Omega 1 team manager Shane Duffy has teamed up with Warrington Wolves Foundation coach Danny O’Brien for a three day charity biking marathon from Cork to Galway in Ireland.

The first leg is 63 miles west from Cork to Killarney before the pair head north on the second day for the 81 mile stage to Lehinch.  The final stage is the shortest of the three with a 53 mile stint to Galway.

Their route takes them through some of the most picturesque landscapes in Ireland, and Shane is looking forward to taking in the scenery if his head is not down trying to make it up one of the harder climbs.

Why do it?

“I’m always up for a challenge and I enjoy raising money for charity,” said Shane.  “Danny did it last year so when the opportunity arose I decided to give him some company and raise some much needed cash for our good causes. I’ve done half marathons before and I did the Tough Mudder endurance event last year so this is the next challenge.”

Four charities will benefit from the event:

• St Roccos Hospice
• Warrington Wolves Foundation
• Riding For The Disabled
• Clumber Lodge Children’s Homes

Show your support

You can show your support for Shane’s big-hearted gesture by sponsoring him via his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/Shane-Duffy or if you want to sponsor him by text send sduf89 and the amount you want to pledge to 70070

GB charity committee chair Kelly Archbold said: “Shane is a valued member of staff and he’s always happy to help out with or charity efforts as well as being involved in Wolves Foundation events and coaching disabled children in rugby league.  We are happy to support him in his latest charity challenge.

Staff from Foundation Patron Gladstone Brookes were on hand to help out during a fun-packed day themed around the Rugby League World Cup which kicks off with England v Australia in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on October 26^th.  The Halliwell Jones Stadium is the venue for New Zealand v Samoa on October 27^th and will also host one of the quarter finals on November 17^th.

World Cup

Split into two teams for the morning and afternoon sessions, the children took part in a computer-based quiz based on the teams competing in the World Cup tournament before designing their own rugby balls in the colours of their chosen country.  Then it was all change for a series of games designed to teach both boys and girls a range of rugby skills.

Latchford St James are the latest school to take part in the six month project which will end with a tag rugby event in July.  Each school will be asked to enter a team of 10. Previous visits have been by St Ann’s CE Primary of Orford, Green Lane Community Special School, Meadowside County Primary from Clough Avenue and Cinnamon Brow CE Primary.

Amazing day

Gladstone Brookes charity committee chair Kelly Archbold said: “It was an amazing day which was thoroughly enjoyed by the teachers, children and GB staff.  It was a pleasure to lead the session and look forward to the next.  The children were due to sit their SATS exams the following week and all said what a welcome distraction it had been from their revision.

“Gladstone Brookes went into 2013 with the aim of helping to make a difference in the local community by helping out local charities wherever possible. If you are a local charity which would like the help and support of Gladstone Brookes please email CommitteeCharityEvents@gladstonebrookes.co.uk

The joint banks had already earmarked £100 million for PPI compensation in June 2011 and chief executive David Thorburn said the banking industry can learn many lessons, “some large, some small, but all important”, from the mis-selling of PPI and interest rate hedging products.

Acting now

“I have spent a lot of time reflecting on this and we are acting now to prevent a recurrence in the future,” he added.

Both Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays decided not to increase their PPI provision in their recent profits declarations, both claiming that they expected the provision they have already made to be enough to cover current and future claims.

Biggest ever scandal

The high street banks have set aside over £16 billion to pay compensation for what has become the biggest ever UK financial scandal and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) calculates that around £9.3 billion has already been paid to successful claimants.

Consumers are still making tens of thousands of new complaints and the Financial Ombudsman Service have been forced to take on extra staff to deal with a huge increase in rejected claims in recent months.

Denying reports

The British Bankers’ Association have denied media reports that banks are deliberately turning down legitimate PPI claims in the hope that they would avoid having to pay up.

FOS chief executive Natalie Ceeney says: “Despite these record numbers, this mis-selling scandal shows no sign of slowing. Unless the banks sort out their complaints quickly and fairly, people will only face increasingly longer waits for justice.”

The service website is currently warning new claimants that they could wait up to three years before they receive a decision on their appeal.

Let us take the strain

Don’t be put off making a claim because you think it might be too long-winded, complicated or difficult. If you were mis-sold your PPI policy then you have the right to be compensated.  The average PPI payout is around £2,700, but Gladstone Brookes has already recovered £90,000 for a single credit card claim.

You can make a no hassle claim through us and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you. We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

But it remains a fraction of the amounts paid out by the Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays who together are responsible for more than half of the redress already paid to customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance.

Compensation

Figures released by the new City watchdog – the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – in April revealed that UK banks have already paid out more than £9.3 billion in compensation and PPI remains the most complained about product with 2.7 million complaints in the second half of 2012. The nation’s banks have jointly set aside over £16 billion to pay customers in what has become the biggest ever financial mis-selling scandal in UK history.

Some commentators are suggesting that the banks are backing away from their idea of imposing a deadline on claims because of fears that it could lead to a panic rush of claims to beat the deadline.  By letting things fizzle out over a period of time they may just get away with paying back a fraction of the total bill they could face which some analysts have suggested could reach £25 billion.

Rejecting

Industry commentators are suggesting that banks are rejecting cases which would have been upheld 12 months ago to force consumers to appeal the decisions with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who already have a massive backlog of cases.

They have received over 600,000 PPI complaints – the largest number ever received about a single product – and have been forced to take on 2,000 new casehandlers and 50 new Ombudsmen, to try to keep pace with the influx of new cases. But their website blames the massive increase in volume of cases for their estimate that the ‘major operation of resolving the issues’ will take three years or more to achieve.

Difficult

Dissuading large numbers of potential claimants by making the claims process difficult for them and stretching the timescales to put potential claimants off starting their case could save the banks millions of pounds.

There are fears that fighting a case over such a long time may be putting off many consumers from making a claim for policies they believe were mis-sold.

Let us take the strain

Don’t be put off with obstacles placed in your path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3.  We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The same poll reveals that a third of bank customers no longer trust their bank to give them advice about appropriate financial products.

Knowledge

Millions of people have already claimed back more than £9.3 billion in mis-sold PPI premiums, but the 25% of people surveyed for the report said they felt they did not have enough knowledge to make a claim on their own and 22% said they don’t have enough time.

Those percentages translate into millions of consumers who are missing out on an average £3,000 per claim.

Right to redress

Commenting on the report, Financial Times journalist James Coney says: “Although some professional CMCs have played a significant role in alerting consumers to the existence of mis-selling and their right to redress, providers have demonised the claims management industry based upon the behaviour of some unscrupulous operators.  This all means that there are still millions of consumers who were victims of PPI mis-selling but who have not taken action.”

The Gladstone Brookes Promise

The Gladstone Brookes Promise is your guarantee that you are dealing with a company of integrity which has already recovered more than £330 million for our clients over the last five years.

Following the intense publicity regarding the way in which some companies have been contacting potential clients, we have issued a statement to establish exactly where we stand on the issues.

1. Gladstone Brookes has never cold called clients and never will.  Our clients call us in response to our advertisements in a variety of media or having been recommended by word of mouth.
2. Gladstone Brookes will only ever contact you by using our main number 08442 510 510 and we never withhold our number.
3. Gladstone Brookes offers a no win no fee service to our clients so we don’t charge our clients a single penny unless we have successfully recovered money for them from the banks.
4. Gladstone Brookes does not charge up-front fees.
5. Gladstone Brookes will never pass on your details to a third party without your permission.

We are proud of the service we provide to our customers and constantly strive to improve the process of getting you back what is rightly yours.

Can we help you?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them. If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says new registrations were up by 14.8% in April on the same period last year – the best figure since 2008.

Successful claims

But it’s not the big fleet buyers who are driving the market.  Private sector registrations grew by 32.3% in April and are 15.2% up on the year as a whole and analysts are suggesting that successful PPI compensation claims are providing the cash.

The average PPI payout is around £3,000 which isn’t enough money to extend your house or pay off your mortgage, but it’s a handy sized windfall for the deposit on a new car.

Tempting

A new car is a significant purchase, but a PPI windfall coming at the same time as heavy discounts, cheap finance and lower running costs seems to be tempting many drivers to swap their older, thirstier and less reliable cars for a new model.

In the midst of financial gloom, a shiny new motor on the driveway is a great way of lifting dampened spirits.

Scandal

The banks have already paid out £9.3 billion in what has become the biggest financial scandal in British history, but there’s still more to come.  They have already earmarked over £16 billion to pay compensation to customers who were mis-sold PPI and claims are still flooding in by the thousand.

There are also hundreds of thousands of cases lodged with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) after banks rejected the initial claim, but consumers have challenged their decisions.  FOS have reported a massive increase in rejections and have said that over 80% of the appeals against some of the biggest high street banks were upheld in the second half of last year.

