24/05/2010 by Bradders.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is receiving more complaints than ever and it received nearly a million complaints in the year to March.

The Ombudsman is bracing itself for over a million complaints this coming year.In order to deal with the surge in work, the Ombudsman has increased its staff numbers by about a third over the last few months. Industry sources still believe that although there is no alternative to the Ombudsman scheme, there is still a need for change. They believe that staff are not properly trained, and the scheme is slow, erratic and inconsistent.Over the coming months the service will be severely tested as they are currently getting more than 3,500 complaints each working day. The increasing number of ppi complaints is only adding to this burden.That said the Ombudsman managed to resolve over a 166,000 disputes between consumers and financial institutions and compensation was awarded to more than 50% of complainants.PPI is still the most common reason for a complaint and basically 3 out of every 10 new cases is a ppi complaint which is a 58% rise on the year before.

This has also meant that insurance disputes are on the increase although PPI is the main contributor to this.. The Financial Services Ombudsman was set up in 2000 with the mission to settle 25,000 disputes a year. This year it says it’s expecting to resolve 200,000 disputes.

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04/05/2010 by Bradders.

Pressure is being applied to the major banks by the city watchdog as it finally shows its teeth wit a promise of biting. Outraged by the way the major banks have mishandled complaints, at least two of the culprits could be in line for a major fine. 

Dear CEO letters were sent out to the major institutions recently in an effort to thwart this cynical approach to consumer’s complaints but to no avail. At this point in time there has been no naming and shaming but it is widely believed to be Lloyds that’s in the firing line for the majority of the criticism but many CMC’s feel it could equally be Barclays. 

Lloyds has been getting a disproportionate amount of complaints from its 30 million customers. As many as 500,000 Lloyds customers are estimated to have complained last year but a far smaller number have taken this complaint on to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This is where complaints need to go once the bank has rejected the complaint which they invariably do. In the second half of last year about 20,000 complaints against Lloyds went to the FOS which is about five times the number of complaints relating to either HSBC or RBS. Barclays has around 10,000 complaints going to the FOS. 

The majority of these are ppi complaints which relates to the overpriced insurance policies that are force fed customers when they take out a credit agreement. Ironically many of these complaints,(up to 90% for some Lloyds subsidiaries) are ultimately found in favour of the customer. This would suggest that Lloyds are rejecting claims irrespective of their merits. 

Brad Martin of claims management company Claimline
UK said “I’ve been banging the drum for over a year that complainants have to be tenacious and not take no for an answer. It’s obvious that in the majority of instances the seller will always exclaim that this was a fair and just sale that followed all the procedures as laid out in the FSA guidelines.However, on the numerous occasions that I have heard the audio recordings from the sales calls it’s apparent that the majority of people do not fully understand what they are purchasing. You can almost visualise the head shaking but the shoulders shrugging when asked if they have any questions. I sometimes liken it to a flight emergency demonstration; everyone is just waiting for the movie to start.  

It will now be interesting to gauge the banks response after the financial regulator raps their knuckles yet again. The whole industry is mow bracing themselves for the next big misselling scandal which is missold mortgages but hey that’s another story.   

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11/03/2010 by Bradders.

Since the great ppi misselling debacle began in earnest around 18 months ago hundreds of thousands of people have tried to claim back their premiums on a missold ppi policy. Unfortunately a large number of these claims have been rejected by the credit supplier that sold them the policy in the first place. This has become normal procedure and the financial institutions are relying on the fact that a lot of people will accept this final response as the end of the matter. Selling this type of insurance has been big business for the banks and a major profit earner. Therefore it really is not in the lenders interest to roll over and let the customer have all there premiums back plus interest.

The whole process can be a tedious exercise and the credit providers are complicating the procedure beyond what it should be with ‘smoke and mirror tactics. In a lot of instances it’s not complicated although there are exceptions to the rule where a professional eye can cut through the maze of jargon. Brad Martin of Claimline UK encourages anyone who has had a claim turned down by the credit provider within the last six months to give his company a chance to get their money back on a no win no fee arrangement. Brad said “just because a lender refutes your claim for whatever reason does not make it the end of the road. We recently claimed back nearly £4000 for a client who had their claim rejected by a major high street lender nearly a year before they approached us. Although the final response letter from the lender was outside the 6 month time limit laid down by the FOS we persuaded the Ombudsman to open the case as we could prove mitigating circumstances. We also have the facility to take the case to one of our panel of solicitors who again will take the case on a no win no fee basis.

The only time constraint we have is the fact that the loan needs to have been taken out in the last six years. If you have a credit card agreement this can go back further especially if you are still paying for it”  For these reasons alone it’s worthwhile in engaging the services of a professional claims handler if you have a ppi complaint  especially if your claim is going nowhere.

