Taking The PPI

The Great Legal Debate

Today I received a cold call from a 'Lawyer' who claimed to be investigating financial adviser/Mortgage broker fraud.  He explained to me that clients had been misinformed about mortgage options by these companies.  Instead of giving you the best mortgage for your circumstances these advisers were allegedly being paid by 'sub prime mortgage lenders' to steer the clients into their direction.  I found a 2010 article that may explain this term and how it all works: http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/sssh-say-it-quietlybut-subprime-lending-might-be-coming-back-2121125.html  I explained to the 'Lawyer' that even though we consulted a few financial advisers my husband had found a better deal then any of the options that were suggested to us.  I went into details and the 'Lawyer' was impressed, he even said we were 'efficient' with our finances.  

For those who are not in the know a 'Lawyer' (in the UK) is a loose term to describe anyone trained in law.  Wikipedia says: "In England and Wales, "lawyer" is used loosely to refer to a broad variety of law-trained persons. It includes practitioners such as barristers, solicitors, legal executives and licensed conveyancers, ; and people who are involved with the law but do not practise it on behalf of individual clients, such as judges, court clerks, and drafters of legislation".  Maybe I should have asked the gentleman on the phone what type of 'Lawyer' he was, but I already had a pretty good idea .... a loosely qualified solicitor of the ambulance chasing variety.

So I now get to the point of this blog.  Do we really need 'Lawyers' acting on our behalf.  Recent events in my life have convinced me that in most civil cases we do not.  This week I came across this news story which pretty much confirmed what I already suspected:
 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/4407053/Im-set-to-join-the-barristers-I-beat-by-gaining-first-class-law-degree.html.  
The internet is a vast cyber-universe and every bit of information we may possibly need is at our disposal (apart from the truth behind UFO's and who shot President Kennedy).  This is exactly what Miss Blackwell used to win her civil  case.  In my recent experience I have discovered that fighting your own battles not only saves you a hell of a lot of money but it also makes you better prepared when the next financial swindle comes your way.

Case 1:  House Purchase Solicitors

You want a house, your offer is accepted, you appoint a solicitor, they compile all the reports and legal documents, you pay them thousands of pounds and you eventually move in to your new home.  Simple.  Actually it's even simpler then that .... well for the solicitor it seems.   During a dispute with my local councils planning department over possible undisclosed planning permission on neighbouring land I uncovered some information regarding my solicitors involvement in my house purchase.  I noticed at least two other companies were named on the compiled reports.  Intrigued I phoned them.  The first company conducted all the searches on behalf of the solicitor and the second company put all that information into a report to be sent to the solicitor who then repackaged it with a cover note and sent it to us.  Sifting through my copious amounts of solicitor paperwork I found a few documents filled out by the previous owner in addition to the survey reports that were also from a third party.  Looking at the solicitors fees I started to wonder what we paid them for.  By the looks of it, on a straight forward sale, we paid them thousands for basically instructing third parties and a few typed cover letters.   I wondered how much of what we paid them went to these third parties and what went to them.  Anyone met a poor solicitor?

Case 2: PPI Solicitors

Remember the scandal of the bank charges? This involved the over inflated admin charges when you went overdrawn.  I challenged our bank back in 2007 and they told me the charges were in the terms and conditions.  I told them that in modern civilisation we, the people, are required to have a bank account for a multitude of reasons including finding employment e.g. because of the payroll systems that are set  up by companies such as BACS transfers.  I said to them that the banks had an unfair advantage, cornering the average Joe into agreeing to their terms and conditions and giving no other options.  The bank promptly sent me my money.

