PPI Company closed claim and now want paying.

SteveR10

Hoping someone can advise me on this. 

I contacted the FCA back in 2008 in regard to a PPI claim as i had discovered i had PPI cover on a LLoyds Bank loan. They processed my claim and LLoyds sent me an acknowledgement of the claim letter to say they were looking into the matter. Nothing else further was ever recieved in regard to the claim. Figured i’d chase this up at some point. 

Life got complicated and i never did chase up the claim until late last yeart with the 2019 deadline looming. I contacted a claims company (The Fair Trade Practice) recomended by a coleague. As seems par for the course, i inadvertantly ended up agreeing for them to make all sorts of claims on my behalf. Tried to cancel most, just to be told id have to pay them anyway so let them continue. A Barclaycard claim actually came to fruition so turned out ok really. 

Back to the LLoyds claim. The Bank took a year to carry out their investigation and replied to The Fair Trade Practice and myself to say that a final desicion letter had been sent out in 2008. The Fair Trade Practice emailed asking that i speak to them before speaking to Lloyds, which i did. I explained that no final desicion letter had ever been recieved and i wanted them to persue the claim. They told me that it would be virtually impossible for me to prove that and that the claim as far as they are concerned was now closed. Argue as i might, that surely it was on Lloyds to proove they sent the letter and not on me to prove they hadnt (how do you prove they didnt send the letter?) they insisted that was it and my claim was now closed. A few days later they emailed me to say the claim was closed and updated my account to also say the Lloyds claim was closed. 

I took this up with Lloyds on the telephone and insisted that they send me a copy of the final desicion letter that was suposedly sent out in 2008. The lady i spoke to seemed unable to confirm what date the letter was sent and said she’d escalated the request and they would be in touch. A few weeks later over £11,000 appeared in my bank account referenced PPI. Obviously I’m delighted that my pushing has resulted in Lloyds deciding to pay my claim. But a little bemused at them not contacting me in any way to explain their change of heart. 

A week later I receive an invoice from The Fair Trade Practice for over £3,000. This is 20% +vat of the money awarded before tax and not money received. 

My question is, do i have to pay this sum? They closed the claim at the first hurdle and wrote to me confirming this. I perused the claim myself and was awarded the £11,000. Can they retrospectively claim their fee even though they quit on my claim?

Any help and advice would be much appreciated. 

[Deleted User]

If you have confirmation they closed the case, then you should be able to argue that you don't need to pay them.  However, check their terms. 

It's correct that the fee would be charged on the full amount of redress though, not on money received.

[Deleted User]

Yes they can bill you and they will keep chasing you until you pay

dunstonh

I contacted the FCA back in 2008 in regard to a PPI claim as i had discovered i had PPI cover on a LLoyds Bank loan.

I assume you mean someone different to the FCA as a) they didn't exist back then as it was still the FSA then and b) the regulator doesn't handle consumer complaints.

My question is, do i have to pay this sum? They closed the claim at the first hurdle and wrote to me confirming this. I perused the claim myself and was awarded the £11,000. Can they retrospectively claim their fee even though they quit on my claim?

Mixed similar outcomes have been talked about.  Some have found the FOS have ruled against the claims company saying they closed the case and all the work was done by the consumer.  Others have said that the claims company is entitled to be paid.    So, you wont know until you raise your complaint with the CMC and refer it to the FOS if necessary.