McWilliam & Anor v Norton Finance (UK) Ltd (t/a Norton Finance in Liquidation) PPI

[Legal Beagles]

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PPI / Commissions

For all these reasons I would allow the appeal. In my view Norton must account to the Claimants for the additional commissions received in the sum of £4,360.25. That entitlement should also bear interest. We were asked to award it at the judgment rate, 8%, since the date of completion of the loan. The variable rate of interest under the loan agreement was 13.2% at the date of the agreement. Since 2008/9 interest rates have obviously been much lower, although we have been supplied with no information as to the likely rate of interest payable by consumers such as these Claimants borrowing a relatively small sum of this order. In all the circumstances an award of interest at 5% since the date of completion of the loan is I consider appropriate to reflect likely fluctuations in interest rates over the entire period.

[Amethyst]

Re: McWilliam & Anor v Norton Finance (UK) Ltd (t/a Norton Finance in Liquidation) PP

''

The Claimants were looking for a loan of about £25,000 in order to refinance existing debt of about £18,000, mostly incurred on credit cards, and to fund the building of a conservatory for their house, expected to cost about £7,000. In the event Norton arranged on their behalf a loan of £25,500 from Money Partners Limited, "Money Partners." The Claimants also instructed Norton to place payment protection insurance, "PPI." The premium for that was advised as £3,745, and was added to the loan. On top of that, as the Claimants understood, they were to pay to Norton a "broker fee" of £750 and a "completion fee" of £500, the recipient of which was unspecified. So the total amount advanced became £30,495. What is in issue is two further commissions which were paid to Norton out of the total amount advanced. I shall call these "the additional commissions."

The first such commission, £2,675, was paid by the lender, Money Partners Limited, to whom Norton introduced the Claimants for the purpose of obtaining credit. That amounted to 8.77% of the loan advanced, £30,495. The second commission was £1,685.25 paid to Norton by the insurer providing the PPI, Pinnacle Insurance. That amounted to 45% of the PPI premium.

As it happens a yet further commission of £659.84 was paid by Pinnacle to Money Partners. That represented a further 17.6% of the premium. So of the £3,745 lent to fund the PPI premium, 62.6% comprised commissions. Indeed it is worth reflecting that out of the £30,495 advanced, £5,610.25 or 18.4% represented fees or commissions. It is to the great credit of Mr and Mrs McWilliam that they repaid the loan in full in 2007.

In August 2009 the Claimants began proceedings in the Chester County Court seeking a variety of relief against Money Partners and Norton including a claim that Norton should account to them for the two additional commissions which they had received. By the time the matter came to trial in May 2011, at the Teeside County Court Money Partners had gone into liquidation and the claim against them had by then been discontinued. Other claims fell away at trial. In the event the Judge, Mrs Recorder McMullen, was concerned only with the claim that Norton should account to its clients for the two additional commissions of £2,675 and £1,685.25, and also with a claim for breach of statutory duty. ''

[Amethyst]

Re: McWilliam & Anor v Norton Finance (UK) Ltd (t/a Norton Finance in Liquidation) PP

Miller Gardner again....