PPIclaimcompany: ANY recommendations?

Stella_Podkin

I know, I know, everyone shouts at me that I should do it myself - but - these go back 15 to 25 years, I haven't got the paperwork any more.
Some of the cards I had are for stores which are defunct or credit card companies who were absorbed/taken over by others.
I found a website which lists who-is-now-responsible-for-what-defunct-companies, and I then rang a couple (one of the numbers is a company who are now responsible for three or four of the old store cards I had!) to see if they could give me any indications as to viability of a claim - the three companies I called up ALL said "honestly, no, really and truthfully, you did not pay any PPI when you had that credit card".
Which I do not believe!!
So - bottom line is: I am not very well, and I have only a little energy - it could take a long long time for me to check up on 15+ different store and credit cards (yes, I was an idiot back in the 1990s and early 2000s) so I figure I would rather lose 30% of something in the fees, than have 100% of nothing reclaimed - I would accept as a fair exchange losing a third of the claim to whoever has done the legwork that I feel unable to do - I'd rather have the two thirds than nowt.
So - does anyone know of a company someone has used, which DID help them get PPI back, and of course charged a fee, but hopefully not more than 30% - ?
Otherwise, I just don't think I have the energy to find paperwork 20 years old, and so I'll just abandon the idea - and the money.
Much appreciated if anyone is willing to reply to this - I KNOW it's a bit pathetic, but there it is.

[Deleted User]

No, there are no recommendations.

Simply send you complaint to the lenders direct. You'll do less than work than if you have to send all your complaints to a claims company first and then mop up their mistakes for them.

You'll also avoid being added to the national suckers list for all the other mis selling bandwagons.

You don't need to find paperwork - simply ask the lenders if you had PPI and make your complaints.

Nasqueron

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

I know, I know, everyone shouts at me that I should do it myself - but - these go back 15 to 25 years, I haven't got the paperwork any more.

So what are you expecting a claims firm to do? You do understand they aren't specialists or experts right? They are housewives and students on minimum wage sending out template letters guessing what your complaint reasons are and hoping something sticks

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

Some of the cards I had are for stores which are defunct or credit card companies who were absorbed/taken over by others.
I found a website which lists who-is-now-responsible-for-what-defunct-companies, and I then rang a couple (one of the numbers is a company who are now responsible for three or four of the old store cards I had!) to see if they could give me any indications as to viability of a claim - the three companies I called up ALL said "honestly, no, really and truthfully, you did not pay any PPI when you had that credit card".
Which I do not believe!!

So what are you expecting the claims firm to do? Do you have proof you paid PPI? If not, how are you going to prove you did? Your finance data is not in the public domain so a claims firm has no way to find that for you.

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

So - bottom line is: I am not very well, and I have only a little energy - it could take a long long time for me to check up on 15+ different store and credit cards (yes, I was an idiot back in the 1990s and early 2000s) so I figure I would rather lose 30% of something in the fees, than have 100% of nothing reclaimed - I would accept as a fair exchange losing a third of the claim to whoever has done the legwork that I feel unable to do - I'd rather have the two thirds than nowt.

Claims firms use the same free of charge process you do, you still need to provide all the data to them (that you say you don't have time to do) for them to make a complaint.

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

So - does anyone know of a company someone has used, which DID help them get PPI back, and of course charged a fee, but hopefully not more than 30% - ?
Otherwise, I just don't think I have the energy to find paperwork 20 years old, and so I'll just abandon the idea - and the money.
Much appreciated if anyone is willing to reply to this - I KNOW it's a bit pathetic, but there it is.

So far you have not shown any reason why you feel you were miss-sold, nor any evidence that you even had any PPI? You want to throw away 24% + VAT of any refund for a claims firm to post off your letter when you have provided them with all the information that you need to make the complaint yourself? Why not complain to the lender directly or worst case, use a free tool like the MSE Resolver site if you don't have any energy, that does it all for you?


You need to understand that a claims firm just posts off the letter, you still need to tell them who you had cards with, what your complaint reasons are, what your evidence is etc and if you can get all that, why not complain yourself?


More than that, you don't seem to even have any evidence you had it - you rang up and asked them and they said you didn't - you say you don't believe them but how are you going to prove they are wrong?

dunstonh

but - these go back 15 to 25 years, I haven't got the paperwork any more.

Nor will a claims company. Your insurance data is not in the public domain.

I then rang a couple (one of the numbers is a company who are now responsible for three or four of the old store cards I had!) to see if they could give me any indications as to viability of a claim - the three companies I called up ALL said "honestly, no, really and truthfully, you did not pay any PPI when you had that credit card".
Which I do not believe!!

Most people did not have PPI. So, why do you not believe them?

A claims company will ask what lenders/cards you have had. They will send a letter of authority to the card provider/lender asking if you had PPI. Why do you think the claims company will get a different response to you? The claims company does not have a magic system. They use the same process you would use and its the same staff at the lender/card provider that deals with these.

