Debt Management Companies - Claim your fee refund

Mary_Jane_50

Hello Everyone.

I just wanted to let everyone know a little bit of insider information which has since came to light.  A client of ours who used The Claims Guys to claim her PPI has managed to get that company to provide a full refund of their fee, plus interest.  This is because they acted without her authority.  This has been upheld by the Solicitor Ombudsman.

To explain how this works:

Following the introduction of GDPR, one of the key changes to the law was that authority could no longer be an "opt-out" system.  You must physically mark to opt yourself into a service.

From the ICO:
"What methods can we use to obtain consent?

Whatever method you use must meet the standard of an unambiguous indication by clear affirmative action.  This means you must ask people to actively opt in. Examples of active opt-in mechanisms include:

• signing a consent statement on a paper form;
• ticking an opt-in box on paper or electronically;
• clicking an opt-in button or link online;
• selecting from equally prominent yes/no options;
• choosing technical settings or preference dashboard settings;
• responding to an email requesting consent;
• answering yes to a clear oral consent request;
• volunteering optional information for a specific purpose – eg filling optional fields in a form (combined with just-in-time notices) or dropping a business card into a box."

Now the Claims Guys along with companies such as Gladstone Brookes, did not amend their standard letter of authority for PPI after GDPR went live.  Do you remember seeing those pre-filled authority forms in the post with boxes ticked?  Well that's exactly what was banned under GDPR.  Both of these companies - and many others - continued to use these forms after GDPR went live.

What does this mean?

Regardless of whether you signed that form or not, the letter of authority is invalid under law.  They had no legal right to act on your behalf and as such, no legal claim to charge you a fee (you can't be charge a fee for something you did not legally authorise).

How do you challenge this?

First of all, this only applies to any authority form you have returned which you dated on or after May 25th, 2018. Even if you were sent the form before that date, it's not legally binding as the companies were advised beforehand during the grace period of this requirement after that date.  If you signed the form before that date, you do not have a claim as GDPR did not backdate the requirements to existing authority.

If you cannot locate the form, contact the Claims Management Company and request a Data Subject Access Request and ask for a copy of the letter of authority and all correspondence between themselves and the lender.  They have 30 calendar days to send you this under GDPR, free of charge.

If you notice either of the below - then you have a claim:

• There are pre-filled boxes

• There is small print stating you give authority to discuss PPI

Finally, log an official complaint. 
State to them that the Letter of Authority was invalid due to it being an opt-in that is prohibited under GDPR

State that they were not legally acting with your consent and therefore did not have legal authority to handle the matter

State that you require their fee to be returned as this is not action you legally authorised.

State that if the fee is not returned, you will be raising a complaint with the ICO and either:

• The Financial Ombudsman

• The Legal Ombudsman (whichever applies)

This is very much a "small print" issue but it is none the less a legal one.  They failed to follow the law just the same as the PPI companies did.  It's time to reclaim your fees they charged you without the authority to do so.

[Deleted User]

As much as I doubt this will affect many cases, I do hope it works for the many people who were milked by PPI claims firms. When you talk about "your clients" though, it might be useful to admit in what capacity you are talking 

Mary_Jane_50

I work part time, voluntarily for the Citizens Advice Bureau.  Mostly I specialise in Consumer Complaints and the client's actual case handler called on some assistance regarding the PPI fees which seemed extraordinarily high.  After reviewing the paperwork, I identified the GDPR issue and passed it back to the case handler to continue with both the complaint and the overall debt advice, only getting involved again when escalating the matter to the Ombudsman, confirming the appropriate legislation as well as highlighting the key parts of the documents in contradiction to the regulations.