How to claim train delay and cancellation compensation

Claiming compensation for those extremely annoying delays or cancellations can seem like a chore and lots of people don’t bother. In fact, two-thirds of passengers don’t claim for their train delays. That’s a lot of money people are missing out on.

Trust us, it’s worth making those claims. Andy Young travels from his home in Hertfordshire to London’s City Thameslink every day and he makes between £230 and £330 each year in compensation. Similarly, Tom Burridge claimed over £1k compensation in train vouchers:

Our guide to claiming train delay and cancellation compensation

1. Make a note of the delayed or cancelled train details:
   • If delayed, how many minutes was it delayed
   • The journey date
   • The reason it was delayed or cancelled (if it was announced)
   • The train company in question
   • The station you were travelling to and from
   • What type of ticket you had (single, return, season ticket etc.)
   • Finally, hold on to your train tickets or booking reference as you’ll need them as proof

If you don’t remember the length of the delay, then take a look at the Recent Train Times website. You just need to add in the train stations you were travelling between and the dates and it will tell you the actual arrival times.

2. Most train companies have a time limit of 28 days from the delayed or cancelled journey so apply as soon as you can.

3. Use our table below to get the link to the relevant delay repay page. Or, visit National Rail’s list of train companies.

4. Once you’ve navigated your way to the compensation form, fill out the details you made a note of and upload your train tickets. You can apply for compensation via post, the delay repay page should contain the postage address you’ll need to send the compensation form to.

5. You’ll be asked how you wish to be compensated. Most train companies will offer repayment by cheque, bank transfer or travel vouchers.

It’s important to note that each train company has a slightly different repay policy. And so you don’t have to trawl through their website looking for it, we’ve created a go-to list of minimum delay times in order for you to receive compensation, the amount you could be refunded for a single journey and links to each company’s delay repay page.

Don’t let the train companies hold on to your compensation. Follow our guide, use the links below and get back your cash!

The Letting Agent Fees Ban: What’s happening?

Back in November the country’s Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, conducted the last ever Autumn Statement. Covering a broad range of subjects, one particular suggestion pricked the ears of tenants all over the country: a ban on letting agent fees.

Tenants are all too aware of the huge costs letting agents charge. Credit checks, contract fees, check in fees, check out fees, and many others with vague titles. You can even get charged over £100 for a contract to be renewed, a process involving pressing print, a stapler, and a pen.

So, when is the letting agent fee ban coming into effect?

Not just yet. First, the Government needs to conduct a consultation. This was announced to take place in March/April of this year. Then in February, they released a housing a white paper which again mentioned a ban on fees.

Eventually the consultation was opened on 7^th April. It’s currently still open and will close on the 2 June 2017. You can respond yourself here. Along with talking to tenants, the consultation will also include talks with landlords, Citizens Advice, and the Which? consumer group.

Based off this the Government will make its decisions, with landlords hoping the idea will be scrapped and tenants hoping the endless rip off charges will be culled. Although there’s been some concern among renters that the snap election could mean the ban will be forgotten (or quietly buried) after June 8^th.

Meanwhile the landlords have asked for the consultation period to be extended. They say it should take place after the election and have sent a letter to the government about it. They claim that because of the election the ban will become a manifesto pledge, which means the consultation may break the purdah rules – purdah being the time between an election announcement and the election where the government cannot announce new laws.

Nevertheless, the Tories have included the ban in their manifesto, saying that they will “shortly ban letting agent fees.” There’s no further details beyond that, but it seems a ban is becoming an inevitability, especially as the Liberal Democrats and Labour have committed to it as well.

So it looks like good news for current and future tenants. Let’s just hope the ban comes in sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, if you’re faced with massive fees before the ban, there are some options. First, if possible, try to rent from landlords directly as they’re unlikely to charge these kinds of fees. Websites like Gumtree, Loot, and Spare Room can be a good place to start. Post on your Facebook and Twitter too in case a friend knows of a place going.

It’s also worth trying to negotiate with the letting agent. If you’re lucky they might let you off some fees. In the end though, if they want to charge them, they will.

Update

Since this piece went live the Conservatives have announced a bill that will ban letting agent fees. At the moment they still need to get their Queen’s Speech passed, but if they do so, then the letting agents fee bill will most certainly pass as all parties support it. There’s no timetable as of yet, especially considering the very fluid nature of UK politics at the moment.

How much PPI commission is fair?

As is well documented, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proven its weakness once more by allowing a PPI deadline to be introduced.

Whilst this is being challenged through the courts as it clearly only benefits the banks, there was perhaps a greater scandal hidden in the news.

The news surrounds the hidden commission payments received by the banks for selling PPI to consumers.

The court case

In 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that a customer be awarded compensation due to a lender failing to provide information surrounding PPI commission payments.

The customer was sold a PPI policy for £5,780 by the lender, Paragon Finance, who also loaned the customer £34,000 as part of the deal.

The PPI provider, Norwich Union, took £1,630 of the £5,780 by way of payment for the PPI policy sold to the customer on its behalf by Paragon Finance.

The remaining £4,150 was retained as a commission by Paragon Finance and a secondary introducer.

That is a staggering 71.8% PPI commission!

Quite rightly, the Supreme Court ruled that failing to disclose this commission to the customer resulted in an unfair relationship.

Furthermore it culminated in the customer being denied crucial information in order for her to make an informed decision regarding the value for money of the product she was purchasing.

I think it is fair to assume that any customer would reject such a policy had they been made aware over 70% was pure commission.

The customer was quite rightly awarded £4,500 compensation.

