My Money Group response Letter HELP

[chrscmbs]

Hello,

Back in 2004 we were sold a single premium PPI policy alongside our mortgage by a company called: The Mortgage Group, now called: The Money Group (Cornwall) Limited based at TMG House, Charles Street, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2PH.

We recently wrote them a full letter and included a seperate interest calulation sheet too, below in blue is part of the letter.

We feel we were mis-sold this because:· In 2004; as the broker and the products seller you failed to properly explain or make clear to us - the purchasers; that by agreeing to accept your recommended single premium payment protection policy and having its premium added to our loan, that this premiums figure would actually attract additional interest over the entire term of our mortgage/loan. We were not advised by you/your agent at the point of sale that we would have to pay any interest as it was explained, that this product was deemed as a separate entity to our mortgage and this belief, based upon what we were told was further reinforced by the fact that this policy was promoted as not been subject to any interest as it was a one off insurance policy purchase, with cover only lasing five years, with the premium been spread across our repayments, where our mortgage was a loan and expected to run beyond this time scale for 25+ years.

Had the true facts and cost of this protection plan been fully explained to us at the time, we would never have agreed to this product and certainly declined, as nobody would surly agree to make a one off purchase for an insurance policy knowing that although the cover would only last for five years, it would astonishingly generate and continue to attract interest ultimately payable by us, for the next 25+ years of a mortgage. After recently discovering what has happened, and because you failed to point out that we would be required to pay back interest on the Payment protection policy once it was added onto the loan we feel shocked and deeply upset at this seemingly disgraceful practice and feel that we were certainly ill-advised on obtaining a separate policy promoted as suitable and interest free by your company, when clearly this was not the case. As a result we feel that this product was mis-sold to us.

· We were also not informed at the point of sale by you/your agent that we could buy similar insurance cover elsewhere and that by doing so we could have potentially found a similar stand alone policy cheaper. Our interests were not best served by this unfair practice and as such we feel that we were mis-sold this product.

· It was not fully explained at the point of sale by you/your agent that there were certain exclusions and restrictions within the policy itself and its associated terms and conditions that could affect us due to our personal circumstances, preventing us from making a fully informed decision about this policy and its actual suitability, especially in light of our pre-existing health conditions and circumstances - present at the point of sale. Had you taken the due skill, care and diligence to do this, you would have been able to identify suitability issues and as such we would not have agreed to purchase this policy, which you obtained sales commission for and as a result, we feel that we were mis-sold this product.

We have since become aware that all these points have been considered as evidence of mis-selling and since we were sold this policy by you/your agent, you are therefore responsible for this mis-selling.

I am sure that you will be aware that this complaint in not time barred and is valid under the limitations act as: Section 32(1) (b) of the 1980 limitation act postpones the commencement of the limitation period, in case of fraud, concealment or mistake. Any referred time limit begins to run from when we first became aware, which in our circumstances was 2013. I have also clarified this information with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service. (FOS)...

I continued to mention the mortgage code etc. and In response they replied with the following wonderful text:




Its all a bit wiered really, as they seem to have dismissed our points and glossed over them? They also sent me a an A4 sheet with some terms on that they have highlighted?



The policy formed part of the loan, yes... we know that... as it was added on, our point relates to the fact that we were not told about it generating interest... as it was sold to us as a one off single premium product, interest free! thats what they forgot to tell us...

Ah a cheque... We naturally Cant remember that they sent us a refund for £500+ or not, its a long time ago, but that's by the by... as my point was never about any cheque as I can simply wipe off that figure from our spreadsheets total as I'm a fair person.

We still dont know how they have complied with the mortgage code by ignoring us and to top it all they are saying that "they" consider our claim regardless, to be out of time? not a peep over

Any help with a reply or what to do next would be really appriciated as, I'm a little rusty with this sort of stuff now, no doubt that I will soon be well oiled again though lol

C.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Any ideas what I should be saying or doing next?

One of many other aspects is that the copy of the app. form that they sent me is very
different than my original???

C.

[Celestine]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

I like the fact that they state s.32 of the Limitation Act doesn't apply here, when clearly it does!

Many miss sold PPI claims are successful far further back than 6 years because the Limitation Act period only starts to roll from when you became aware of the miss selling.

Having no documents to prove the claim does make things a little bit harder, but it seems that in PPI cases, persistence is the key.