Can we help you?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them. If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Two groups totalling 90 children from Years 9 and 10 at Locking Stumps Primary School took part in the latest in a series of special events themed around the upcoming Rugby League World Cup in 2013.

The visitors were split into three groups for the morning and afternoon sessions, organised by staff of the Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation and Foundation partner, Gladstone Brookes.

Activity 1 took place in the Wolf’s Den where each group designed and coloured their own rugby balls in the colours of one of the teams due to take place in the Rugby League World Cup which kicks off with England v Australia in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on October 26^th.  The Halliwell Jones Stadium is the venue for New Zealand v Samoa on October 27^th and will also host one of the quarter finals on November 17^th.

Activity 2 was based around learning and practising ball handling skills with a series of relays each designed to teach the children a different aspect of the game.

Activity 3 involved the history of the Warrington Club from its earliest days right up to modern times.  GB staff helped the children to answer a series of questions for which they had to find the answers from the new interactive timeline which celebrates the rich history of both the club and the town. The timeline, running the length of the South Stand concourse, commemorates the past successes of the ‘Wire’ and the more recent achievements of the ‘Wolves’.

Once the day’s activities were over each child received a certificate and the rugby ball they had designed earlier in the day.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) have announced a big jump in pre-tax profits for the first three months of this year, but made no additional provision for  compensation payments to people who have been mis-sold PPI.

The group – 39% owned by the taxpayer – says pre-tax profits are up to £2.04 billion as compared to £280 million for the same period last year.

In contrast, Barclays announced a 25% drop in their first quarter profits, but they too did not make any extra provision to pay out successful PPI claims.

LBG have already set aside £6.8 billion to repay mis-sold PPI premiums – almost twice as much as any other UK bank – and Barclays have earmarked £2.6 billion, but earlier this year Which? executive director Richard Lloyd suggested that without further provision being made most of the high street banks would start to run out of money to pay compensation to their customers.

Denial

He said at the time: ““Some banks have been in denial about the true scale of the Payment Protection scandal.  They must come clean about how many more PPI complaints they are expecting, publish updates on the amounts they have already paid back and claw back bonuses from executives who presided over this £13.6 billion mis-selling fiasco.”

Recent figures released by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – the City regulator – revealed that £9.3 billion has been repaid to consumers so far.  Figures released by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) further revealed that there has been a big surge in the tens of thousands of cases being rejected by the banks which are being appealed with them by customers convinced that the PPI had been mis-sold.

Wrongly rejected

FOS are receiving 11,000 new cases a week and have said that their adjudicators have been finding that over 80% of cases from some banks had been wrongly rejected and upheld the complaint in favour of the consumer.

Industry observers have suggested that the banks are attempting to slow down the amount of money they are having to pay out because the huge volume of cases currently being referred to FOS means it could be up to three years before the service gives a decision on cases submitted today.

Let us take the strain

Don’t take the risk of the money running out – make your claim today. Gladstone Brookes are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients and making a claim with us is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Says Karen: “Actually, PPI was never mentioned when I took out the loans for home improvements and to buy a car, but I did tell them I wasn’t working.  I know now that they shouldn’t have sold it to me, but I didn’t know anything about it at the time.”

Seen on TV

It was only after seeing the Gladstone Brookes advert on television that she decided to see if there was PPI attached to her loans.

“They put the claim through their system and came back to me to say that they had found PPI and would make a claim for me.  Without them I would never have got anything back.  One of the loans is still running so as well as getting back over £4,000 my monthly loan payments have dropped by £42,” she says.

Windfall

The compensation is definitely going to come in handy because she has a shortfall on her interest only mortgage which is due to mature soon and her windfall is going to be put towards that.

“Gladstone Brookes did a great job,” she says.  “They confirmed that I had been paying PPI after Black Horse had added it without my knowledge.  They got me £4,000 compensation and I’m also £42 a month better off.  I call that a good result.”

Can we help you?

Do you have one of the estimated 34 million PPI policies mis-sold in the UK?  The nation’s banks have already earmarked more than £16 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

In a Daily Telegraph report, a spokesman from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) says: “If claims were resolved in the first instance it would be better for everyone concerned.”

Complaints rejected

FOS deals with complaints rejected by the banks and recent figures have shown they are upholding the majority of PPI claims referred to them.  The Telegraph report claims this suggests that the banks are rejecting legitimate claims in the hope that customers will not take the process further.

The BBA claims ‘unscrupulous claims management companies’ are referring huge numbers of claims to the ombudsman ‘whether there are grounds or not.’ However, the Telegraph reports that FOS adjudicators are finding in the customer’s favour in 86% of Lloyds TSB cases referred to them while other banks have lower uphold rates.

Bad practices

A BBA spokesman said: “We continue to work with the ombudsman to try to improve the system for the benefit of customers.  All of the UK’s high street banks have committed publicly to ensuring a decisive end to any bad practices which resulted in mis-selling.

“Banks are overhauling their incentive structures for front line staff, rewarding staff for high levels of customer service and not sales volumes,” he added.

Total bill so far £9.3 billion

The new City watchdog – The Financial Conduct Authority – has just announced that the total PPI compensation bill to date has just reached £9.3 billion, but the banks expect this to almost double as they have set aside over £16 billion to pay compensation for mis-sold PPI policies.

Some industry analysts are even suggesting the final bill could reach £25 billion as there are still millions of unresolved cases in the pipeline with many more millions of consumers yet to make a claim.

Let us take the strain

Don’t be put off making a claim because you think it might be too complicated or difficult. If you were mis-sold your PPI policy then you have the right to be compensated.  The average PPI payout is around £2,700, but Gladstone Brookes has already recovered £90,000 for a single credit card claim.

You can make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you. We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Says Stuart: “I took out two loans with them – one for a car and the other for a caravan.  PPI wasn’t discussed on either occasion, but when I started to hear about all these policies being mis-sold I decided to ask them if I had it.

Nothing to lose

“However, when I tried talking to them I didn’t get very far.  They didn’t want to know and I have friends who have told me they had the same experience with them.  Then I saw the Gladstone Brookes advert and thought I would try to make a claim through them.  It was no win no fee, so I had nothing to lose,” he adds.

Gladstone Brookes made a claim on both loans for Stuart and Halifax paid out £3,164 on one, but said there was no PPI attached to the second loan.  Stuart believed that he had been paying more and asked Gladstone Brookes to do a Subject Access Request (SAR) to check.

Another £1,442!

A SAR requires the bank to provide details of any agreement they hold with a customer.  When the report came back for Stuart it revealed that there were other agreements he had held which did have PPI and he was due another £1,442 in compensation!

“It was a nice surprise,”says Stuart. “They just sent me a cheque for the money!”

Windfall

When he took out the loans he was a lorry driver, but now he is in business for himself, making and selling leather goods, and his windfall will come in handy for the business.

“The Gladstone Brookes service has been absolutely brilliant.  I couldn’t be more happy with the way things went,” he says.

Can we help you?

Have your bank been as unhelpful as Halifax were with Stuart?  The nation’s banks have already set aside more than £16 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return

We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The February figure is £30 million less than January, but is still £49 million higher than what was paid out in December 2012.

Increase

The FCA figures were gleaned from the 24 firms responsible for 96% of the PPI claims last year and says that PPI remains the most complained about product, attracting 2.17 million complaints in the second half of 2012 – a 5% increase on the first half of the year.

The watchdog says there were a total of 3,422,384 complaints made about financial services firms during July and December last year and 2,170,537 were about PPI.

Cash will run out

An analysis by consumer group Which? of the £16 billion so far set aside by the banks to pay PPI redress suggests the cash will run out before the end of the year if claims continue at their current levels. Analysts have estimated the final PPI bill could be as high as £25 billion.

Some commentators are suggesting that the banks are backing away from their idea of imposing a deadline on claims because of fears that it could lead to a panic rush of claims to beat the deadline.  By letting things fizzle out over a period of time they may just get away with paying back a fraction of the total bill they could face.

Rejecting

The same commentators are suggesting that banks are rejecting cases which would have been upheld 12 months ago so they will have to be appealed to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who already have a massive backlog of cases they are dealing with.

FOS is still receiving thousands of rejected cases a week from consumers wanting to challenge the banks’ decision not to pay them any money.  They now have so many claims in their backlog that they are warning consumers it could take up to three years for them to reach a decision.

Let us take the strain

There are fears that fighting a case over such a long time may be putting off many consumers from making a claim for policies they believe were mis-sold.

Don’t be put off with obstacles placed in your path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Says James: “I knew I had PPI on at least one of the Lloyds TSB loans I had taken out because they told me I had to have it or I couldn’t have the loan but when I started trying to get information together to make a claim the bank were putting up barriers and it seemed like a lot of work and hassle.

