Financial Mis-selling Claims at Emmetts Solicitors
It is estimated that over 20 million people in the UK have been mis-sold finance. Are you one of them?
Most people who have been mis-sold finance are totally unaware of it. They are also unaware that they may be able to claim back thousands of pounds.
Anyone who has got or has had a mortgage, loan, credit card or store card may be able to claim £1000s.
That means that you may be entitled to recover £1000s of pounds and don't even realise it.
Take our fast 7 question survey to see if you have a claim
Let us be clear: this is an absolute scandal
Consider these three extracts from an article by Clare Francis recently published in The Times:
"The "Big Five" - Barclays, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Natwest - will report staggering profits of £39.05 billion for 2007"
"Payment Protection Insurance is routinely sold alongside mortgages by brokers and can add £72 a month to the cost of a £200,000 home loan - or £21,600 over a 25 year term - though analysts estimate nearly three quarters of people don't need it. Institutions sell between 6.5m and 7.5m policies each year and take in an estimated £5.1 billion annually in premiums, according to the OFT - more than from current-account, mortgage and credit card fees put together."
"A homebuyer purchasing the typical detached property in the southeast, worth about £500,000, according to Halifax, could now pay £17500.00 just to arrange a mortgage as lenders hike their charges to offset the credit crunch."
To read the full article click here
It seems inevitable that people have had houses repossessed, shattering their lives and those of their families, for failing to make payments on charges that should not have been made by the lender in the first place.
The PPI disgrace
Alert: 16-01-2008: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined HFC Bank Ltd (HFC) £1,085,000 for failing to take reasonable care to ensure that the advice it gave customers to buy Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) was suitable, and for failing to have adequate systems and controls for the sale of PPI.
From January 2005 to May 2007, HFC's procedures did not require advisers in its branch network to gather sufficient information about customers' circumstances and take sufficient information into account when considering whether PPI was suitable. HFC also did not require advisers to explain fully why they recommended a particular policy or identify to customers any demands and needs which the policy would not meet. These and other failings meant that HFC put its customers at an unacceptable risk of being sold PPI when it was not suitable for them.
FSA Director of Enforcement Margaret Cole said:
"We are determined to see much better practice in the PPI market. We announced in September that we would be imposing higher fines for serious failings in the retail market including against firms who fall short in relation to PPI. The fine against HFC – the biggest PPI fine to date and first since our September announcement – is evidence of our determination in this area. HFC's failings put its customers at risk of buying unsuitable protection insurance and the financial impact on them of unsuitable advice was likely to be significant."
If you're already feeling a little bit outraged then consider this.
If you have had a car loan, mortgage, credit card or store card, the chances are you have been offered PPI insurance.
Worse still, it may have been added to your loan without you even knowing about it. If you are self employed, retired, a housewife, ill, have had certain illnesses in the past, are in very stable employment then the chances are that the policy was of no use to you whatsoever.
So why were you sold the policy?
Perhaps because the policies are so profitable for the lenders, some of whom make more money from selling the policies than for lending the money.
It only gets worse. Many PPI policies are sold on a "single premium basis". What does that mean? It means that all of the policies that should be spread out over the term of the loan are charged in one lump sum at the outset of the loan. On a typical mortgage this may be many thousands of pounds. Because it is charged at the start of the loan and added on to the loan, you would also be paying interest on the premium for the entire term of the loan. Was this clearly explained to you so that you could give informed consent? Unlikely.
So what can you do about it?
Don't get mad. Get even
The first thing you could try is to claim back the money yourself. We don't recommend this for these reasons: it is not easy to get hold of documents from some lenders. Some lenders are obstructive in providing documents and you need to know precisely which documents to obtain. Also, the claims can be very technical and rely on detailed consideration of the law contained in a number of cases and statutes.
If you do decide to give it a go yourself, then we recommend that you look at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com which contains excellent advice, news, updates on claims and draft letters as well as actively supporting borrowers in making claims.
The second option is to let us do the work for you with no upfront fee or risk to you.
The chances are that you do not know whether you have a claim or not. There is a good chance though that if you have taken out a mortgage, loan, credit card or store card, you will have a claim. If the lender will not provide the documents, we will apply to the court for an order for them to be released, again without any charge or risk to you.
When we have the papers we need, we will advise you whether you have a claim. If you do, we will deal with the claim for you without any upfront charge. We will only charge 25% of any sums that we recover on your behalf in addition to any legal fees that the lender is ordered to pay. So you will keep 75% of any monies recovered. If no money is recovered, you will pay nothing.
Take our fast 7 question survey to see if you have a claim
Secret Commissions: Fraud, bribe or both?
