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December 15, 2014 
Daniel Lee The recent mis-selling scandals of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), and Packaged Bank Accounts (PBA), were largely down to banks and lenders laying down strict sales targets to its staff.
The huge profits on offer for selling these overpriced, and often useless policies, led to a culture of rewarding staff who hit high targets, and punishing those who didn’t.
Customers were mis-sold policies in so many varied ways, from being advised they had to take them, to not even being aware they had been added to their credit agreement, or bank account.
Staff had targets to hit, and had to find the ways and means of selling these products.
For more information on how PPI policies were mis-sold follow this link.
Likewise, for information on how PBAs have been mis-sold, we’ve created this little guide too.
The uncovering of the malpractices has led to millions of complaints, and billions in compensation being paid out.
Indeed, our estimations suggest there are still around 7 million who haven’t yet made a claim, probably because they are unaware they’ve been sold PPI.
The new PBA scandal is upon us, and with at least 1 in 5 UK consumers affected, this has the potential to reach the heights of the ongoing PPI scandal.
The Lloyds Banking Group have been by far the biggest culprits, accounting for 40% of compensation payouts and complaints.
So, you’d think they’d be focusing on trying to put their wrongs right…
Almost a year ago to the day Lloyds were fined £28 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for their continued practises of targetting staff with sales.
Given this was the major reason behind the PPI scandal, and with the PBA scandal upon us, you would have assumed that a £28 million fine would give Lloyds the kick they deserved and needed.
Unfortunately it comes as no real surprise anymore that the banks take little notice of such regulatory action, and this is evidenced via an allegation made by the Lloyds Trade Union (LTU).
The LTU allege that Lloyds staff are still, even after fines and compensation payouts, being targetted on sales!!!
Why are Lloyds and other banks and lenders continuing to break the rules in the search for profits?
It’s simple really. The regulatory fines issued to banks serve as no deterrent.
Whilst they may look large at first glance, when you take into account the profits that are on offer for breaking the rules, it becomes abundantly clear that things must change.
Rather than issuing a bank with a set fine, the FCA need to move to a fine based on the percentage of profits made by banks.
New rules introduced in the Claims Management industry mean that any company who breaches rules could be hit with a fine of 20% of turnover.
We welcome new guidelines as we believe it will flush out any rogue companies that may remain.
We just wish that banks and lenders faced the same tough action.
Not sure whether you’ve been sold PPI? Our fast and comprehensive checking systems that have been set up with almost all banks, allows you to find out whether you’ve been one of the millions who have had PPI.
Not sure whether you qualify for PPI compensation? Check here to see whether you may.
Want to know how much you may be owed? Why not try our PPI calculator.
Do you pay a monthly fee fore your bank account? Check here to see whether you may qualify for compensation.
#1: The first option for you is to fill in the form which can be seen on every page. By doing so, we will send you out a form in the post for you to complete. Once we’ve received the form back in the freepost envelope we send you with your form, we can make a start on your claim.
#2: The second option for you is to download our form, which again can be found on every page by clicking the ‘download pack’ button. Simply print it out, complete it and send it back to us, our address can be found here. Once we receive is back we’ll let you know and make a start.
Our team of experts are on hand to answer any questions you have via telephone, email or our live chat facility.
So….why wait, let’s get started!
Lloyds staff targeted on sales
December 11, 2014 Daniel Lee With millions of valid Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims being rejected by banks and lenders you would think that they would be focusing on getting their own house in order.
However, we are all aware that banks are driven by an insatiable appetite for greed and profit, with little regard for their customers.
We’ve estimated that banks have saved around £17 BILLION thanks to their tactics of rejecting valid PPI claims.
Once a PPI claim is rejected, the matter can be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who deal with disputes that cannot be resolved.
However, there is still a staggering number of customers who will accept a letter of rejection from their bank and not escalate the case to be independently investigated by the FOS.
Once the FOS receive a complaint, they firstly complete checks to ensure the matter is something that they are able to investigate.
If it is, they initially contact the lender to advise them that they have received a complaint and that they intend to investigate it.
The lender then has the opportunity to change their stance, and in the case of a PPI claim, or Packaged Bank Account (PBA) claim, make an offer of compensation.
If the lender chooses to accept liability at this stage, the FOS do not charge a fee.
Should the lender choose not to change their stance, the FOS charge the lender a £550 fee for the cost of investigating the complaint.
Let’s get this right shall we….a lender can mis-sell PPI or a Packaged Bank Account in order to unfairly take money from their customers to boost profits.