Now I had a new challenge.  When I started to be woo'd by my future hubby in 2006 he told me he had a large loan and a few credit cards.  I, having the most excellent (and soon short lived) credit rating, was not worried about this and together we pulled up our socks and got on with going down the path to financial stability.  In about 2009/2010 I started noticing these PPI claim adverts.  'Jimbob', I said, 'Did you take out any PPI on your loan?'.  'No, I'm not that stupid!' was his reply.  As JB is the sort of person to refuse extended warranty before it's even mentioned I was reassured.  Over the next 3 years I probably asked the same question twice and twice I got the same answer.  However JB has the most useless memory in the history of everyone I have ever known!! About 10 weeks ago I decided that the dangerous pile of old mail and paperwork from yesteryears had to be dealt with.  I spent a whole day sorting through it whilst JB shredded the paper in front of the TV.  Well let me just say thank the Lord that at least one of us was paying attention that evening!  I pulled out what looked like an old loan application from 2003 in JB's name and on it was a great big PPI charge.  JB looked confused.  It turns out that he had no idea why it was on there, although he suddenly remembered that he had extended the loan the following year over the phone.  We contacted the banks dedicated PPI department and under the Data Protection Act we were able to gather the details of the new loan agreed.  From this we found out that a larger chunk of PPI had been added without JB's knowledge.  At the time he had asked for an extension to his 2003 loan and agreed the total payment amount, including interest charges, without questioning them.  This is the situation thousands have found themselves in.  They have not needed, wanted or requested the payment protection but were under the obligation to accept the banks terms if they wanted the loan.  So this was the start of our PPI claim journey.

The PPI claim adverts were tempting and one company actually contacted us.  Under their terms and agreements if we won our claim they would be entitled to 30% of our refund PLUS 20% VAT!!  Fortunately we had already started our claim with one phone call to the bank.  After 8 weeks the bank found five PPI payments in total and made us five generous refund offers (PPI plus interest plus compensation per offer).  JB now has a five figure refund coming his way of which a claims company, if instructed, would have taken over 1/3 of for themselves ...... just for making one phone call/letter on our behalf.  The adverts make you believe you need these soul-less-itors if you want your money back even though they are fully aware of the simplicity of Joe public doing it themselves.  No better morals then the banks who conned us I say.  

In Summary
Both the cases mentioned above unearthed for me a very powerful term ... 'Ombudsman' - a free legal service provided to handle cases against local government and professional bodies.  This is as exciting for the hard working, law abiding, downtrodden underdogs as 'Legal Aid' is to a repeat offending smackrat.   In my experience it is a well hidden asset that professional bodies should make you aware of but for some strange reason do not hmmmm.  I know I have said that maybe we do not need legal-eagles fighting our battles for us but there is much we can do ourselves before it ever gets to 'the brick wall stage' where we may need legal assistance. Law documents such as The Data Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The Sales of Goods Act 1979 are useful weapons.  The rest is about knowing your rights in various situations and knowing the correct procedures when undertaking your own work if you want to bypass the middleman (e.g. solicitors) ... all can be found on the worlds library, the internet. 


You may find that you will not require a solicitor to deal with issues such as work conflicts or consumer conflicts (There are so many alternatives).  Accident claims may be settled before the court stage when mitigated with honesty and efficiency and, as I have shown, any bank related financial claims can most certainly be handled independently.  The jury is still out on house purchase solicitors, I now know how they work and if I ever move house I will look more into the necessity of solicitors and maybe even give it a go myself.  


In case any wide-eyed spy's in the sky's are reading this blog I am adding the disclaimer that all content of this blog is based purely on my own experiences and I am not in any way trying to coerce people into forming a revolution against the legal profession.  Any likeness to any actual persons is purely coincidental ...... and highly likely really, I mean It may sound like i'm implying that solicitors scare people into appointing them unnecessarily ..... which is essentially true .... 'in my experience' ;) 


Joolz x

[I will mention however that the legal profession are invaluable when it comes to criminal law.  In my secret squirrel work I have seen a few 'non-lawyers' try to represent themselves and it is never pretty.  There is an etiquette to higher criminal courts and you have to think fast on your feet.  This area of law is steeped in tradition spanning hundreds of years, you don't just know the law you live it.  In my experience a lot of Barristers come from a long line of Barristers and Judges ... you just can't compete.  One word of advice if you ever do wish to represent yourself in the Crown please do not swat up on how to act like a barrister by watching Judge John Deed or Perry Mason ... oh the stories I could tell you!]