The_squirrell

You have already done most of the work but as others have said, let me explain the process that happens with CMC's


You sign a form for each provider where you may once have had a product. You send these off (probably to a firm in Manchester)
The CMC will at some point stick this form in an envelope with a photocopied letter with no other details and a second class stamp. That's all they do and then take 20% Plus VAT for the effort. Quite often they will send this form twice as their record keeping is poor and occasionally they will send all your personal information to completely the wrong company. Eventually you will hear back from them with EXACTLY the same reply that a firm would provide to you directly. They have no magic wand or access to any miraculous software. They may be based in a Front Room in a terraced house. Please think where all your personal data MAY end up.


If you really must make an enquiry on these old accounts where files will probably no longer exist due to to document retention periods....just buy some second class stamps and spend 10 minutes writing some envelopes!

Stella_Podkin

thank you all for your wise words and such speedy responses - you're all very kind.


I suppose I thought that it was possible, for a legit registered company, to look up stuff against my address (30 years in same house) and see what might be listed, as yes, you are right - I don't have all the account numbers of all the ridiculous cards I foolishly held 20+ years ago.


The reason I thought there might be PPI is that I was then (and am still) self-employed, and a loan I took out 15 years ago (and am still paying off) stated that fact, however the company who loaned me the money when I rang about three years ago and asked them about it, strenuously denied having applied PPI to the loan. Then in a rage and disbelieving of this, I asked them to send me statements right from the beginning, and I found out that they HAD applied PPI despite denying it, and then I got all of it back, plus 15 years' worth of interest accrued on their incorrect taking of PPI, because it was shown right there, listed as the third thing they charged me for as they opened the loan account, right on the top three lines of the very first statement page that they sent me copies of! Have to say, that was a Good Moment!! Money appeared back in my account a few weeks later. And was a considerable sum which frankly saved me.


I kind of HAD thought a 'proper' claims company could get access to things I couldn't, and find records of things I couldn't access. Clearly you all think that I am wrong about that! Given a number of those credit card companies I had cards for now no longer exist but are now in the 'fold' of some other companies who are bound to settle any claims, but not to be overly helpful in sharing the information, I was wondering if a legit claims company COULD demand access to things on my behalf. Which I would have been prepared to pay for, as a service.


SO thank you for your patience and your wisdom, and I'll see what I can do for myself over the next three months, and who knows I might be entitled to some money back from someone somewhere, which would be wonderful.

Nasqueron

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

I suppose I thought that it was possible, for a legit registered company, to look up stuff against my address (30 years in same house) and see what might be listed, as yes, you are right - I don't have all the account numbers of all the ridiculous cards I foolishly held 20+ years ago.

Being registered doesn't mean anything. The information is not available, all they do is get a letter of authority from you then send out a SAR (request for all your data) to everyone and see what comes back - you can do this free on most lender's websites or by email or by post.

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

The reason I thought there might be PPI is that I was then (and am still) self-employed, and a loan I took out 15 years ago (and am still paying off) stated that fact, however the company who loaned me the money when I rang about three years ago and asked them about it, strenuously denied having applied PPI to the loan. Then in a rage and disbelieving of this, I asked them to send me statements right from the beginning, and I found out that they HAD applied PPI despite denying it, and then I got all of it back, plus 15 years' worth of interest accrued on their incorrect taking of PPI, because it was shown right there, listed as the third thing they charged me for as they opened the loan account, right on the top three lines of the very first statement page that they sent me copies of! Have to say, that was a Good Moment!! Money appeared back in my account a few weeks later. And was a considerable sum which frankly saved me.

Being self-employed doesn't mean you were miss-sold, however, you can still do the SAR process above if you don't believe the banks - that will net you a copy of everything they hold which, if they still have records, would show if you had it. On store cards or credit cards for example it's listed on every statement where you had a balance (didn't pay off in full) so easy to see.

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

I kind of HAD thought a 'proper' claims company could get access to things I couldn't, and find records of things I couldn't access. Clearly you all think that I am wrong about that!

It's not a matter of thinking, it's a fact. They cannot find anything, they just send out 50 letters and see if any get lucky

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

Given a number of those credit card companies I had cards for now no longer exist but are now in the 'fold' of some other companies who are bound to settle any claims, but not to be overly helpful in sharing the information, I was wondering if a legit claims company COULD demand access to things on my behalf. Which I would have been prepared to pay for, as a service.

Do remember if the account was closed before firm A buys firm B, they may not carry over the records of firm B or may just archive them. Claims firms cannot demand anything, they will just send a SAR which you can do yourself, the SAR is a process the firm legally must respond to, even if it's to say nothing is left.

Stella_Podkin wrote: »

SO thank you for your patience and your wisdom, and I'll see what I can do for myself over the next three months, and who knows I might be entitled to some money back from someone somewhere, which would be wonderful.

The deadline is August, you just need to have started a complaint by then, the rest can be done after.