A lender can then reject the valid PPI or PBA claim in the hope that the customer will accept the rejection and take it no further, thus saving the lender the cost of paying compensation for their wrongdoing.
In the event that the complaint is escalated to the FOS, the lender is then given a second chance, at no extra cost, to rectify their wrongdoing and make an offer of compensation.
Is it any wonder then that lenders are systematically rejecting valid complaints?!
As if the above isn’t bad enough, lenders have recently challenged the current setup, requesting that customers who escalate complaints to the FOS should be charged a fee of between £50 – £100.
Thankfully the FOS have rejected this latest request, stating that a free service to complainants underpins confidence in the financial services industry.
Even though the FOS have made the correct decision when rejecting these latest calls from lenders, the current setup is still weighed far too heavily in the favour of the lender.
Why should lenders be allowed to get away with rejecting valid PPI cases, only to be allowed a second chance to do the right thing?
It’s no wonder that the majority of cases escalated to the FOS regarding PPI and PBA’s are found in favour of the consumer, as has been the case since the scandals first became apparent.
The only way to stop these abhorrent practices is to hit banks where it hurts.
The £550 fee needs to be charged to the lender regardless of whether they then choose to retract their wrongful rejection.
Furthermore, for every day that goes by where the FOS are overturning over 50% of complaints that are raised against a lender, that lender should be fined, and fined severely.
Only then will we start to see customers being treated fairly by lenders, as only then will it be in the interest of the lender.
Financial Ombudsman Service
December 9, 2014 Daniel Lee I would imagine we’ve all received nuisance calls or spam texts from companies claiming to be offering a wide variety of services.
Now, as you read this on the website of a PPI company, you may be wondering why we’re offering our thoughts and advice on the matter, given a huge proportion of these calls are from so-called PPI claim companies.
Well, our reasons are simple. We do not cold call and we never will.
We understand that receiving such calls can be annoying and we don’t wish to be tarnished with the same brush as those companies who give the industry a bad name.
An obvious way to try and stop such calls would be to sign up to the Telephone Preference Service.
Companies should not contact you once you sign up to this.
In reality however, many people continue to received unwanted marketing calls.
So, we’ve come up with two more ways that could put a stop to such calls. It may take a little time, but if a significant number of people follow these steps the calls will eventually stop.
Now, whilst it’s annoying receiving the calls and the tempting thing is to simply hang up, there could be a better way.
Most of the spam marketing calls we receive are from lead providers or marketing companies, and not actually from the processing company who are offering the service.
The marketing company get paid each time they transfer the call through to the processing company who will deal with the matter, whether it be a PPI claim or a pensions review, or any of the other services that are out there.
These are known in the industry as hot-key leads.
So, if you have the patience, stay on the line.
The marketing company will ask you for some details before they transfer the call. Answer the questions, whether you choose to be truthful or not, and wait for the call to be transferred.
The marketing company will often state that they just need to transfer you through to another department. This is a lie!
They are actually transferring you through to the processing company who will pay the marketing company for the lead.
Once the call has been popped through it’s likely to cost the processing company up to £100.
Imagine the spiralling costs if we all just resisted the temptation to hang up.
The calls would soon stop as the setup would not be financially viable.
A large percentage of the population now have smart phones. With smart phones come smart apps!
There are many call recording apps out there and I would urge you all to get one. My reasons are simple.
The regulators are clamping down strongly on breaches of rules and regulations and companies are starting to face fines that have the potential to close them.
However, this is not stopping marketing companies and processing companies from making spurious claims and false representations when speaking with potential customers on the telephone.
By recording the telephone call and forwarding the recording to the regulators you will be helping in the clamp down against these rogue firms.
I’ve recorded a few of these calls myself, and I’ll soon be uploading these and pointing out the things to watch out for, so please feel free to keep an eye out for this in the future.
It’s important to remember that not every company is the same, and that the services on offer, if done correctly, can be hugely beneficial.
We’ll never cold call you, or send you a spammy text or email.
We much prefer it when our customers come and find us, or recommend friends and family.
So, please feel free to have a look around the site to see what we do.
If you have any questions our experts are on hand to answer them via telephone, email or our live chat facility.
Let’s all start the fight back against nuisance calls!
Stop nuisance calls
August 11, 2015 Daniel Lee It probably goes without saying that the quality of a PPI claim letter is a major factor as to whether a PPI claim is accepted or rejected by a lender.
