Friends had letter 3 years after payout asking for money back

Chrissyc

Hi all asking for some advice please. Our friends used a claims management company to reclaim ppi and had a payment of approx £21,000 at least 3 years ago. They rang the claims management to check that the payouts were right (they took a huge amount of commission out) and they were told all correct so they cashed the cheques and renovated their home with the money. They received a letter at the weekend (3 years later) saying it was a mistake and they need to repay the money. They accepted this in good faith after the claims management company claimed it back for them. They haven't been able to speak to the claims management company yet but just wanted to see if others had any experience with this as obviously causing my friend stress and worry

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Who paid the money?

Chrissyc

The claims management company sent the cheques after they took their 40% out. Will check with my friend what company the claim was made against. She was tok uosrt when she rang me

-taff

The usual way is for the complainant themselves ot be refunded then they pay the CMC

sparklep0ny

If it was paid in error they absolutely have a right to their money back.  They need to ascertain if it was paid in error.   If it genuinely was then they're looking at repayment programs.

Chrissyc

-taff said:

The usual way is for the complainant themselves ot be refunded then they pay the CMC

Apologies yes that was the way round. Forgot the cheques used to be sent then the cmc asked for their cut to be paid to them

Chrissyc

sparklep0ny said:

If it was paid in error they absolutely have a right to their money back.  They need to ascertain if it was paid in error.   If it genuinely was then they're looking at repayment programs.

Omg! Our friend's checked though if it was right and only cashed and spent the money after being reassured it was. The company that paid and sent the money said they were due that after reviewing their ppi claim - wonder if there will be a lot more companies now reviewing the monies they have paid out to claw back monies they have paid out. If so there are going to be an awful lot of companies reclaiming ppi payments they have paid out

[Deleted User]

Unlikely. It's quite rare for payments to be made in error, but the odd one will always slip through.

Chrissyc

Deleted_User said:

Unlikely. It's quite rare for payments to be made in error, but the odd one will always slip through.

Unfortunately for my friend's then the error was for a large amount!

Emerion

Your friends should take advice from the Financial Ombudsman Service. If it’s the bank’s fault, they should not be asking for the money back. I think the ombudsman will say the same thing. If it was the claims company that was in error, then I’m not sure how that works, but the ombudsman can help.  

[Deleted User]

Emerion said:

Your friends should take advice from the Financial Ombudsman Service. If it’s the bank’s fault, they should not be asking for the money back. I think the ombudsman will say the same thing. If it was the claims company that was in error, then I’m not sure how that works, but the ombudsman can help.  

That is incorrect. The bank making a mistake doesn't mean the recipient can keep the money, though they shouldn't be expecting someone to pay it back in one go. The FOS will be highly unlikely to tell the bank to write off the debt, particularly if something has come to light in a review which showed the refund should not have been paid out.