Perfect

“Then I saw an advert for Gladstone Brookes on the TV and decided to give them a call.  I have to say the service I had from them was perfect – no problems at all.  They really kept on top of things and kept me updated all along the line,” he adds.

James took out a series of loans with Lloyds TSB and remembers being persuaded to take PPI on the first one in order to get the loan.

Wasn’t aware

“Unfortunately, that one was back in the 90s and was too old to make a claim on, but it seems PPI was added to the other loans I took out with them over the years and I wasn’t aware of it.  I wasn’t aware that PPI was added to the MBNA credit card either,” he recalls.

In fact, PPI should never have been added to any of James’ agreements because as airline cabin crew he receives six months full pay and six months half pay if he is ever off work through illness.

“Gladstone Brookes did a great job for me and I have a good home for all the money they recovered.  I would recommend their service to anyone – it’s first class,” he says.

Can we help you?

Do you have one of the estimated 34 million PPI policies mis-sold in the UK?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £10 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £312 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The FCA, which took over from the Financial Services Authority as the City watchdog in April, said overall complaints had risen by 1% to 3.4 million, driven by a further increase in PPI mis-selling cases with figures for that sector up by 5% and accounting for 63% of all cases.

Lloyds, which is 39% owned by the taxpayer, has sold more PPI policies than any of its rivals and received 762,000 complaints, over a third of a million more than its nearest rival Barclays who had 427,000.  Royal Bank Of Scotland was third in the table with 378,000.

Customer conflicts

Martin Wheatley, FCA chief executive, claims publishing the figures was forcing the banks to act, saying: “When I meet with the bosses of financial institutions they frequently tell me they don’t want to be at the top of the table which means they strive to improve both their sales and complaint handling processes.  The publication of the complaints data lays bare the track record of the UK’s financial institutions when it comes to resolving customer conflicts.”

Martyn Dodd, speaking for Lloyds Banking Group, said the complaints figures should be looked at in the context of the number of accounts and as Britain’s largest retail banking group they received proportionately fewer complaints than any other bank.

Staggering

Levels of compensation for PPI complaints dropped from £3.2 million to £2.9 million, suggesting that the banks are rejecting many more claims than before and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which receives appeals on those rejections have been quoted as saying PPI claims against banks had reached ‘staggering’ levels and would take years to pay pack.

Chief financial ombudsman Natalie Ceeney said: “The number of PPI complaints has continued to increase at unprecedented levels.  As the complaint levels show no sign of slowing, consumers are increasingly having to wait longer to get their complaints sorted with many businesses still continuing to cause unnecessary delays.”

FOS are now handling 2,000 complaints a day – up from 1,100 a day less than a year ago – and they have been forced to recruit 2,000 new staff to keep up with the massive increase in the number of appeals they are being asked to deal with.

Let us take the strain

Dissuading large numbers of potential claimants by making the claims process difficult for them could save the banks millions of pounds.  Even with the extra staff FOS have employed to tackle the backlog, they believe any new appeals lodged with them could take as long as three years to receive a decision.

Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

In its latest annual report Tesco revealed its profits have been cut by half – the first fall in two decades – and that it had ear-marked a further £85 million to pay its customers back for mis-sold PPI policies.

Drop

The increased provision contributed to a 15.1% drop in the bank’s trading profit for the year and brought its overall PPI bill to £222 million.

The report said: “During the second half of 2012, in line with others in the banking industry, we started our full-scale pro-active customer contact programme for customers who were sold payment protection insurance in the period prior to 2007.

Increase

“As a result of this activity and the contact received directly from our customers related to PPI, the bank has made a further increase of £85 million to the provision in the second half, taking the total charge for the year to £115 million and the cumulative charge to £222 million,” it added.

Tesco has now completed its separation from its partnership with Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS) with the transfer of 2.8 million credit card customers to its own Edinburgh based operation.

RBS themselves have put aside £2.2bn to cover compensation to customers of RBS, NatWest, Lombard, Mint, Churchill and Direct Line.  The banking sector as a whole has earmarked £16.6 billion so far for payments to customers wrongly sold PPI over more than a decade, but some analysts have suggested that figure could rise as high as £25 billion.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them.

Gladstone Brookes are experts in recovering PPI which has been mis-sold to our clients.  We have recovered of £330 million so far.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Father of three Steve Higgins was called 94 times between October and November last year – even though he was registered with the Telephone Preference Service which guards against receipt of unsolicited sales calls.

So he decided to sue the cold callers, by taking out a Small Claims Court application, and invoiced the company £10 per call. The firm – Synergy Leads Ltd – did not respond and Northampton County Court has since ordered them to pay Mr Higgins £940 for the calls and £60 costs for making the claim application.

Our promise

Following the intense publicity regarding the way in which some companies have been contacting potential clients we created the GB Promise to establish exactly where we stand on the issues.  It is your guarantee that you are dealing with a company of integrity which has already recovered more than £330 million for our clients over the last five years.

1. Gladstone Brookes has never cold called clients and never will.  Our clients call us in response to our advertisements in a variety of media or having been recommended by word of mouth.
2. Gladstone Brookes will only ever contact you by using our main number 08442 510 510 and we never withhold our number.
3. Gladstone Brookes offers a no win no fee service to our clients so we don’t charge our clients a single penny unless we have successfully recovered money for them from the banks.
4. Gladstone Brookes does not charge up-front fees.
5. Gladstone Brookes will never pass on your details to a third party without your permission.

Satisfied

We are one of the leading companies in the PPI reclaim market and in the five years we have been in business we have recovered more than £330 million for our clients.  We have thousands of satisfied customers and 96% of our clients would recommend our service to a friend.

We are proud of the service we provide to our customers and constantly strive to improve the process of getting you back what is rightly yours.

Can we help you?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them. If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Addressing a conference debating how to re-build trust in Britain’s scandal hit banks, Andrew Bailey, head of the new Prudential Regulation Authority, questioned why none of the bosses of the UK’s failed banks have been formally charged in connection with what happened.

Disqualified

“It is more than odd that action has been taken against people lower down in institutions, but no action has been taken at the top,” he said, adding that it was ‘a source of surprise’ that no senior bank directors have been disqualified.

Speaking at the same conference Shadow Business Secretary Chuku Umunna said that bankers caught trying to play the system in order to line their own pockets should be ‘thrown into jail.’  He said it ‘cannot be right’ that benefit cheats who fiddle the system for a couple of hundred pounds are thrown in jail while ‘those who seek to rig the financial system and receive hundreds of thousands of pounds as a result never seem to suffer the same fate.’

Jail

He told the Future Of Financial Services summit in the City that ‘the prospect of jail for gross wrongdoing’ was one of the best ways to effect cultural change in Britain’s banking system, adding that the banks would not be able to rebuild trust with society  unless those doing wrong were seen to be punished.

Mr Umunna also attacked Barclays for trying to sneak out news that it had paid £39.5 million in bonuses to bosses on Budget Day. Ashok Vaswani, head of retail and business banking at Barclays who was at the conference admitted that the timing of the released was ‘a mistake.’

Deadline
Worried banks have been trying to persuade the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (and its predecessor the Financial Services Authority) to impose a deadline on new claims to try to stem the flow of complaints which has already forced them to set aside more than £15 billion to pay compensation to successful claimants.

Financial analysts have suggested that there are millions more claims still to be made and the final bill for compensation could rise as high as £24 billion.

Let us take the strain

Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £330 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The paper claims “Grasping bankers are making payment protection insurance victims wait for years to get their compensation.”

Joke

It quotes 64-year-old reader John Sketch of Essex who has been waiting since 2011 to have his claim sorted out.  He said: “It’s a joke.  The banks haven’t changed a bit.  I paid on time for 10 years.  If I’d have been one day late they’d have been onto me, but they are not taking any notice of this.”

Richard Dyson of the Financial Mail on Sunday has also claimed: “The banks are unfairly rejecting tens of thousands of PPI complaints without assessing the merits of each case.  In some cases banks have flatly denied that customers ever had PPI even when the customer has proof.”

Increase

There has been a sharp increase in the number of claims being rejected by the banks and referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The service reported they received 212,000 new cases in the second half of 2012 – more than double the 85,000 total for the first half of the year.

They also published figures which show that up to 97% of cases referred to them had been wrongly rejected by the banks and ended up with compensation being paid to the claimants.

The three highest uphold rates belong to Lloyds Banking Group – Black Horse at 97%, Lloyds TSB at 86% and Bank Of Scotland at 81% – closely followed by Barclays at 77% and Natwest at 62%.

Mis-selling scandal

FOS chief executive Natalie Ceeney says: “Despite these record numbers, this mis-selling scandal shows no sign of slowing. Unless the banks sort out their complaints quickly and fairly, people will only face increasingly longer waits for justice.”

They are receiving in excess of 2,000 new complaints a day and despite taking on 2,000 new staff their web site says that it could be as long as three years before someone making a claim today receives a decision.