Fees vary but Claimline UK offer their services at a competitive 20% even when solicitor’s services are required. Generally speaking there should be no need to pay more than 20% for a claims company and you should be wary of companies charging a 10% fee. They normally make up the difference by retaining the interest part of the claim which exceeds the 20% rate by a long way.Claimline UK was specifically set up to handle PPI claims and in instances where the PPI element of the claim exceeds £8000 the fee is negotiable.

Claimline UK 0800 622 6988 www.ppicomplaint.org.uk

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15/02/2010 by Bradders.

It would appear that just as people are getting used to the PPI complaints procedure the whole process looks set to take another twist. The number of complaints that the Financial Ombudsman Service s receiving is still heading northwards and we will soon be approaching the 1000 a week mark. As I’ve always maintained they are dong a sterling job but they have been pushed to the limits with the amount of cases that they are currently dealing with. However, there could be a little respite for the FOS but it will hardly do the poor complainant any favours. 

There seems to be a growing pattern amongst the mortgage and loan brokers that seemed to be everywhere at the start of the last decade to close shop. Obviously the lack of money to lend has not helped nor has the inclination not to borrow have done their profit margins much good. Added to this is the growing trend of the consumer to demand monies back from missold ppi or payment protection insurance. 

For years these brokers along with the major financial institutions have been raking in billons of pounds of profit from this expensive and in many instances inadequate insurance. Unfortunately just as the general public can see a way of getting their hard earned cash back the brokers are pulling the plug and saying goodnight
Vienna. If you did use a broker now is a good time to check if the firm that you used is still alive and kicking. You can check this on the FSA website or just contact the company by phone or letter. This is important because if you do have a ppi complaint the claim has to be made against the seller (broker) not the bank (lender). 

In the event of the broker gong into administration you will need to contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme who will now be the ones who will process your claim. Before any of this can take place you will need to fill out their internal application form to see if you have a case. At the same time they will need to do an audit of the brokerage to see if they are in default i.e are there any funds left in the business  

Unfortunately, this is just adding more complications and stress to the individual who wants to claim back their missold ppi Brad Martin of Claimline UK said ‘What should basically take a little effort and common sense is now turning into a major task for the individual. In cases where this occurs a claims management company can do all the leg work and take the stress off the complainants shoulders. There are some CMC’s who will charge an upfront fee for this but at the moment we are happy to continue working on a no win no fee basis. Even though there is extra work involved we have also decided to maintain the same 20% fee and not increase it as some other companies have decided to do.

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01/02/2010 by Bradders.

With complaints against the financial institutions rising at an alarming rate and the banks attitude to complaints leaving a lot to be desired the financial ombudsman service is the public’s saviour. For many years the institutions have faced a backlash from the media and consumer watchdogs for many forms of unscrupulous sales practices. In the eighties and nineties it was pensions and endowments, the noughties brought us bank and credit card charges. Now we are faced with unprecedented levels of complaints in the form of missold ppi policies. What started out as a trickle towards the end of the last decade is now starting to gather momentum as literally millions of people are now realising that they have been on the receiving end of sharp practice. The financial ombudsman s having to plough their way through a deluge of complaints and the figures seem to keep rising. At the current rate of growth it will only be a matter of months before the FOS will be receiving over a 1000 complaints a week for missold ppi.  

Whilst some institutions are facing up to their responsibilities and try to resolve the matter internally others are fighting every case and referring them to the ombudsman. Interestingly it’s not the independent brokers or sub prime lenders who are the worst offenders but some major names in the high street. One of these banks is currently trying to be the ‘friendly’ face on the high street with their staff friendly advertising and vehemently denies any wrong doing even when it is obvious to the contrary. At some point the FOS must surely come down hard on this practice as their admirable service starts groaning under the weight of complaints and the wronged consumer has to wait ever increasing amounts of time to get redress. 

The time it takes to get a case for missold ppi processed through the financial ombudsman service can vary and depends on a variety of reasons. Firstly they need to have all the correct information to enable them to assess if there is a case to be heard. It will also depend on how cooperative the institution is in supplying the necessary paperwork and t is not unheard of for a bank not to supply information until they have been asked at least three times over as many months. From there they can disagree with the findings of the adjudicator and take it to the final level the ombudsman. What should in many instances be a simple procedure and not take longer than a couple of months can in some instances go way, way beyond this. Finally when its all processed and found in the favour of the consumer it doesn’t quite end there. The banks still have up to 12 weeks (3 months) to reimburse the money that should not have been taken in the first place! 

Anyone who feels they have been missold a ppi policy should act without delay because delaying it could potentially add months to the claim     

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