So – I have had a particular credit card for 10+ years. Recently I noticed the payment protection insurance rate going up and I thought – hold on – I didnt actually ask for payment protection (I know – I should have noticed before right?!). So I complained. They have found in my favour. They are giving me £500. They dont tell me how they calculate this and I have no way of knowing whether this equated to the amount of money they have effectively stolen from me in the past 10+ years.

So the question is – do I cash the cheque, or do I ask for more info on how it was calculated and then complain to the ombudsman if the value is incorrect?
Its £500 more than I thought I had and an extra few pounds NOW will help as I am going to be unemployed from Wednesday 🙁 i.e. having the money NOW rather than waiting would be useful, but I might be doing myself out of money that should be mine…

So – accept first offer or ask for info?

Merry Christmas all 🙂

STS.

Anyone else see the irony here? 🙂

yes. 😉

STS, right now is when you need payment protection, no?

Woody, you mean the irony that bank is bailing me out with my own money?

Or do you just mean that I am being a greedy b*&%£@d?

Problem is – I have no idea how much they took of me over the years. £500 could be about right, but it could be more. Are they taking the piss or not? How do I find out?

Samuri – nope – I dont need payment protection whatsoever. I dont buy stuff if I know I cant pay for it. I'll be unemployed, so I wont buy stuff – I'm not stupid. I clear my card every month and dont spend heavily.

STS – I'd take the £500. As I see it, you've had the benefit of the cover (I know you didn't ask for it), and now they're repaying you. Fair enough I reckon. Can't you see from your statements how much they were charging you?

The irony was as samuri said 🙂

Woody – yeah – well that was kind of what I was thinking because of my forthcoming situation. I cant tell if its a fair offer as I have have had the card for so long (I only keep the last 3 years of statements). So I cant back calculate. It is probably ballpark right but I thought someone on the forum might know how they calculate these things or how I can find out if it was a fair offer. Have they included lost interest etc. etc.

I see payment protection as a complete waste of time for me since I only ever spend what I have and never any more.

£500 is standard compensation. If they have offered that, say no you want more or you're getting the lawyers in. You can triple that figure if you dig your heels in.

The premium charged is a percentage of the balance on your card.

It will probably say on your statement what that percentage is. I think it's about 1%.

Based on 1%, £500 equates to you haveing an average monthly spend of about £400 over 10 years. Does that sound about right?

it should be the full amount they've taken plus 8%

Try and find out how much they charge at the minute or how much you have been paying. Surely it must appear on a statement somewhere?

Otherwise take the attitude that you haven't missed the money over the last years and this is an unexpected bonus.

Jon

Yeah – I suppose I could extrapolate. £400 per month sounds high actually, so maybe I am getting a good deal. I think the percentage I was paying changed on the insurance as it suddenly seemed to leap up over the last year in relation to what I was actually charging to the card.

I'll probably take the money now – having no job in the new year will mean I need it.

Alas, it will not mean shiney new bike parts, so I'll still be on the singlespeed after Christmas… – will you be out on Wednesday Jon? I should be able to make it this week…

Cheers all…
STS.

What bank is it if you dont mind me asking? HBOS just told me to **** off when I asked them the same thing…

Gits.

HBOS. I phoned to cancel the insurance and the lady asked me why. I said to them that I didnt actually remember ticking the box on the original application form that said 'I want payment protection insurance'. The lady said, 'Oh – do you want me to look into that?' and I said – OK (expecting nothing). Imagine my surprise, 2 months later after a good set of correspondence ensuring me that they were investigating, that I am told my claim is upheld and that I should wait for them to contact me with how much I will receive. 2 weeks later, a cheque arrives in the post. Actually, come to think of it, I thought they said they would take anything they owed me off my balance – so I wonder if they cleared my balance and sent me a cheque for the remainder. Now that would be a nice Christmas present!

STS.

If you weren't expecting it then just take the money and considering you didn't notice it for 10 years your lucky to get anything at all. I would have told you to bugger off.

Wonder why you got the cash for not asking and I got told to bolt for asking… Banks make no sense to me 😀

I got 17.50 back from Swinton after they missold Unemployment insurance on a car insurance policy.

Slightly different thing with a bank. My dad rang me a couple of weeks ago to tell me he had found an old bank book of mine from 1992, it hadn't been used since then either and there was less than £100 quid in so I thought that it might be worth having a look at seeing if I could get the money back. Hey ho, found Martin Lewis's website has a link to the banking website site that tracks down old accounts.

So I fills in all the details from the passbook and waited, got an email back saying that it might take 2weeks or more to locate account details.
Less than 12 hours pass and the Northern Rock can confirm they have never heard of me or had any accounts in that name.

Strange, I had a savings account (pass book in my hand), current account, credit card and a loan….oh yes and I worked for them for a year. Nice to know I made a good impression on them as a customer.

Can I hijack this thread? Bank lost a couple of cheques I'd paid in the other week and after a bit of investigation and a fair bit of stress on my part they found them and today phoned me up to say the money was in my account. They are going to cover me for any interest I may have been charged on my overdraft but is it worth pushing for some compensation. Not expecting a lot but something would be nice considering the stress they caused me and the time of year. Anybody got any experience of this? Manager is going to phone me back as I've threatened to leave.

Well, what should be waiting on the doormat this evening when I got home but the explanation letter covering how they calculated the compensation. No idea why it would be several days later than the actual cheque. Anyway, ComradeD is correct – it is the full amount plus 8% interest. So that is pretty fair and I'll take the money 🙂

dmiller – the girl on the phone was simply very friendly and helpful. Unusual I know!

I used to work in the complaints dept for a division of HBOS. Ask them for a precise figure of the TOTAL costs you incurred for the cover. If this is similar to the amount they are offering, then tell them you are prepared to go to the ombudsman.

People dont realise that if the Ombudsman decides to investigate the case, they actually charge the bank (£320 when I worked in the industry)on top of any comp you are due and they dont want to fork out that sort of money. If you are desperate for the money,accept it. If not you have nothing to lose because at worst, the Ombudsman will say the Banks offer is fair.

I'd be very tempted to take the cheque. You could possibly (eventually) get more by haggling but I'd be inclined to see it as a windfall and bank it now.

I had a similar thing to white101 – a Barclays bank account last used in early 90s had a statement so sent of the details but they have no record. Crazy really – didn't they have computers in the olden days?! Anyone would think that banks are deliberately dishonest….

doensnt look enough, heres some info

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance#howmuch