Forming a strong and coherent case based on fact must form the basis of the PPI claim letter.
Furthermore, a strong understanding of the rules and responsibilities that lenders had to abide by is of paramount importance.
Lenders had to adhere to strict guidelines when selling insurance products.
These were set out by their regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), now known as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
These rules were called Insurance: Conduct Of Business (ICOB), and it is these rules that the validity of a PPI claim will centre around.
Lenders were ordered to stop selling PPI on credit agreements in 2010, so if you’ve taken out a mortgage, loan, credit card etc since this time, you will not have been sold PPI.
If you took out credit prior to 2010 then your agreement could well be one of the 34 million that had PPI added to it.
If you have the paperwork then you should be able to see whether you’ve had PPI.
But what if you no longer have paperwork? What if you don’t remember your account numbers?
In these instances you could launch a Data Subject Access Request to your lender in order to see if they hold any records of your agreement.
As mentioned above, a good understanding of ICOB will allow you to build a clear and concise case within a PPI claim letter.
However, there are a few basics that would form part of the argument as to whether you may qualify for PPI compensation.
We’ve created a quick basic guide here which should give you an idea as to whether you may have a case.
One thing that must be remembered is that banks and lenders do not want to pay out compensation, and they will adopt various tactics in order to wriggle out of paying.
Lenders have rejected millions of complaints, with a majority of the rejections being unfair.
The simple reason why they reject valid complaints is that people, even now, accept letters of rejection.
Do not take no for an answer. There are two options when you receive a rejection letter.
The FOS is an independent body set up to handle disputes between lenders and consumers that cannot be resolved between them.
The FOS will investigate the case using the points made in the PPI claim letter, and evidence supplied by you and your lender.
Whilst the waiting time for the FOS to make a decision can be anywhere between 12-24 months, the wait is usually worth it as the FOS overturn the majority of rejections.
We hope the guide above gives you an idea of what is required in order to build a solid case, and PPI claim letter.
However, if you don’t have the time or the patience, or you’d rather the process be stress free, you could always instruct experts to act on your behalf.
Your Money Claim has years of experience in dealing with lenders and their tactics.
Your Money Claim will carry out the necessary checks using a fast-track system set up with almost all lenders, to see whether you’ve had PPI.
If you have been sold PPI, Your Money Claim will build your case using expert knowledge and will then deal with your lender on your behalf at every step of the process.
Your Money Claim will counter arguments and obstacles that your lender may raise, and deal with the FOS is required.
Your Money Claim is used to beating the banks, and having already claimed tens of millions in compensation for it’s customers, it has a fearsome reputation with lenders.
So why not start your claim today with the experts, and take the hassle out of your PPI claim.
PPI claim letter
November 27, 2014 Daniel Lee We regularly hear them being mentioned as one of the big four UK banks alongside Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, but who are the Lloyds Banking Group?
Well, as is probably obvious by the name, it’s a group of banks under one company. So let’s open the door and see who’s inside…
The obvious one. Lloyds in the major player in the group, and having been around since 1765, it’s also one of the oldest banks in the UK.
In 1995 Lloyds merged with TSB to form Lloyds TSB.
They remained as such until separation in late 2013, which was as a consequence of the government bailout of the troubled bank during the height of the financial crisis.
Black Horse is a specialist division of the Lloyds Banking Group, having previously been part of Lloyds TSB.
Black Horse provides motor, retail and asset finance to hundreds of thousands of customers every year.
Halifax was founded in 1853, perhaps unsurprisingly in the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire.
Bank of Scotland, the second oldest bank in the UK behind the Bank of England, started life way back in 1695.
The two historical banking giants merged in 2001 to form Halifax Bank of Scotland, which was subsequently shortened and known thereafter as HBOS.
In joining forces HBOS became the biggest provider of mortgages in the UK overnight.
iN 2008 Lloyds TSB Group made a takeover bid of HBOS, which was eventually completed in early 2009, heralding the start of the ‘Lloyds Banking Group’.
Perhaps the biggest black mark on the Lloyds Banking Group card is the huge PPI mis-selling scandal.
The group is responsible for for over 40% of PPI policies sold, which is around 13.6 million of the 34 million policies sold.
The total poundage worth of PPI policies sold by Lloyds Banking Group is around £20 BILLION.
Having set aside £11.3 billion of the total £27 billion to compensate customers who’ve been mis-sold PPI, at the time of writing this, we can be sure there will, and should be future additions to this number.