Difficult

The banks stand to save millions of pounds by dissuading large numbers of potential claimants from starting a claim by making the claims process difficult for them and stretching the timescales for when they might expect a decision on their complaint.

They are so worried about the scale of the payouts they have been trying to persuade the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to impose a deadline on new claims to try to stem the flow of complaints which has already forced them to set aside more than £15 billion to pay compensation to successful claimants.  A decision on whether or not a deadline is imposed should be given in the next few weeks.

Let us take the strain

Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

“The firms that phone you up out of the blue, cold calling, I wouldn’t even attempt them,” says Mr Jones. “They phone you and say you are owed money – how do they know? They don’t have any details!  I knew I was going to steer clear of them. A lot of the other companies rip you off, you may as well be stuck with the PPI.”

Nothing to lose

“There was nothing to lose,” he adds. “Other firms charge you just to check through your paperwork to see if you have PPI.  Gladstone Brookes doesn’t.”

The Jones’ PPI mis-selling story began around 10 years ago when they took out a loan with Household Bank. Over the next three years they found themselves borrowing several more times with various other lenders including Black Horse, Cahoot, Alliance & Leicester and Santander.

Expensive

But what they didn’t realise was that each time they took out a loan they were being sold expensive payment protection policies.  It was only years later when Mr Jones was going through an annual statement that he realised he was being charged £106 a month on one of the loans for a PPI policy he didn’t even know he had.

The couple would never have taken out PPI if they had been given the choice as they didn’t need it.

“We were both in full time employment and were covered if we weren’t working, so there was never any time we would have needed it,” says Mr Jones.  “I really don’t know why they made us double up on cover.”

Clear

After realising they were paying PPI on at least one of their loans the couple decided to find out if they could reclaim their money – but they were very clear on the type of company they wanted to help them. After reading the GB Promise they knew where they wanted to go because Gladstone Brookes never cold call and there were no up-front costs.

After putting his faith in GB the happy couple were rewarded with an overall payout of £22,396.31.

“All we had to do was give our account numbers and tell them who the loans were with, they did the rest,” says Mrs Jones. “We were planning on getting some work done at the house and now we’ve been able to do it without touching our savings.

“It certainly helped financially.  We’re more comfortable than we’ve ever been in our lives.  It’s gone from one extreme to the other.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Mr & Mrs Jones?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £312 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

“Security officer Alan Spencer would have been happy getting back just £1 of the PPI he had been mis-sold by both Natwest and the Halifax when he contacted Gladstone Brookes to try to recover his money, so he was thrilled when he got back £6,615 for three successful claims.

“It was the principle of the thing,” he says. “It’s about the banks finally admitting they were wrong.”

Disappointed

Alan had not had the best of relations with either bank.  He left his first lender, Natwest, after a disagreement with them and moved to Halifax to take out a mortgage, but some years later returned to Natwest after being disappointed with the service he received from the Halifax. Unfortunately, he fell out with Natwest again and returned to the Halifax.

By this point he had lost faith with banks in general and realised he had been mis-sold PPI by BOTH banks on a number of occasions and says one policy was forced on him.

Arm-twisting

“I remember taking out PPI once but it was as though I didn’t have a choice.  There was a lot of arm-twisting going on. I didn’t want the insurance.  I didn’t think I needed it. Looking back it was obvious that the advisers were getting commission for making a sale.”

A number of policies were also added to loans he took out over the years without his permission.

Behaviour

Disillusioned by the way he had been treated by the banks, Alan thought he just had to accept the bank’s behaviour, but then he saw an advert for Gladstone Brookes and decided to try to get back some of what he felt he was owed.

“I thought if I only get £1 back I’ll be happy,” he says.

Recover

Thankfully, with the help of Gladstone Brookes he was able to recover a lot more than £1, receiving a total of £6,615 for his successful claims which came in very handy as his 15 year old car was coming up for its MOT and was unlikely to pass.

“It was great timing,” he says. “I was able to buy a nice big Volvo!”

Now Alan is recommending Gladstone Brookes to all his friends.

“It was really easy and I’m so glad I did it,” he says. “I’m telling all my friends to do the same”.

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Alan?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

“Even when the loan company rejected the initial claim, Gladstone Brookes assured me I had a valid case and referred the objection to the Financial Ombudsman Service who have just confirmed I was mis-sold and the firm have paid me out almost £2,500,” he says.

Cancel

When Brian took out a loan to help pay for his son’s wedding in 2005, the saleswoman told him he had to take out payment protection insurance before they would give him the money.  Once he had the money he called the firm to try to cancel the PPI because he didn’t want it or need it, but was told it was too late to cancel the policy and even if he did he would have to pay the premiums.

“I was annoyed with them at the time because they were quite abrupt about it – a bit stroppy. It seemed like they’d sold it to me and I couldn’t get out of it.”

Rejected

But Brian couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been mis-sold the policy and when he spotted a Gladstone Brookes advert on TV he decided to try to get his money back.  That was in October 2010 but when the loan company received the complaint letter from Gladstone Brookes they rejected the claim and still refused to pay Brian his money back.

He explains: “I didn’t need the PPI because I was in a well paid job and was covered by full sick pay for six months if ever I was off work ill.  I also had other means of paying the premiums if need be so I never needed the insurance at all.

Amazed

“I was amazed the firm turned the complaint down, but when I spoke to the team at Gladstone they told me they still thought I was in the right and suggested we appeal the case to the Financial Ombudsman to try to get the decision overturned.

“The loan company put up a remarkably stiff resistance.  I don’t think I would have succeeded if I had tried it on my own, but the appeal team persevered and with their help and expertise we won in the end.  As far as I’m concerned the team behaved very professionally and has definitely earned every penny of their fees,” he says.

Can we help you?

Recent figures from FOS show that the banks have been rejecting ‘unprecedented’ numbers of claims and the decisions are then being overturned on appeal with consumers finally being paid the money which is rightfully theirs.

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Brian?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £10 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £312 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The three – former chairman Lord Dennis Stevenson and two former chief executives Sir James Crosby and Andy Hornby – were named by the committee in their report into the collapse of Britain’s fifth largest bank Halifax Bank Of Scotland in 2008, accusing them of  ‘catastrophic failures of management.’

HBOS is now part of Lloyds Banking Group who have stressed the relevant events happened before it took over HBOS in January 2009.

Reckless

The report – called ‘An Accident Waiting To Happen’ – accuses the bank of ‘reckless lending policies’ and ‘toxic misjudgements’ that resulted in losses of £46 billion which would have resulted in the bank going bust if it had not been bailed out by the government and Lloyds TSB with £28 billion of public money going into HBOS before and after the Lloyds merger.

The Banking Commission was set up to make improvements in the UK banking system after the 2008 financial crisis.  Their report also criticises former City regulator The Financial Services Authority (FSA), stating it was ‘unsatisfactory’ they appeared ‘to have taken no steps to establish whether the former leaders of HBOS are fit and proper persons to hold the approved persons status elsewhere in the UK financial sector.’

Functions

An Approved Person was someone permitted to carry out particular financial functions by the FSA which has just been replaced by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

“The primary responsibility for the downfall of HBOS should rest with Sir James Crosby, architect of the strategy that set the course for disaster, with Andy Hornby, who proved unable or unwilling to change course, and Lord Stevenson, who presided over the bank’s board from its birth to its death,” says the report.

Incapable

“Lord Stevenson, in particular, has shown himself incapable of facing the realities of what placed the bank in jeopardy from that time until now,” it adds.

FSA regulation of the bank was ‘thoroughly inadequate’, the Commission says. It had identified a number of concerns in the way the bank was doing business but failed to follow through on them.  The report brands the FSA’s actions between 2004 and 2007 as ‘not so much the dog that did not bark, as a dog barking up the wrong tree,’ adding that there was too much supervision at low level and too much box ticking.

The FSA was abolished on April 1, but the new Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has already said it will be studying the report ‘to ensure that the lessons from the failings at HBOS have been fully learned.’

She first started taking out loans with the bank in the 1980s and when each one came to an end she took out another and each one came with an expensive PPI policy attached.

Jargon

“I remember them mentioning PPI, but I knew I needed the loans and I was told to get them I had to take the insurance,” she says. “They bamboozle you with jargon.”

Some years later she found herself in financial difficulty, struggling to pay her Natwest loan and credit cards, but she was shocked by the reaction she got from the bank when she tried to do something about it.

Responsibilities

“I didn’t want to shirk my responsibilities so I called all my creditors and explained that whilst I couldn’t afford to pay what they were asking for each month I would pay them what I could and would eventually clear the debt,” she says.

Ms Phillips says the staff at Natwest treated her appallingly.

“They were just so mean! I was trying to do my best,” she says.

Disdain

The bank which had blatantly mis-sold her PPI was now treating her with disdain while she was trying to do the right thing and pay them back what she could afford.