It has been common practice for some lenders to pay brokers commissions. Sometimes the lender will tell you about the commissions. Sometimes they will not. Sometimes the lender will tell you the amount. Sometimes they will not. Sometimes the commissions will be called commissions. Sometimes the commissions will be called an "administration charge", or a "service fee". Whatever they are called, if you were not made aware of the commission so that you could make an informed and aware decision as to whether to accept the position, the chances are the commission is recoverable.
In the words of Lord Justice Tuckey:
"If there has been no disclosure the agent will have received a secret commission. This is a blatant breach of his fiduciary duty but additionally the payment or receipt of a secret commission is considered to be a form of bribe"
We consider that secret commissions form a fraud. A fraud that has potentially affected millions of borrowers. Systematically.
Of course, the very nature of a secret commission is that it is secret and you would not know about it.
So how can you find out if there has been a secret commission paid on a loan you have taken out?
Contact us and we will check for you for no upfront charge and at no risk to you. We will obtain the papers from you lender, applying to the court to obtain them if necesary.
When we have the papers we need, we will advise you whether you have a claim. If you do, we will deal with the claim for you without any upfront charge. We will only charge 25% of any sums that we recover on your behalf in addition to any legal fees that the lender is ordered to pay. So you will keep 75% of any monies recovered. If no money is recovered, you will pay nothing.
To find out whether you have a claim, Take our fast 7 question survey to see if you have a claim
High Rate Loans to Low Risk Borrowers
Lets say for sake of argument that you have been advised to take out a loan. Maybe a second mortgage or a remortgage. Perhaps for home improvements. Perhaps for a new conservatory. Now lets say for arguments sake that the loan you have been advised to take has been recommended not because it is the best loan for you at the most favourable rates to you, but rather because it is the loan that provides the broker with the best rate of commission or fees.
You have potentially just been mis-sold the loan.
Take an example: In the example you have been over charged just 2% more than you should have on a £100,000 mortgage which you have had for 7 years.
This means that your mortgage could be reduced by over a £130 per month and you would be entitled to receive back in compensation £10,800 + that is apart from any compensation due on other unnecessary insurances
Contact us now for us to check whether you have a claim with no cost or risk to you.
When we have the papers we need, we will advise you whether you have a claim. If you do, we will deal with the claim for you without any upfront charge. We will only charge 25% of any sums that we recover on your behalf in addition to any legal fees that the lender is ordered to pay. So you will keep 75% of any monies recovered. If no money is recovered, you will pay nothing.
Take our fast 7 question survey to see if you have a claim
Alert: 03-12-2007: A review by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has found that firms are not doing enough to ensure that their Appointed Representatives (ARs) are treating customers fairly in the sale of general insurance, mortgage and investment products.
As a result four firms are being considered for referral to enforcement, and follow-up visits will be made early next year to 11 firms identified as needing significant remedial action to see that they have addressed failings identified.
The review, conducted over the last few months and mainly involving smaller firms, follows a similar project carried out in 2006. Many of the concerns identified then have not been adequately addressed. Across the four areas reviewed - Systems and controls, Recruitment, Training and Competence and Treating Customers Fairly - the poorest standards overall were found within general insurance firms, with a better picture in the mortgage sector and with the highest standards seen in investment firms.
Protection "racket"Neil RoseLaw Society Gazette - 12th June 2008
Solicitors are poised to take on a wave of new legal work following a Competition Commission (CC) report on payment protection insurance (PPI) which showed that policyholders appear to have been overcharged by more than £1.4 billion a year.
The provisional findings of the CC investigation, published last week, found companies face little or no competition when selling PPI, as the vast majority of the UK's 14 million-plus policies are sold at the same time as a consumer takes out a loan or other type of credit.
Many consumers are unaware that they can buy PPI from other providers and rarely shop around.
He said some clients were better off pursuing their claim through the Financial Ombudsman Service - and his firm advises accordingly - but others are better suited to a formal legal remedy. From The Sunday Times
January 20, 2008
Five ways the banks fleece us
Customers face higher current account fees as banks prepare to unveil bumper profits
Clare FrancisBritain’s high-street banks have sneakily raised the cost of their current accounts this year, despite a High Court showdown with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), in an effort to squeeze more profits from customers. The news comes as banks are expected to announce bumper results in the coming weeks. The “Big Five” – Barclays, Halifax Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest – will report staggering profits of £39.05 billion for 2007, up from £37.5 billion the previous year, according to Brewin Dolphin, a stockbroker. In a time of global market turmoil this demonstrates how much the banks milk customers. As the banks defended their overdraft charges in a High Court action brought by the OFT last week, new research revealed that they were already clawing back the potential costs of any clampdown on their fees. Nationwide, HSBC, Smile and Intelligent Finance have all quietly introduced current-account charges that will net them an estimated £173m in extra revenue over the next 12 months, according to research by Moneysupermarket, a comparison site. To read the rest of the article click hereTake our fast 7 question survey to see if you have a claimWho links to my website?
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