Letter of Authority PPI

[jeanrob]

I mistakenly allowed a company to apply for a ppi claim, I never read the small print about how much they take if you win.

However a few months ago the bank involved contacted me saying they were not dealing with the PPI company as they felt they had not given them enough proof that they had my authority to do so. Since then I have had a few letters from the bank telling me they were still looking into the matter, I received one letter from the PPI company saying they would be in touch soon as they were waiting for the bank to confirm I found that puzzling as the bank said they weren't talking to them. However, about 3 weeks ago I received a settlement figure from the bank, I am still waiting for the amount to be paid (probably with next 10 days), on the letter they say again that "they have not informed the PPI company because they did not feel they had the right to do so".

Am I committed to pay this company even though they will not know I have been settled as their share as on reading the small print they are going to take 37.5% of the Gross amount (before I pay tax on it) along with VAT that amounts to more than half?

[EXC]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

Some questions:

Do you have it in writing from the bank that they didn't have sufficient authority from the claims company?

Did you inform the claims company of this?

Do you know if the bank also informed the claims company of this?

Who is the claims company?

[Amethyst]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

37.5% plus VAT ? Blimey. If you had a refund of £1000 that'd be £450 to the claims company. If you had a £5000 refund it'd be £2250 to the CMC.

Did you complete all the forms that the CMC asked you to regarding authority etc? If so, and their own systems and documents are not up to scratch then I think you'd have a good argument not to pay the CMC. However if you'd failed to complete the authority forms correctly your argument would be diminished.

You could write to the CMC and inform them you have had a letter from the bank telling you they refused to accept their documents and authority and that as you feel they have not acted for you as per the contract you wish to cancel. Or you could wait for the CMC to find out about the refund and then defend them chasing the money/complain through the ombudsman, but it is usually better to be proactive.

That you didn't read the small print and check how much they would be charging you wouldn't be a valid reason not to pay, but I think their failure to communicate effectively with the lender would be.

[jeanrob]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

I have it in writing "Please note that details of this final response letter have not been disclosed to your Claims Management Company as I was not comfortable that I had your authority to do so".

I have not informed the claims company of this ...yet.

I have spoken to the bank and they said they will not and have not informed the claims company of any details as per above.

I do not know if the bank have informed the claims company of this ..."First Target Recoveries"

I have filled out all forms that the claims company have sent me.

[EXC]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

I have it in writing "Please note that details of this final response letter have not been disclosed to your Claims Management Company as I was not comfortable that I had your authority to do so".

I have not informed the claims company of this ...yet.

I have spoken to the bank and they said they will not and have not informed the claims company of any details as per above.

I do not know if the bank have informed the claims company of this ..."First Target Recoveries"

I have filled out all forms that the claims company have sent me.

Thanks.

The outstanding question is, do you have it in writing from the bank to say they didn't feel that the letter of authority was sufficient enough proof that the claims company had your authority to act for them?

For ref First Target Recoveries T&Cs attached.

[jeanrob]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

I have just found letter from bank dated12th May saying " I have now had the opportunity to review the authority provided by your third party representatives and unfortunately we are not satisfied that it meets our requirements, I am therefore unable to correspond any further with your third party representatives. I have written to your third party representatives to advise them of this. Unless we receive a valid letter of authority during the course of your complaint all future correspondence will only be sent to you."

I have two further letters from the PPI company dated 13th May and the 1st June stating the exact same thing..."We have recently made a complaint on your behalf against ...Bank regarding your belief that you were mis-sold PPI. Today we have received confirmation from ..bank.. that they are looking into your complaint and should have a further update to us by the 18th July. There is nothing for you to do at this stae I bank does not respond by the above date then we will contact them on your behalf and request an update on your claim. We will then be in touch with you to provide a further update."....

The only communication I have had since is from the bank

[jeanrob]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

I have just found a letter from bank dated 12th May stating "I have now had the opportunity to review the authority provided by your third party representative and unfortunately we are not satisfied that it meets our requirements, I am therefore unable to correspond any further with your third party representatives". I have written to your third party representatives to advise them of this. Unless we receive a valid letter of authority during the course of your complaint, all future correspondence will only be sent to you".

I received letters from the PPI company on 13th May and 1st June stating the exact same thing.. "We have recently made a complaint on your behalf against ..bank regarding your belief that you were mis-sold PPI. Today we have received confirmation from ...bank that they are looking into your complaint and they should have further update to us by the 18th July. There is nothing for you to do at this stage. If the bank does not respond by the above date we will contact them on your behalf and request an update."..

Since the 1st of June the only correspondence I have received is from the bank.

[EXC]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

Ok thanks.

The good thing about having that in writing from the bank is that, if it comes to it, you may be able to argue that because the bank did not accept the letter of authority as being valid, the claims company were incapable of providing you with a claims management service and as such couldn't charge for doing so.

I can't explain their letters of 13th May and the 1st June but as they stated that ''there is nothing for you to do at this stage'' I'd be tempted to do just that and see what happens.

[jeanrob]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

Thank you for your replies

I did find in the T & Cs on Saturday the clause where it tells you where to get the form to cancel agreement and I sent this to them, my thinking at this time was to cancel in case any further PPI claims should be successful I would not be liable to pay them. However I noted also that they could charge me £20 + vat per hour for work they have done but I thought at that time that it would be a cheaper way. Now I am wondering if I should send them a letter further to this cancellation stating that as they have not been in touch since June and that the bank informed me and them that they would not communicate with them that they are not providing me with a service as per their contract and that is why I am cancelling the agreement?

I would prefer to know that they are not going to come at me in the future.

[EXC]

Re: Letter of Authority PPI

How many letters of authority did you sign and for which banks?

How many claims was the claims company pursuing?

The T&Cs imply that it's one letter of authority per bank so if you only signed one the cancelation should cover everything.

The cancellation form doesn't ask why you want to cancel so yes you could write to them explaining the reasons. If they decide to charge you, raise a formal complaint which will enable you take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman should they not uphold it.