Despite all this, when the PPI mis-selling scandal first broke and began making headlines Pat was sceptical that the banks would pay anything out.

“I thought it was a load of rubbish,” she laughs. “I didn’t believe anyone would get anything back.”

Worried

Even when one of her friends received a payout through Gladstone Brookes, Pat was still hesitant to make a claim.  However, last autumn she had to go into hospital to have major surgery.  Worried about money, she finally decided to try to claim back the PPI premiums she had paid over so many years.

“I was in hospital and unable to work so I was getting very worried,” she says. “It was then that I decided to call Gladstone Brookes.”

Successful

The call paid off because Gladstone Brookes was able to recover a total of £12,500 from a series of successful claims against Natwest.

“When Gladstone Brookes told me how much I’d got I put the phone down and had a little cry,” says Pat. “I was overwhelmed.  I can’t thank them enough – they are worth every single penny.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Pat?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

In their latest newsletter, FOS state they have decided against charging either consumers or claims management companies, despite calls from industry players to crack down on frivolous claims.

Not convinced

“Looking at the statistics,” they say, “we’re not convinced ‘chancers’ is a fair description of the majority of people who refer complaints to us……. We don’t think it’s unreasonable that we should investigate complaints where consumers think they might have had PPI but aren’t sure.

“In fact, in these cases our investigation regularly shows that the customer has been paying for a policy that they didn’t explicitly ask for or know about – and that the business’s own investigation has failed to trace.

Public confidence

“So far as charging consumers for our services is concerned, we maintain – and parliament agrees – that their free right of recourse to the ombudsman helps underpin public confidence in financial services,” the newsletter concludes.

Chief Ombudsman and chief executive Natalie Ceeney has said: “There are millions of people out there who’ve been denied justice for a very long time. And for the Ombudsman Service we are dealing with one of the biggest clean ups in financial services history.”

Huge increase

FOS only becomes involved in a case when it has already been rejected and it has emerged in recent months that they are in danger of becoming swamped by a huge increase in complaints.  They have been forced to double their workforce and are now handling up to 2,000 new complaints a day.

Figures released earlier this year showed they received 212,000 new cases in the second half of 2012 – more than double the 85,000 total for the first half of the year. In the same time frame the three highest uphold rates belong to Lloyds Banking Group – Black Horse at 97%, Lloyds TSB at 86% and Bank Of Scotland at 81% – closely followed by Barclays at 77% and Natwest at 62%.

Let us take the strain

Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

FOS says that firms are selling products that are difficult to distinguish from PPI and are leaving customers confused about what they have bought.

“In the cases consumers refer to us we expect financial businesses to have shown that they have learned the lessons of PPI in the way they marketed and sold these products and, of course, in the way they handled complaints if something has gone wrong,” FOS say in their monthly newsletter.

Problems

“Although we haven’t seen the widespread problems we have seen with PPI we have received a number of complaints about these products that have raised similar issues – for example, whether a business provided advice about the product with reasonable care and skill, or whether it gave the consumer information in a way that was clear and not misleading,” it adds.

The different products available work in different ways, but they all offer some form of financial protection when consumers find themselves in financial difficulty. The similarity to PPI is often leaving customers confused because they find it difficult to tell the products apart.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £300 million for our clients and making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

The City watchdog is currently considering the proposal by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and is expected to give its decision in the next few weeks.

Runs out

The BBA, representing all the high street banks, has suggested a deadline for new claims of April 2014 and has promised a huge media campaign to warn consumers who may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance that they must make a claim before the deadline runs out.

But one of the FSA’s own advisory groups – the Financial Services Consumer Panel – have claimed the banks need to improve their claims handling procedures before any deadline could work properly.

Working group chairman Mike Dailly has pointed out to the BBA that all the high street banks have more PPI mis-selling claims rejections overturned by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) than in general and they need to improve.

Massive exercise

He said: “We recognise the need for such complaints not to drag on indefinitely and appreciate that this is a massive exercise for the banks to manage.  However, a note of caution – given the very high FOS overturn rates in PPI complaints to banks how realistic and fair is it to suggest a big media campaign of itself would be sufficient to achieve the stated aims of the BBA, particularly within such a short timescale.

“That said, we look forward to sight of the BBA’s detailed proposal and hope that it will contain substantive ideas which address how swift and fair redress can be made directly to eligible customers, overcoming the current chinks in the bank’s redress systems,” he added.

‘Unprecedented’

FOS has reported PPI claims rising at an ‘unprecedented’ rate and published figures which show that up to 97% of cases referred to them had been wrongly rejected by the banks, ending up with compensation being paid to the claimants after FOS overturned the decisions.

The three highest uphold rates belong to Lloyds Banking Group – Black Horse at 97%, Lloyds TSB at 86% and Bank Of Scotland at 81% – closely followed by Barclays at 77% and Natwest at 62%.  Bank Of Scotland and Lloyds TSB also show the largest percentage increase in cases referred to FOS in the second half of the year at 731% and 344% respectively.  RBS and Natwest also show increases of more than 100% in the number of rejections.

Don’t wait

Don’t wait until your bank gives you a deadline.  If you feel you have been mis-sold PPI then make your claim today.

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £310 million for our clients.

We achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 96% in a recent survey and making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

Hazel’s position was a common PPI mis-selling scenario.  Her sole focus was on getting the loan and she was worried whether or not she would get it.

Jargon

“All that mattered was that I got the loan,” she says. ““The advisor spoke in so much jargon it was hard to understand what he said and all I wanted to know was whether I’d been approved.”

It meant the adviser was able to add the expensive policy to the loan without really giving Hazel enough information to decide whether or not she wanted it. On top of that he didn’t follow the procedure which would have identified that if Hazel was off sick she would still get full play from her employer and therefore would never need the policy.

Shocked

When her repayments began she was shocked at how high they were but, unaware of the PPI, she paid what Barclays asked.  It was only in 2011, when the PPI scandal began making the news, that Hazel realised she could have it.

Looking around for someone to help Hazel saw an advert for Gladstone Brookes and called the number advertised.

“I was immediately put at ease,” she says. “The staff were so friendly.  I could talk to them and they listened. I knew then they were the right company for me.”

Updated

Once Gladstone Brookes took on the case we made sure to keep her updated with progress at every stage.

“They called me to let me know exactly what was happening and made sure I understood everything,” she says. “I’m not good with paperwork, but they took care of all of that for me.”

Hazel’s £9,000 in compensation came at just the right time.

“We’re in the process of moving and this money has come in very handy,” she says. “I cannot fault Gladstone Brookes. The staff are so friendly and helpful. I would recommend them to anybody.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Hazel?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return

We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The story begins in 1992 when Christine underwent a very long and difficult neurological procedure. It was so serious her doctors thought she would never work again, but she astonished her medical team by returning to work as a catering manager just four years later. Then, just weeks after getting back into work, she suffered another body blow when her husband was made redundant, leaving her the only breadwinner.

Problems

Realising the potential problems with her condition, Christine decided there and then that if she took out credit in any form in future she would take out PPI to make sure her repayments were covered if she ever became unable to work again.
“I knew I was going to need some insurance if I borrowed anything as I knew, because of what I’d been through, I may find myself off work again for some time,” she explains.

Over the next few years Christine took out loans with Lombard Direct and a credit card with MasterCard and took PPI each time, telling each advisor she spoke to exactly why she wanted it.

Peace of mind

“I told the advisors when I borrowed anything that I wanted PPI because of my medical condition,” she says. “I have letters to and from them stating I wanted PPI for the peace of mind it would provide.”

Shockingly, none of those expensive policies she took out would have provided the peace of mind she was looking for. If she had been forced to come out of work because of her illness the policies would never have paid out because what she had was a pre-existing medical condition when she signed up for the insurance.

The very thing that had spurred her on to take out PPI meant she would never be able to claim on it. The sales advisors knew it because Christine had been up front with the reasons she wanted the PPI, but they sold her the policies anyway.

Scandal

She only realised what had happened when the PPI mis-selling scandal hit the news.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I was trying to protect my payments and have peace of mind yet the policies would never have paid out. Those sales advisors should have known this and should have told me.

“What makes it worse is, before this happened, I had called MasterCard when I only had around £200 to pay off and asked it to cancel my PPI as I would be able to pay off the balance within a couple of months anyway and the advisor gave me a really hard time about it.”

Thrilled

Christine contacted Gladstone Brookes as soon as she realised she had been mis-sold and was thrilled when we helped her to reclaim £32,536.44 in mis-sold premiums and interest.

“I was so pleased,” says Christine. “The staff at Gladstone Brookes have been absolutely wonderful. They kept me up to date all the way through and were so kind and friendly. I would recommend them to anyone.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Christine?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

A spokesman said: “The message of the promise is very simple – we don’t cold call, ever.  Our clients call us in response to our press and media advertising campaigns. We are aware of the depth of feeling that the flood of nuisance calls has created and agree with Which? that action should be taken to bring it to an end.”

