous version of Ultimate reward that stated that phones had to be registered but I'm pretty sure I don't have to do that now.

I seem to remember you had to register in the past. Current T&Cs say

We need to know that the mobile phone, SIM card and accessories you are claiming for are yours. Therefore you will need to provide some form of proof of ownership. You will need to be able to tell us the make and model of your mobile phone. We may ask to see something that tells us that the items you are claiming for belong to you and confirms the make, model, memory size and IMEI number of your mobile phone. The IMEI number is the unique serial number for your mobile phone. You can find it by inputting *#06# into your mobile phone. It should also be noted on the documentation that came with your mobile phone when you purchased it. Your airtime provider may also be able to provide it to you. Proof of ownership could include a till receipt or documentation from your airtime provider. If!you don’t have any proof of ownership we may decline your claim.


I'm not sure in the OPs case whether it was a requirement to register the phone or whether it was just that not having it registered made a claim more difficult as it seems he had no documentation for the phone to provide the IMEI number