PPI Refund

Paton47

Looking for some advice from you wonderful people 😁 I was in a DMP for years but can out if it after being in a position to clear most of my debts with partial settlements which l did with all but a couple of them. At the same time l claimed PPI on all these debts and they were upheld. One of them was for RBS CC which is one l still owe money to which I’m paying monthly. RBS have sold the debt to AIC which is fine but they (RBS) have paid my PPI refund directly to the credit card which they don’t own anymore 🤔😳 l understand if you still owe money to a company and you claim ppi then it goes directly to reducing the balance. But this isn’t the case here because when l paid the debts l owed the RBS this wasn’t included obviously because it had been sold on years ago! Another reason l know this is because years ago when AIC took the debt on they offered me a greatly reduced settlement figure a few times which l couldn’t accept at the time. I have taken advice from the Financial Ombudsman who said l should make complaints to both companies to see what their response was. But l just wanted to see if anyone on here has had this happen to them and what they did. I just find it unfair that they’ve taken my money and did what they like with it. Baring in mind the whole point of a PPI refund is due to money the banks took from you unlawfully and was money you should’ve had in your bank to spend as you wished. So for them to take it upon themselves is not right. Any advice gratefully received. Thank you ☺️ 

[Deleted User]

If they have the right of clawback, then it's correct for them to do as they did.  After all, it's their money which should have been repaid to them. 

Any surplus will go to you.

dunstonh

 just find it unfair that they’ve taken my money and did what they like with it. 

Is it not unfair that you failed to pay the debt and the net effect is that you never actually paid the PPI as the debt is still outstanding.  So, the refund to the debt cancels it out.

Baring in mind the whole point of a PPI refund is due to money the banks took from you unlawfully 

But you have failed to debt.      Look at it like this.  Say you lent someone £200 and said you were adding £10 to it so £210 needs to be repaid.   And later on its found out you shouldn't have added the £10.   However, the person you lent the money to hasnt paid back the £200 as they agreed to.   Do you think it fair that you should then pay that person the £10 leaving you further out of pocket?

Anyway, regardless of fairness the position on this is quite clear.

1 - If the debt is still owned by the bank and they are employing a debt company (so, debt isn't sold on but is administered by a debt company instead) then the redress can go to the debt and not to you

2 - if the debt was sold to a third party company and there is the right of clawback then the redress can go against the debt and not to you

3 - if the debt was sold to a third party company and there is no right of clawback then the redress goes to you and not the debt.

Don't assume that just because a third party is handling the debt that debt is owned by them.   Many years ago, the banks stopped using their own staff for debt collections and employed third party collection companies.   Sometimes they would sell debts but other times they would keep ownership but all paperwork issued would come from the collection company.

Paton47

dunstonh said:

 just find it unfair that they’ve taken my money and did what they like with it. 

Is it not unfair that you failed to pay the debt and the net effect is that you never actually paid the PPI as the debt is still outstanding.  So, the refund to the debt cancels it out.

Baring in mind the whole point of a PPI refund is due to money the banks took from you unlawfully 

But you have failed to debt.      Look at it like this.  Say you lent someone £200 and said you were adding £10 to it so £210 needs to be repaid.   And later on its found out you shouldn't have added the £10.   However, the person you lent the money to hasnt paid back the £200 as they agreed to.   Do you think it fair that you should then pay that person the £10 leaving you further out of pocket?

Anyway, regardless of fairness the position on this is quite clear.

1 - If the debt is still owned by the bank and they are employing a debt company (so, debt isn't sold on but is administered by a debt company instead) then the redress can go to the debt and not to you

2 - if the debt was sold to a third party company and there is the right of clawback then the redress can go against the debt and not to you

3 - if the debt was sold to a third party company and there is no right of clawback then the redress goes to you and not the debt.

Don't assume that just because a third party is handling the debt that debt is owned by them.   Many years ago, the banks stopped using their own staff for debt collections and employed third party collection companies.   Sometimes they would sell debts but other times they would keep ownership but all paperwork issued would come from the collection company.

Ok I understand that totally What's confusing me is because I had other debts with RBS which I paid off in full last year. I have since received a letter from RBS saying my debts have been settled and all accounts have now been closed so why wasn't this debt included? I actually overpaid them when I cleared the debts to them so I'm pretty sure if I still owed them money on a CC they would have used the surplus to put towards the CC? I also don't understand why RBS would offer me a greatly reduced amount to settle the account, would this not only happen with an account that had been sold on for a lesser amount or does that happen normally? Do you know how I can find out who owns the debt now? I'm also pretty sure I would have paid the PPI well before I got into financial difficulty. Thanks for your advice

brettcta

Doesn’t matter when you paid the PPI, if RBS deem you have a debt for which they can offset with any PPI redress then they will do so, regardless of other paid off debts.

one further question, did you use a claims management company? If you did, you can expect a bill shortly for 24% of the redress RBS offered you, regardless of whether or not you see a penny of it.

-taff

Just because they took your money as an F&F does not mean that the debt did not exist still. It just means they weren't going to chase you for it.

Your post is confusing. Did you settle ALL accounts with them or not?

Paton47

Brettca 
           No l didn’t use a claims management company l did it myself. 

Taff 
     The debts l had with RBS I paid off completely. What l don’t get is if they still owned the CC debt they would have included that with the debts l paid off surely? As l said l have received a letter from RBS that all accounts l have with them have been settled they will close the accounts. So this makes me believe they sold that debt to AIC years ago.

brettcta

Well that’s one small mercy then

[Deleted User]

Paton47 said: l have received a letter from RBS that all accounts l have with them have been settled they will close the accounts. 

"Settled" is not the same as paid in full. Remember that interest and charges etc can be written off as part of such a settlement. 

 See previous responses. 

Well done for not using a Claim Company, because I sincerely doubt you'll succeed in getting a refund..

Paton47

Moneyineptitude
It has been settled because l paid the RBS debts in full. I did get a refund it’s just they sent it to the 3rd party who they sold the debt onto. 

[Deleted User]

Paton47 said: I did get a refund it’s just they sent it to the 3rd party who they sold the debt onto. 

Clearly, you did NOT receive a refund if it has gone to offset the existing debt.

 As already pointed out, Banks don't necessarily "sell" such debts.

 If the right of clawback has been maintained, as it appears to have done, you'll never receive anything. 

The Ombudsman call centre may well have  "advised" you to complain, but if any such  complaint is then referred to them all they will  do is check that the offset has been performed correctly.