Cold called

Research carried out by Which? has revealed that seven out of ten people have been cold called or received unsolicited texts in the last three months. The majority of contacts were regarding potential claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance or personal injury claims. Others were from firms selling double glazing, mobile phones or market research.

Which? is urging regulators, including Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), to form a joint task force to pull the plug on what it calls “intrusive and distressing” calls and texts.  They have also asked the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Ministry of Justice to join the task force.

Crackdown

Which? is asking for a crackdown on rule breakers by putting them out of business and imposing fines. Their executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Unwanted calls or texts are not just a nuisance, they can be intrusive and distressing.  Many of us have been bombarded with spurious claims of PPI or injury compensation and people are telling us they are totally fed up with this nuisance and want to see action.

The magazine has said they can avoid nuisance calls and texts by never opting into third party marketing when taking out an insurance policy and registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

Their advice is never to respond to texts, even by texting ‘Stop’ as this alerts the firm that the phone number is active. International calls can be blocked by telephone service providers as many cold calls come from abroad.  Caller displays can be used to screen calls.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £300 million for our clients.

We achieved a satisfaction rate of 96% in a survey which included Mr Lee who said: “Delighted with service, fast and efficient and a very good result.”  Miss Frazer added: “I was extremely happy with the service  I received.  I was only expecting £2,000 and ended up with over £6,500! My claim was settled quickly and I was really impressed with the updates I received throughout the claim. I knew what I was paying from day 1 with no hidden costs and I’ve already referred two friends in a similar situation.”

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

A total of 428 Barclays and 93 RBS staff earned more than £1 million and Barclays have admitted that five of their workers took home more than £5 million, putting the £2.6 million salary of chief executive Antony Jenkins in the shade.

Still topped £3.2m

Among the top earners at Barclays 50 were paid between £2.5 and £5 million with a further 373 being paid between £1 and £2.5 million.  Chief executive Steven Hester waived his bonus, but his total package for the year still topped £3.2 million.

RBS said their total payouts to top directors and eight executives was £21 million, but added that this was 16% down on the 2011 figure. One of the most senior executives earned £4.8 million and of the others 36 earned between £1.5 and £5 million with the bank’s top earner receiving over £5 million.  The average salary across RBS which is 82% owned by the taxpayer was £34,000.

HSBC – the world’s biggest bank – says 16 of their top executives received an average of £3.25 million each.  Globally, 204 HSBC employees became members of the millionaires club of which 78 were in the UK where the group has its headquarters.

Condemnation

MPs, consumers and pressure groups have been united in their condemnation of the massive pay packages and bonuses announced in recent weeks, viewing them as rewarding top bankers for presiding over scandals like PPI mis-selling and the LIBOR rate rigging affair which saw them being jointly fined £680 million.

Labour MP John Mann said: “It’s one rule for the bankers and another rule for every other part of British industry.  There will be a lot of angry small businessmen out there tonight.”

We can help

Is your blood boiling because you have been mis-sold PPI on a loan, mortgage or credit card?  Then let us help you reclaim what is rightfully yours.

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £300 million for our clients.

We achieved a satisfaction rate of 96% in a survey which included Mrs Allen who said: “Brilliant! A  very helpful service.”  Mr Mason added: “The service I received from Gladstone Brookes was fantastic – great communication and very pleased with the outcome.”

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

As well as the usual rugby theme the 45 strong group took part in two Comic Relief Olympics events – designing, making and ‘sailing’ their own paper boats and creating Comic Relief paper aeroplanes. Split into four groups they rotated between the two Comic Relief events and the more physical  Dodgeball and Try-line Tussle.

A team of Gladstone Brookes staff was on hand to help the Foundation staff make it a memorable day for the group and presented each child with a certificate and an early Easter egg in a ceremony at the end of the morning’s activities.

Gladstone Brookes organiser Will Catlin said: “It was a great event and everyone enjoyed the range of events.  We are Patrons of the Foundation and our staff thoroughly enjoy taking part in these events.  The kids give us some serious competition and it’s great to see how excited and involved they get in the various contests.”

Previous visits have been by St Ann’s CE Primary of Orford, Green Lane Community Special School and Meadowside County Primary from Clough Avenue. A further four schools are expected to take part in the six month project which will end with a tag rugby event in July.  Each school will be asked to enter a team of 10.

The Rugby League World Cup kicks off with England v Australia in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on October 26^th.  The Halliwell Jones Stadium is the venue for New Zealand v Samoa on October 27^th and will also host one of the quarter finals on November 17^th.

An important part of the service provided by Gladstone Brookes for its clients is to examine rejections issued by the banks to see if there are grounds to appeal the case even though the banks have refused to pay out on the initial claim.

Evidence

A specialist team of experienced caseworkers examines each letter to make sure all the grounds for the complaint have been properly answered and if they find evidence that the bank have not answered all of the complaint points an appeal is launched to try to get the decision overturned.

Appeals are first made to the bank to try to persuade them to change their decision and in the last three months our appeals team have managed to recover almost a quarter of a million pounds including payouts of £19,181 from Black Horse and £11,343 from Barclaycard after both companies had previously refused to pay the clients.

Strong grounds

Even if the banks refuse to change their minds, Gladstone Brookes will continue to fight for its clients by referring the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if we believe there are strong enough grounds.

FOS are a government body whose job is to investigate cases where the consumer and the banks cannot agree a solution.  They investigate each case impartially and have the power to overturn the banks’ decisions if they believe them to be wrong.

In the last three months our FOS appeals team have recovered more than £1 million for clients who had previously been told they would get nothing by their banks, including £25,378 from Black Horse and £29,732 from First Direct.

Not all rejections can be successfully appealed and if there is no hope of success we will tell you right away.  However, recent figures appear to show that the banks have massively increased the number of cases they are rejecting and FOS have been overturning tens of thousands of those decisions on appeal, awarding compensation to the complainants. The three highest overturn figures belong to Lloyds Banking Group – Black Horse at 97%, Lloyds TSB at 86% and Bank Of Scotland at 81% – closely followed by Barclays at 77% and Natwest at 62%.

Let us take the strain

Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Addressing client concerns on their website, FOS say they have now received over 600,000 PPI complaints – the largest number ever received about a single product – and they blame the massive increase in volume for their estimate that the ‘major operation of resolving the issues’ will take three years or more to achieve.

They have already taken on 1,000 new casehandlers and 50 new Ombudsmen, but even that hasn’t helped so they intend to recruit a further 1,000 casehandlers this year to try to keep pace with the influx of new cases.

Unfairly rejecting

Richard Dyson of the Financial Mail on Sunday said: “The banks are unfairly rejecting tens of thousands of PPI complaints without assessing the merits of each case.  In some cases banks have flatly denied that customers ever had PPI even when the customer has proof.”

A spokesman for FOS commented: “Some complainants have been asked what year they took out the loan and if they answered incorrectly the complaint has been rejected. We do not think that is reasonable.”

Millions of pounds

Dissuading large numbers of potential claimants by making the claims process difficult for them and stretching the timescales to put potential claimants off starting their case could save the banks millions of pounds.

They are so worried about the scale of the payouts they have been trying to persuade the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to impose a deadline on new claims to try to stem the flow of complaints which has already forced them to set aside more than £15 billion to pay compensation to successful claimants.

Payments dropped

The second half of 2012 saw a double whammy with figures released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) showing that total PPI compensation payments dropped from £3.3 billion in the first half of the year to just £2.9 billion in the second six months.  At the same time FOS reported they received 212,000 new cases in the second half of 2012 – more than double the 85,000 total for the first half of the year.

They also published figures which show that up to 97% of cases referred to them had been wrongly rejected by the banks and ended up with compensation being paid to the claimants.

Top 10 complained about business. Source FOS

The three highest uphold rates belong to Lloyds Banking Group – Black Horse at 97%, Lloyds TSB at 86% and Bank Of Scotland at 81% – closely followed by Barclays at 77% and Natwest at 62%.

Bank Of Scotland and Lloyds TSB also show the largest percentage increase in cases referred to FOS in the second half of the year at 731% and 344% respectively.  RBS and Natwest also show increases of more than 100% in the number of rejections.

Let us take the strain

Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path. Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Such has been the level of mis-selling in the past decade that a whole new industry has been created to deal with the fallout according to a Manpower employment report.

Moreover the figures don’t even take into account the 2,000 new adjudicators and 50 ombudsmen being recruited by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) after the number of rejections being referred to them more than doubled in the last six months of 2012 and are currently running at record levels.