Write back and challenge their letter. If they fail to respond positively, take it to the Ombudsman when you have a final response from them.

Others who are expert in PPI will no doubt comment on appropriate wording for your response.

[Turboman]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi Big Gun--will look at this in morning if I may

[di30]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi there

You do actually have a good case here, one that should have been upheld.

I will come back to this and check the links, but was the broker you used FSA regulated or GISC?

(Cheers Turbo for message)

[di30]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

........I note they said they sent you a cheque.

There is one way you can check this out.
Do you still bank with the same bank where you would have put the cheque into? If so they may still hold records longer than 6 years.
I had statements going all the way back from the 90's with my bank, so just a suggestion really, you could request for a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the bank which is far cheaper than paying for the statements alone.

A SAR they should send all you hold, so if you have not done this, and want a SAR template letter, please let us know and one of us will be happy to post this for you.

If you get on well with your bank manager, you could make a quick appointment, or ask if they can check a matter for you in regards of a cheque payment paid in on that particular year, with you being a good customer I'm sure they will be happy to look into it for you, as you do not have to go into details with them.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hello everyone, a big thank you to everyone so far that has replied to this.

Celestine, thank you for your comments... I think s.32 of the Limitation Act applies too, hence why I mentioned it in my letter to them regardless of their speculative opinion.

I would like to reword this part just to clarify and drive home that I am right about this but I’m not sure what to say, what to quote or how to structure a definitive response, maybe someone could help me and naturally all the forums readers with this s.32 bit?

If they think I’m going to shuffle away just because they shout their views at me, they are in for a real shock as should they decide to reject my lawful refund request with any speculative or legal argument(s) I will initiate county court action through Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service at my own initial and personal cost of £210.00 for the associated and respective fee in relation to the claim amount been beyond £5000.00 but under £15,000.00, as applicable in this particular instance, in order to rectify this situation, swiftly, fairly, impartially and independently.

Hey Turbo can you believe The money group? What a bunch... oooohh they do make me giggle (Not) any ideas? As you know, I’m not flustered in the slightest about going to court if required seeking redress to rectifying this.

Hello Di, thank you for your kind assistance, I think we have a strong case too as the facts speak for themselves, we have discovered that single premium policies; like the one recommended and sold to us in their capacity as our broker and obtained commission in doing so at the same time, were actually later banned by the Competition Commission as the point-of-sale advantage for them meant that brokers/sellers faced little to no competition for PPI products, and as a result, charged persistently high prices. Consumers interests like our own were therefore not best served when the only choice open was whether or not to purchase a recommended PPI product(s). The resulting lack of competition meant that the only offer consumers like us received were simply worse value than we were entitled to expect.

Sadly, the Mortgage group were not FSA regulated as far as I’m aware or members of the GISC, they were however par of the mortgage code and they breached this in a few places too.

I so hope the FOS will uphold this and not dismiss it.

Regarding our cheque, we did not dispute it, they were quick to get in there with that, Perhaps they believe it will form the basis of their good character in selling PPI? Lol

I will check with our bank just for my own peace of mind, so in the here and now I will simply deduct the £500+ of my reclaim total, simple as that... this cheque doesn’t detract from my goal in any way as they mis-sold us a policy and there is a principle here to rectify this situation.
I recently SAR’d my current lender “GE” I know I shudder at the name too, lol but in doing so I got a boat load of stuff back and besides:
They might not have anything to give me as its over six years, apart from amazingly supplying a copy of the policy app and terms and conditions etc (wow) I’m glad they dont hold personal data longer than necessary about their data subjects (ME) lol

As their letter finishes with “this letter constitutes our final response” I have nothing else to say to these people due to their own "get out of our sight" dismissive attitude. lol

C.

[Celestine]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

I wouldn't mention court action personally. The route of this is as follows:

Exhaust and hopefully defeat their own complaints procedure.
Get final response if unsuccessful.
Send complaint to FOS. (Who will take a year to assess but County Court is minimum 30 weeks any way)

Going the county court route is far too risky. You have a far better chance with FOS and no risk of costs.

Plus, every complaint that goes to FOS costs them money, not you.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi Celestine,

Thanks for the pointers, court is always available and something that I have no issue about using but I know what your saying... and I do appriciate your guidence. Thank you.

