How long to wait?

ArcticGiraffe

Hi,


I just got a final reply (7th October) from the estate agent who mis-sold me PPI for a mortage.
(My complaint was filed before the August deadline)

They offered a 3rd of a full refund: the difference between my level PPI and decreasing version of it.


I have just filled in an online form with the ombudsman with all the details asking for the full refund because I think I was pushed into it and was not asked if I had employer benefits to cover me.



The estate agent gave me a form to accept or refuse their PPI compensation offer - but no deadline.
How long does the ombudsman take? Is there a legal deadline to accept the compensation offered?
Does the ombudsman backlog take years??


Thanks!

SonOf

They offered a 3rd of a full refund: the difference between my level PPI and decreasing version of it.

There is no decreasing version of PPI.

Are you perhaps referring to life assurance rather than PPI? (my gut feeling here is that you had a level term assurance and should have had a decreasing term assurance and they have decided there is no justification for level term. In which case, the correct proceedure (following past FOS decisions) is to refund the difference in premiums, adjust for future premiums and add interest at 8%.

I have just filled in an online form with the ombudsman with all the details asking for the full refund because I think I was pushed into it and was not asked if I had employer benefits to cover me.

If its not PPI but life assurance then employer benefits have nothing to do with it.

I suspect you have mixed your products up and this would mean you are not looking at the response correctly.

How long does the ombudsman take?

between a month and 2 years.

Is there a legal deadline to accept the compensation offered?

Not if you have referred it to the FOS. However, if you are being offered a goodwill gesture and you go to the FOS, the firm can withdraw their goodwill offer and let the FOS decide on the outcome. If the FOS decide there was no wrongdoing, you could end up with nothing.

Does the ombudsman backlog take years??

There is only a backlog with PPI cases. Not other things.

So, can you clarify, is it life assurance you are referring to or MPPI?

ArcticGiraffe

Thanks for the reply.


You're right, I was confusing PPI with Life Assurance.

It was life assurance for the purpose of paying a joint mortgage off if either partner died.
Given my new understanding it now seems reasonable to me to accept the offer I recieved.



Do you think it's possible to call a halt on the FOS procedure and accept the offer?
I haven't responded to the provider yet and so far I have filled in the online form on the ombudsman website and got an auto response saying it's not been assigned a case worker yet - or even a reference number.

[Deleted User]

ArcticGiraffe wrote: »

Do you think it's possible to call a halt on the FOS procedure and accept the offer?

Only FOS (and the Bank) can answer that. You need to contact both without delay.

Just to be clear, not every insurance policy was PPI and not even all PPI was mis-sold.

SonOf

Do you think it's possible to call a halt on the FOS procedure and accept the offer?

Yes. They will allow you to withdraw from it.

ArcticGiraffe

Thanks for all the replies!


I have just contacted the ombudsman and they have confirmed that I can go ahead and accept the offer I received if I want to. When my online form is eventually processed (may take up to 6 weeks) I can then cancel the complaint at that point.


So I'm going to go ahead with that course of action.
It was a level term life assurance policy (since expired) which the broker has offered to refund the difference of an equivalent decreasing term policy plus the interest as a gesture of goodwill.


I would never have raised it with the broker in the first place if I hadn't got it mixed up with mis-sold PPI.

My ex-partner (also on that policy) is about to get a happy surprise!

[Deleted User]

ArcticGiraffe wrote: »

I would never have raised it with the broker in the first place if I hadn't got it mixed up with mis-sold PPI.

It's a good job (for you) that the Broker wasn't aware of that...