Clearing up mistakes

Manpower managing director Mark Cahill commented: “On the face of it you would think we were in the midst of a boom, but many of these jobs have been created as a direct result of the mis-selling of PPI and interest rate swaps.  These extra jobs are not a sign of a thriving banking sector looking optimistically to the future for growth they are all about clearing up mistakes from the past.

“Despite attempts to put a lid on the amount that the banks are paying out in PPI within the last month alone we have seen big names like Barclays and Lloyds massively raise the amount of money set aside to deal with PPI claims,” he added.

Worthless

The banking industry has already set aside over £15 billion to pay compensation to the millions of consumers who were mis-sold insurance policies which were meant to pay monthly payments on loans, mortgages or credit cards but were in effect worthless because of exceptions and exclusions which meant they would never pay out was made on them.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said £9 billion of the £15 billion contingency fund has already been paid out, but there are millions of claims still in the works and some commentators believe the final bill for PPI could rise to £24 billion.

Some banks are anxious to get the FSA to introduce a time bar for all new claims in an attempt to put a cap on payouts, but it has emerged that some members of the British Bankers’ Association are opposed to the move because of strong opposition by consumer groups.  They feel a deadline would be counter-productive as it would be seen only to favour the banks when their customers are trying to recover money wrongly taken from them through the largest mis-selling scandal in British financial history.

Have you been mis-sold?

Don’t miss out on your chance to claim back money which may be owed to you.  Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £300 million for our clients, including 10 who each received payouts of over £20,000 in February alone.

We achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 96% in a recent survey and making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.

We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards chaired by MP Andrew Tyrie has called many of the nation’s top bankers to give evidence about how their organisations have dealt with the £15 billion PPI mis-selling scandal and to explain their part in the LIBOR rate fixing scandal which saw Barclays and RBS fined millions of pounds for trying to manipulate the rate at which banks lent money to one another.

As the Banking Reform Bill is being debated by Parliament Mr Tyrie said: “The government rejected a number of important recommendations.  We have concluded the Government’s arguments are insubstantial.  There remains much work to be done to improve the bill.”

Disappointing

Ed Balls said: “The latest report from the committee makes for disappointing reading.  It confirms George Osborne is continuing to duck the radical reform we need and which the cross-party commission has demanded.”

Recklessness by the banks’ so called ‘casino operations’ was blamed for dragging the financial system to the brink of collapse with the Government having to bail out Lloyds Banking Group and RBS in 2008.  This was quickly followed by the growing scandal of the mis-selling of millions of PPI policies with billions of pounds which has so far cost the banking industry an estimated £15 billion. Barclays were fined £290 million for the LIBOR episode with RBS being fined £390 million for their part.

Riskier

The commission had suggested the bill should contain legal powers to separate retail and investment banking across the entire industry, if necessary, to ensure High Street banking could be split from the riskier investment banking.  However, the bill does not include the provision over fears of giving too much power to the regulators according to the commission.

When Lloyds TSB executives appeared before the commission they were attacked over the bank’s behaviour regarding PPI mis-selling. In February the bank was fined £43 million for delaying the payment of compensation for successful claims by up to six months.

Don’t miss out

Don’t miss out on your chance to claim back money which may be owed to you.  Gladstone Brookes have already recovered over £302 million for our clients who were mis-sold their PPI policies and are ready to help you to claim what is rightfully yours before your time runs out.

We achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 96% in a recent survey and making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

But little did she know that calling Gladstone Brookes for help in making her claim would result in a £12,012.11 payout from Natwest.

Invaluable

“I couldn’t believe how quick and easy it was,” she says. “I thought it would take months and months but it was sorted within a matter of weeks. There’s no way I could have done it all on my own.  Their help was invaluable.”

Annette, a service manager with a cleaning company, took out a series of loans with Natwest in the early 2000s and though she wasn’t aware of it at the time the bank added PPI to each agreement.

Exploited

When she went to the bank for a meeting to take out the loans she was on her own. “I felt a bit silly,” she says.  “I’d just been through a divorce, my mind was all over the place and I was on my own.”  Rather than being sympathetic to her position, the bank exploited it by adding the PPI without her knowledge and nothing was ever explained to her.

However, the mis-selling didn’t end there.  Anne worked for a company who offered full sick pay for 12 months and therefore had no need of the policies anyway.  The bank neglected to ask about her employment status as they should have done to evaluate whether the insurance was suitable for her.

“I had no idea,” she says. “They didn’t ask about my employer or its sick pay policy. I didn’t know to bring it up.”

Mis-sold

Annette had realised she was paying a hefty amount to cover her loan repayments but didn’t know she had been mis-sold the PPI until she saw the TV advert and realised she hadn’t asked for it, didn’t want it and didn’t need it because of her sick pay entitlement.

“I thought ‘hang on a minute, this has happened to me’,” she says. “So I called Gladstone Brookes.”

Now Annette says she’s telling all her friends who think they may have been mis-sold PPI to follow her lead.

“I’m telling everyone to do it!” she said. “They won’t regret it.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have been treated like Anne?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £9 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 billion.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Langworthy Reds youngest team will be dazzling their opposition in 2013 with their new kit sponsored by Gladstone Brookes.

Based in Salford, the Under 7’s have played the last two seasons in an old and much too large away strip which was the only one available at the club. Parents and coaches tirelessly chased sponsorship to buy a new kit, but had no luck in the current economic climate.

Now Gladstone Brookes has stepped in and the team’s new kit in the traditional colours of red with a black and white trim has just been delivered.

Coach Mark Davies said: “The looks on the kids’ faces when they saw it for the first time was brilliant. We never expected to get such a positive response and it’s wonderful to hear Gladstone Brookes are passionate about being involved in the community and particularly rugby league.”

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the world of financial assistance and have recovered over £300 million in mis-sold PPI fees for their clients from their Warrington offices, but believe strongly in supporting local charities and organisations.

A spokesman said: “We are part of the community and like to support local causes wherever we can.  The Under 7s had been playing in an old kit which was far too big for them and didn’t even have matching socks so we were pleased to be able to help them out.

“We are also patrons of the Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation which involves events with many local schoolchildren.  It’s our way of giving something back.”

Number one financial regret: “I wish I’d started saving earlier”

Research from Standard Life has found that UK adults have many money regrets. But when asked what one thing, if anything, they most wish they had started doing earlier to be financially efficient with their money, saving for retirement came top of the list.

Nearly one in seven (15%) UK adults said they wish they’d started saving for their retirement when they were younger. And if you ask those aged 55 plus, today’s baby boomers, then an even higher number – one in five – say this is their biggest regret. This figure rises further among adults who are saving into a personal pension rather than being part of a workplace scheme, with a quarter (25%) wishing they’d started saving earlier, compared to just 13% of those saving into a workplace pension.

Standard Life’s Julie Russell says: “As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think we can all learn from those who are older and wiser. If 20% of baby boomers who are retiring or are already retired say they wish they’d started saving for their retirement earlier, then we would be foolish not to listen to their advice. The earlier we start saving, the bigger the impact on our future finances.”

Child benefit changes reminder

People with an income over £60,000 whose family is still receiving Child Benefit should opt out before 28 March if they wish to avoid filling in a tax return and repaying the benefit for the 2013/14 tax year.

Latest HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) figures show that over 365,000 people have opted out of Child Benefit since the High Income Child Benefit Charge was introduced on 7 January. Those who have already stopped their Child Benefit payments do not need to act.

People who continued to receive Child Benefit after January need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2013 to repay the benefit received between January and April 2013, but opting out now means they will not need to fill in a tax return in future years.

Lin Homer, chief executive at HMRC, says: “Anyone wanting to opt out of Child Benefit payments can do so at any time. It is really easy – just go to our website. Anyone with an income over £60,000 who has received Child Benefit since January needs to register for Self Assessment by 5 October to repay some or all of this year’s benefit, but if they opt out now this will be a one-off.

“For people with income of more than £60,000, the tax charge is 100% of the amount of Child Benefit. For income between £50,000 and £60,000, the charge is gradually increased to 100% of the Child Benefit.”

50% of 65 year olds could get more income in retirement

Analysis by Partnership, one of the UK’s leading enhanced annuity providers, has found that over 50% of the UK’s retiring population at age 65 have a health or lifestyle condition that would qualify them for an enhanced annuity.

The latest analysis also highlighted that the extra income that a 65-year old with a typical condition would receive in their pension is on average 25% and this is after taking into account the recent gender pricing changes.

The top five enhanced annuity medical conditions identified by Partnership are: diabetes, cancers, strokes, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, whilst top lifestyle conditions include smoking and diabetes.

The true level of complaints across the financial sector is much higher because FOS only deal with claims the banks have already rejected.  There are many more complaints where the banks have accepted liability and paid compensation already.

FOS are now handling 2,000 complaints a day – up from 1,100 a day less than a year ago – and the service has named Lloyds TSB as the bank with the highest number of complaints referred against them of which FOS upheld 86% in the clients’ favour in the second half of 2012.