As I have written to them and they have replied with their final response! which suits me as I was not in the mood to argu with someone who is paid to deflect and discount complaints, I will by winging my way to the FOS now.


I have just completed the FOS questionaire and the other form as well as a full cover letter, I will post this letter up shorty. I will also send them a copy of all the stuff I have and see what they think.

C.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi everyone,

Can anyone help me with the Sec. 32 part please? as they argued that:


Furthermore, we can confirm that we consider this complaint to be time barred due to the fact that as the policy was purchased over 6 years ago, and expired over three years ago, any complaint reagrding its sale would now be time barred under section 5 of the limitation act 1980. On expiery of the policy in august 2009, the insurer would have written to you offering you continuity of cover, and this at the time would have triggered the 3 year period in which you had sufficiant knowledge of any policy to lodge a complaint.

Please note that section 32 of the limitation act does not apply in this instance.


Section 5: Time limit for actions founded on simple contract.
An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.

Letter from insurer? thats both speculative and dismissive! what twaddle, I'm not been deflected by this... Do I not have six years from the time of discovering this issue (2013) Meaning I have until 2019?

C.

[di30]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi there

You could argue that you only recently became aware of the mis selling, if you had known about this in earlier years you would have certainly have raised this matter well by now, so in this case "I don't believe the 6 years apply".

For example, myself and others have been successful in making reclaims even from the 90's, and it's only recent years the mis selling of PPI matter have been brought to our attention, "which made you think to check your paperwork you do hold and now realise you have a genuine case to complain".

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

I have just sent you a PM

C.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Just sent another PM.


Sorry everyone... I will let you all know what I'm up to soon (if I can)

C.

[abops]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hi all

just for your reference, we have 2 claims with the Mortgage/Money Group dating from 2000 and 2003. We had the same old time barred nonsense from them and went to the FOS who were originally going to chase the Underwriter (Lloyd's in this case) because TMG were not regulated at the time of the sales. It has taken ages, BUT we have recently received the following from the FOS, which may be of assistance to some of you out there:

Dear

Further to our telephone conversation this morning, I write to confirm that we now believe we do have jurisdiction to investigate these complaints against the broker that sold the policies, The Mortgage Group (now The Money Group (Cornwall) Limited).

I am very sorry that this contradicts what we told you when you first contacted us, but we have only recently established that TMG was a member of the Mortgage Code Compliance Bureau (MCCB) at the time of both sales. As explained, this means that whilst we do appear to have jurisdiction to look at Mr complaints against TMG, we will have to take account of the more limited scope of the dispute resolution scheme that covered MCCB members, The Mortgage Code Arbitration Scheme (MCAS).

I will now arrange for the cases to be set up against The Money Group (Cornwall) Limited and allocated to the team that deals with such cases. They will update you on the next steps in due course. As discussed, it may be decided that it is more appropriate to deal with both complaints under one case, but we will update you accordingly about this.

[chrscmbs]

Re: My Money Group response Letter HELP

Hello,

Thank you so much for this, its really good of you...

I'm just in the process of waiting to see what the Mortgage group/money group says next as I feel that I have them firmly by the provebial short and curly's with my latest letter (Di... what do you think lol) but I will have to wait for the reply to see what they have to say before I can explain further.

Companies like this and others spy on our forums and our threads to get a heads up of what we are doing so that they can formulate a response! because they are simply in business and retaining profits is their main priority as a business, and paying out cash hurts their profits. They will do everything they can to wriggle out of their responsibilities and deflect claims by using speculative argument and quoting legislation to scare us away but two can play thay game and thankfully we have right on our side along with a legal right to claim redress as if our own refund requests fail and then the FOS fails, we have nothing to lose by challenging these companies in small claims court where an impartial, third party (The clerk/judge) will listen without prejudice (not the george micheal album lol) to our particulars of Claim (POC) as beyond knowing our own rights, we also know what these companies responsibilities are and boy will I make sure I back everything I am saying up with evidence, just like the rest of us would as the letters/replies that they send us, are technically our exibits for the court to view and see just how these companies actually treat us with their legal arguments... if it get's that far? as they dont want to loose in a court, as flood gates have been known to open when such occassions occure all quoteing your case! Obviously, I dont want to go down that route if I can avoid it but If needs must lol Thanks again fo the info, it is good to know.

Kind regards

C.