Whilst there have been many other scandals we could go into, such as rigging the foreign exchange, rigging gold and metal prices, rigging LIBOR, we’re just going to look at one final one a little closer to everyones pockets.
The next mis-selling scandal, which is almost upon us, is the Packaged Bank Account scandal.
With an estimated 10 million active Packaged Bank Accounts in the UK, and millions more that are closed, but can still be claimed against, this next scandal has the potential to be huge.
Much the same as PPI, Packaged Bank Accounts were sold to meet the needs (profit targets) of the banks, and not to suit the needs or wants of the customer.
Millions of customers have had their bank accounts ‘upgraded’ to include a monthly fee in exchange for insurance products.
Millions more were offered the bank account, and not offered a free alternative.
Not sure whether you’ve been sold PPI? Our fast and comprehensive checking systems that have been set up with almost all banks, allows you to find out whether you’ve been one of the millions who have had PPI.
Not sure whether you qualify for PPI compensation? Check here to see whether you may.
Want to know how much you may be owed? Why not try our PPI calculator.
Do you pay a monthly fee fore your bank account? Check here to see whether you may qualify for compensation.
#1: The first option for you is to fill in the form which can be seen on every page. By doing so, we will send you out a form in the post for you to complete. Once we’ve received the form back in the freepost envelope we send you with your form, we can make a start on your claim.
#2: The second option for you is to download our form, which again can be found on every page by clicking the ‘download pack’ button. Simply print it out, complete it and send it back to us, our address can be found here. Once we receive is back we’ll let you know and make a start.
Our team of experts are on hand to answer any questions you have via telephone, email or our live chat facility.
So….why wait, let’s get started!
Lloyds Banking Group
November 25, 2014 Daniel Lee We recently brought you news that the owner of Clydesdale Bank, and Yorkshire Bank, was looking to sell the two and leave the UK market.
This has been on the back of numerous scandals that the owner of the banks, the National Australia Bank (NAB), believes has become too much.
It’s clear from recent announcements that the bad names of Clydesdale and Yorkshire are having an unwanted affect on NAB.
If you add to this the fines and compensation that has had to be paid, which has seriously affected NAB’s accounts, it’s little wonder why they want to wash their hands of the dirty pair.
News that not all was well inside Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank came last year.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) discovered that the banks were attempting to destroy customer records in order to try and avoid having to investigate PPI complaints.
Just prior to that incident, in September, Clydesdale Bank were fined £8.9 million for failing to treat it’s mortgage customers fairly.
This year, the beleaguered pair have faced a huge uplift in the amount of PPI compensation it has had to set aside, having been found guilty of handling complaints unfairly.
In the space of just three months, Clydesdale and Yorkshire increased their PPI compensation pot by £75 million, followed by a huge addition of £425 million.
This took the overall PPI compensation bill for the two, to £1.2 BILLION. Perhaps the most concerning part of the announcement regarding the increase in money set aside, was that they only expected the amounts to see them through the current financial year.
Surely, after so much controversy and scandal, the top bosses would find themselves lucky to be in a job, never mind expecting to receive any form of bonus.
David Thorburn, the Chief Executive of Clydesdale Bank, clearly has some questions to answer given the above.
However, it would appear that Mr Thorburn’s salary of £455,000 wasn’t reward enough for the scandals and treatment of it’s customers, so the bank has decided to give him a sweetener.
Clydesdale Bank offered Mr Thorburn the following additional extras due to the sterling job he’d carried out!
So, when we add these bonuses to the salary, Mr Thorburn has walked away with £955,000.
Not bad really when you consider he’s basically failed in his duties.
In any other industry bonuses are paid based on performance, and the success of the business.
How banking has been able to get away with these nonsensical bonus structures and systems for so long is draining trust levels.
They’ll have us all believe that in order to attract the best people to run the banks, we have to offer such incentive laden contracts.
Well I’m sorry but the people who have been running our financial industry for the past few decades have FAILED, driven by the greed of shareholders and themselves.
If changing the bonus culture, wherein failure is rewarded, means that the positions are no longer attractive to these people, then that can only be a positive outcome.
I’m all for rewarding performance, as I think most of us are, but what is happening in the banking sector is far from a culture of rewarding performance.
Surely performance indicators would be customer service satisfaction levels, numbers of new customers and businesses, exemplary regulatory standards, as well as long term and sustainable profits.
Will the revolution happen? I wouldn’t count on it unfortunately.
Clydesdale Bank boss
