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Hi
i can see there are various threads about Bank Smart but non that apply fully to my situation. I signed 3 no Letters of Authority for Ascend Finance in Sept 2017 to pursue PPI/PBA claims against Lloyds and Barclays.
I received around £600 from Lloyds and paid the commission to Ascend. I heard no more about the 2 Barclays claims.
Then a year or so later I received two Letter of Authority forms from Bank Smart which listed the same 20 companies on each with very limited detail and asked me to sign and date. One headed PPI and one headed Default Charges. My wife and I signed these forms on 18/8/19, believing it was on a no win no fee basis but there were no terms or conditions on these forms.
Since then I have been asked for various new LOA forms to be signed and been sent Charges Questionnaires to complete for a lot of the companies.
Some months later, i am not sure of exact time i was sent a password and user number to log into ' my account ' . This was the first i heard about this.
When i logged in there were 48 claims listed. Some were the initial 20 that were listed on the original LOA but the rest i presume Bank Smart obtained from my credit file without my knowledge.
Most of these claims were saying they were awaiting Charges Questionnaires or LOA's. The first seven were saying Cancelled - No further fee.
I then noticed all the bad publicity surrounding this company on the internet and decided it was best not to sign anything further but i did not cancel any claims either.
I issued a formal complaint on 5/11/20 which they acknowledged but i did not receive a final response.
I formally requested details of all information that Bank Smart held for us via a GDPR request Feb 2021.
February 2021 they sent all the documents in the post including copies of the initial contract i signed with Ascend Finance including terms and conditions and the LOA's showing the 3 initial claims.
They also sent copies of their initial Bank Smart LOA's with the 20 companies listed. There is no reference to any terms and conditions on these and the back of these sheets are blank. As are subsequent copies they have sent since then asking us to sign.
They also sent various replies from some of the companies they have tried to claim against but not all of them. Most replies said there was no PPI attached to the claim.
They also sent a time log of all the activity against each claim and some copies of emails between us. One of these logs on 17/11/20 is some text saying they have investigated my formal complaint that i did not believe i had submitted any claims but they say they hold a valid signed LOA for every claim they are processing. They also said they enclosed the terms that were assigned to them by Ascend Finance. They also said as long as we dont cancel or breach the agreement they will only charge if a settlement is made. This is their final response.
I then received an email from Bank Smart on 7/5/21 saying there is an invoice on my account if i log in to see it. It is for Breach of contract on one of the claims and is for £348.00. There is no breakdown or detail or even invoice to see.
I have disputed the invoice until they can show me signed contracts where i have clearly agreed to their charges etc.
I have lodged a claim with the Financial Ombudsman who have said their backlog is around 4 months.
I have emailed Bank Smart back asking to see copies of any contractual agreement between us for each claim that clearly shows their terms and conditions and charges. I have asked for details of my agreement for them to access our credit files and i have pointed out the contract between Ascend and ourselves was for only 3 claims.
We are obviously worried they are going to try and claim breach of contract for the remaining 40 claims, so we would be extremely grateful for any advice.
Many thanks
i can see there are various threads about Bank Smart but non that apply fully to my situation. I signed 3 no Letters of Authority for Ascend Finance in Sept 2017 to pursue PPI/PBA claims against Lloyds and Barclays.
I received around £600 from Lloyds and paid the commission to Ascend. I heard no more about the 2 Barclays claims.
Then a year or so later I received two Letter of Authority forms from Bank Smart which listed the same 20 companies on each with very limited detail and asked me to sign and date. One headed PPI and one headed Default Charges. My wife and I signed these forms on 18/8/19, believing it was on a no win no fee basis but there were no terms or conditions on these forms.
Since then I have been asked for various new LOA forms to be signed and been sent Charges Questionnaires to complete for a lot of the companies.
Some months later, i am not sure of exact time i was sent a password and user number to log into ' my account ' . This was the first i heard about this.
When i logged in there were 48 claims listed. Some were the initial 20 that were listed on the original LOA but the rest i presume Bank Smart obtained from my credit file without my knowledge.
Most of these claims were saying they were awaiting Charges Questionnaires or LOA's. The first seven were saying Cancelled - No further fee.
I then noticed all the bad publicity surrounding this company on the internet and decided it was best not to sign anything further but i did not cancel any claims either.
I issued a formal complaint on 5/11/20 which they acknowledged but i did not receive a final response.
I formally requested details of all information that Bank Smart held for us via a GDPR request Feb 2021.
February 2021 they sent all the documents in the post including copies of the initial contract i signed with Ascend Finance including terms and conditions and the LOA's showing the 3 initial claims.
They also sent copies of their initial Bank Smart LOA's with the 20 companies listed. There is no reference to any terms and conditions on these and the back of these sheets are blank. As are subsequent copies they have sent since then asking us to sign.
They also sent various replies from some of the companies they have tried to claim against but not all of them. Most replies said there was no PPI attached to the claim.
They also sent a time log of all the activity against each claim and some copies of emails between us. One of these logs on 17/11/20 is some text saying they have investigated my formal complaint that i did not believe i had submitted any claims but they say they hold a valid signed LOA for every claim they are processing. They also said they enclosed the terms that were assigned to them by Ascend Finance. They also said as long as we dont cancel or breach the agreement they will only charge if a settlement is made. This is their final response.
I then received an email from Bank Smart on 7/5/21 saying there is an invoice on my account if i log in to see it. It is for Breach of contract on one of the claims and is for £348.00. There is no breakdown or detail or even invoice to see.
I have disputed the invoice until they can show me signed contracts where i have clearly agreed to their charges etc.
I have lodged a claim with the Financial Ombudsman who have said their backlog is around 4 months.
I have emailed Bank Smart back asking to see copies of any contractual agreement between us for each claim that clearly shows their terms and conditions and charges. I have asked for details of my agreement for them to access our credit files and i have pointed out the contract between Ascend and ourselves was for only 3 claims.
We are obviously worried they are going to try and claim breach of contract for the remaining 40 claims, so we would be extremely grateful for any advice.
Many thanks
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