The FCA delay

Firstly it is important to state what the primary and overriding duty of a regulator is.

A regulator is to protect consumers by ensuring those it regulates operates in a fair and responsible manner.

A regulator is NOT there to protect the financial position of those it regulates.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that is not the case when it comes to the FCA, who have consistently been at the whim of the banking sector.

The Supreme Court Ruling was issued on 12th November 2014.

However, the FCA have taken almost 30 months to issue new rules for banks to follow when dealing with complaints involving PPI commission payments.

What does the FCA consider fair?

You may need to sit down if you are not already, when we tell you what the FCA consider to be a fair amount of commission.

Firstly, the court awarded the customer £4,500 compensation which is above and beyond the £4,150 commission payments that were involved.

The FCA have concluded that 50% commission is fair!!!

Yes, the FCA have concluded that 50% commission is fair!!!

Is there any other industry where the regulator deems 50% commission to be fair if it has not been disclosed to a consumer?

This ruling clear conflicts the ruling of the Supreme Court, and is yet another in a long line of examples of the FCA trying to protect the banks.

Had the FCA had their way the customer would have only received £1,260 compensation.

What is a fair amount of commission?

This is clearly a matter for the consumer to decide, not the FCA.

The Supreme Court ruled that because the customer was not advised of the commissions involved she was denied the information required to make an informed decision.

In other words, the PPI policy was mis-sold plain and simple.

Your Money Claim believe that if the customer was denied the information then a 100% refund should be due, and this is what we will be fighting for.

Is this the final word?

Much like the introduction of an unfair PPI deadline, it is clear that this will be challenged through the courts.

The FCA and the banking sector will make every attempt to sweep this under the carpet in order to protect their own interests.

There have been so many opportunities for the FCA and banking sector to put things right but it looks like the fight will have to go on.

PPI commission

Common scams you need to watch out for

There’s a huge array of methods con artists use to try and trick people out of their hard-earned money. We take a look at some of the more commons ones so you don’t get sucked in.

Phishing

An email from your bank pops up in your inbox. It looks just the same as all the others you receive from. There’s a problem it says. It asks you to click a link and on the page it loads, which also looks like your bank’s website, you’re asked for your sort code, account number, and security code.  You enter the details and you’re told the problem is solved.

The only thing is that the next time you check your account all of your cash is gone, either spent or simply transferred out. The email you received was a scam, where con artists replicate a bank’s email and site styles to trick people into handing over information.

There’s a simple way to protect yourself here. Your bank is never going to ask you to verify sensitive information straight from a link in an email. If you don’t have to go through your usual online banking log in process, it isn’t genuine.

If you’re ever concerned about an email, just call your bank instead. They’ll be able to let you know if the email is real or not.

‘Nigerian 419’ Scams

When these scams first started to appear they usually originated in Nigeria, hence the name. The 419 references the section of the country’s criminal code that prohibits the scam. So what is it?

Essentially you’ll receive some kind of plea for help that involves large sums of money that are set to be taxed heavily in the country the sender resides in. They ask if you’d be willing to have the money transferred to you in exchange for a generous percentage. In other words, the chance at millions of pounds for doing nothing.

Of course there is no money. What the scammer wants is your bank details, which they claim will be used to send you the imaginary money. You can probably guess the next step. The scammer clears out the target’s bank account and disappears into the ether.

With these kinds of cons always ask yourself: is this too good to be true? A Nigerian prince probably has better ways to avoid tax than enlisting the help of Steve in Maidenhead. If you receive any kind of request remotely similar to the above, delete the email and forget about it.

Ransomware

With the NHS being severely hit by this scam recently, it’s important to keep a watchful eye out. Ransomware is when a piece of software gets onto your PC and essentially locks everything down. The software then demands a payment to release your computer and your files. Unfortunately this isn’t an easy thing to get rid off once you’ve got it.

Prevention is the key here. Make sure your PC is always up-to-date as older version often have security issues that hackers take advantage of. Next get some decent security software to protect yourself too. Finally, ensure System Restore is turned on (here’s a step-by-step guide). This means if your computer is taken over you can restore the restore your PC to a time before the ransomware took over and stop yourself losing all your files.

Catfishing

While the name for this con only came about after the 2010 film Catfish, the scam has existed for as long as the internet has connected strangers together. The perpetrator pretends to be someone they’re not, often faking a romantic interest in the victim and stringing them along.

While not all cases involve requests of money, a significant amount do. Usually a fake story is used to illicit sympathy and then cash. Throughout all of this the con artist will use any excuse not to meet the victim in real life or offer up proof of their identity. Unfortunately there are many victims who accept these excuses.

Avoiding these scams is straightforward. If you’re ever getting close to someone online – particularly if they come out with financial sob stories – ensure they prove who they really are. On a separate safety note, if you ever meet someone from the internet always tell people where and when you are going and never go alone.

Doorstep Scams

For as long as there’s been doorsteps there’s been doorstep scammers. There’s a huge range of types, but essentially they boil down to someone knocking at your door and pretending to be someone they’re not.

They may pretend they’re collecting for a charity, or they could be trying to sell you something you don’t need or that won’t ever materialise. Another common one is people pretending to be come kind of official, such as from the council or your electricity company.

Never let anyone in our house if you’re not 100% sure. Anyone official should have ID on them to prove who they are. Give the company or organisation a call to check, but be sure to get the number yourself if you can to be sure it’s correct. Never hand over things like your PIN number to people, or hand over cash either.

If in doubt, ask whoever it is to leave and call someone you trust.

Finally, if you think you’ve been a victim of a scam money.co.uk has a great piece on what to do next here.