Increase

Chief financial ombudsman Natalie Ceeney said: “The number of PPI complaints has continued to increase at unprecedented levels.  As the complaint levels show no sign of slowing consumers are increasingly having  to wait longer to get their complaints sorted with many businesses still continuing to cause unnecessary delays.

“Where businesses have shown a real commitment to better customer service and diligent complaints handling – including actively engaging with the ombudsman – cases are resolved more quickly and easily, to the benefit of everyone.”

Lloyds TSB was recently fined £4.3 million for delaying the payment of compensation to 140,000 consumers who had already won their cases for the mis-selling of PPI and have added £1.5 billion to their contingency fund for paying out successful claims. This takes their overall provision to £6.8 billion – almost half the total set aside by all the banks.

In-depth

The bank claim it reviews all PPI claims in ‘an in-depth manner that produces fair outcomes for customers’ and that its complaint levels in general are falling.

Lloyds Banking Group customer services director Martin Dodd said: “We are very disappointed with the number of PPI complaints that have been referred to the ombudsman service and we are actively addressing this with the ombudsman.  We are confident we will see an improvement throughout the year.”

FOS received almost 212,000 complaints about PPI in the second half of 2012 which made up nearly three quarters of the total number of complaints referred to the service.  The average payout on a claim has risen from £2,700 to £3,000 and has so far cost the UK’s banks over £15 billion with more predicted to come.

In separate figures Lloyds Banking group – which comprises Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank Of Scotland – have revealed it has received almost 1.4 million PPI complaints in 2012.  However, it claimed that figures for the second half of the year were 9% lower than the first half.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them.

Gladstone Brookes are experts in recovering PPI which has been mis-sold to our clients.  We have recovered over £300 million so far, including over £9.2 million in January 2013 alone.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Britain’s biggest retail bank, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, announced it has set aside another £1.5 billion for PPI compensation, plus a further £400 million for compensation on interest rate swaps.

LBG has the greatest exposure to the PPI mis-selling scandal with the bill now topping £6.8 billion – almost half of the total set aside by the whole UK banking industry – despite recent denials by former Lloyds TSB chief executive Eric Daniels that there was widespread mis-selling of PPI by the bank.  He claimed the majority of cases were caused by ‘a misunderstanding between the industry and the regulator.’

Claimed

Current chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio has claimed that many of the PPI claims made to the bank ‘are without merit’ and that up to a quarter of them proved to be false.  However, figures released by the Financial Ombudsman Service have shown that at one point last year they had upheld 98% of cases which had previously been rejected by the bank.

Mr Horta-Osorio is one of the chief beneficiaries of the bank’s bonus scheme this year after being awarded £1.5 million in deferred shares on top of his £1 million salary.  The overall bonus pool has been reduced by 3%, but still tops £360 million.

LBG is understood to have taken soundings from the Government to ensure it would not face immediate opposition from ministers, but the award is bound to add fuel to the controversy over bankers’ bonuses after LBG was recently fined £4.3 million by the Financial Services Association for delays in payments to their customers who had successfully complained about mis-sold PPI policies.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them.

Gladstone Brookes are experts in recovering PPI which has been mis-sold to our clients.  We have recovered over £300 million so far, including over £9.2 million in January 2013 alone.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Well, as part of Gladstone Brookes’ continued commitment to give our clients the best possible service we are pleased to tell you help is at hand.

www.mylostaccount.org.uk is a free service that over the last five years has reunited an estimated 315,000 people with over £645 million in lost savings. It covers 35 UK retail banks, 46 building societies and all National Savings & Investments products.

Every penny counts

During these tough economic times every penny counts and if you suspect you could have cash sitting in a dormant account that you have lost touch with then this website can help you find and recover it.

The website tracks accounts in UK banks, building societies and National Savings and Investments.  Users can either pass on their information by using an on-line form or contact any of the three organisations direct.  Searches can take up to three months as they could involve very old records on the basis of outdated or partial information.

Lost savings

A spokesman for the organisation says: “We are delighted that mylostaccount has helped hundreds of thousands of people to reclaim lost savings.  For each of them it means an end to a sometimes long search for funds they knew they had but couldn’t find.

“The wave of bank and building society mergers over the years has often made it difficult for customers to locate old accounts, but mylostaccount incorporates a tool allowing consumers to type in the name of the institution originally holding the account to discover who currently holds it.”

National Savings & Investment (NS&I)  - formerly The Post Office Savings Bank and National Savings – are responsible for Premium Bonds, Income Bonds and Children’s Bonds amongst other things.  They have been responsible for £498 million of the £645 million total and their spokesman said: “Even small amounts of money can help with the costs of day to day living, so it’s important people keep track of their savings.”

Let us help you

If you are hoping to recover some money from mis-sold PPI on  a loan, mortgage or credit card then Gladstone Brookes can help you to make a no hassle claim for what you believe is owed to you.

We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

With £15 billion already earmarked to pay compensation for successful claims, the banks are looking for a way to bring the curtain down on what has become the biggest mis-selling scandal in UK financial history.

Time bar

The discussions, which are being co-ordinated by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), are taking place while leading consumer affairs groups point out that the only people to benefit from such a time bar will be the banks themselves.  PPI has been mis-sold in the UK for more than a decade and consumers believe a deadline will unfairly limit their chances of trying to claim back money which is rightfully theirs.

City commentators claim the stance of Lloyds Banking Group will be crucial over whether or not the campaign continues.  Rumours have been circulating for several weeks that some of the banks feel a time bar will do more harm than good.

Plans for the proposed deadline would involve a massive advertising campaign by the banks asking anyone with a claim to make it before the deadline runs out several months later, generating a massive upsurge in complaints.

Exposure

Unnamed sources have claimed that Lloyds and HSBC are two of the banks thought to be  reconsidering their position.  Lloyds has by far the biggest exposure, having set aside almost half of the total £15 billion contingency fund. Barclays are said to be enthusiastic about setting a deadline.

However, a senior banker is reported as saying “If the big banks don’t all sign up to it it’s dead in the water as an idea.”

Set to rise

All the big banks increased their contingency funds when their annual figures were announced recently, but industry analysts believe the current £15 billion total cost is still set to rise significantly.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) have announced that they are receiving claims at the ‘unprecedented’ rate of 2,000 a day and they are only complaints which have previously been rejected by the banks.  The true rate of new claims is even higher than that.

Industry regulator FSA has already had talks with the banks about a possible time bar and says it is still open to discussing the idea but is concerned whether the banks have the operational capacity to handle the huge spike of new claims that would be generated by a massive advertising campaign.

An FSA spokesman said: “We will continue to hold discussions with the BBA as well as seeking the opinions of consumer groups and other stakeholders. However, no changes to existing FSA or future Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules will take place without a full public consultation.”

Don’t wait

Don’t wait until your bank gives you a deadline.  If you feel you have been mis-sold PPI then make your claim today.

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £301 million for our clients.

We achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 96% in a recent survey and making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

FSA managing director Martin Wheatley and Treasury Select Committee (TSC) chairman Andrew Tyrie MP discussed the issues and the TSC has expressed ‘interest’ in the review which will cover the ‘strategy and approach from firms involved in mis-selling.’

The review is expected to be completed before April when the FSA is replaced by the new Financial Conduct Authority of which Mr Wheatley is chief executive designate.

Criticised

Several senior figures in the financial sector have criticised the FSA for its actions over the PPI scandal in recent months.

Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) chief executive Natalie Ceeney accused the FSA of being ‘slow to act’ in 2011 when the scale of mis-selling became obvious after the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) lost  High Court judicial review into the way PPI claims were investigated.

Concern

She said: “PPI was flagged as a problem from 2006 and it was a systematic issue.  The FSA was slow to act and that is a concern.  When there are systematic issues we do really need the regulator to take early action.”

The FSA’s first estimate of the amount the banks would need to pay in compensation was £3 billion, but the total compensation for mis-sold PPI premiums paid to date is over £8.4 billion and analysts recently warned the Bank Of England that the total bill could rise to £25 billion after calculations were made using the FSA’s monthly PPI payout figures and historical selling data.

Are you owed money?

If you think that you are owed PPI you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards act now and ensure that you receive the redress that you may be owed!

Making a claim via Gladstone Brookes could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Gladstone Brookes has already recovered over £301 million for our clients and if you have been mis-sold our experts can help you recover what is rightfully yours.

The children from St Ann’s CE Primary School in Orford enjoyed a series of educational sporting themed events with help from the GB staff.

Split into teams, the children spent time researching a quiz on computers in the Wolf’s Den before trying their hand at custom designing their own rugby ball in the national colours of the country they had been researching for the quiz.  Then they lined up for the more physical side of the event, designed to develop ball handling skills and awareness of the game.

Involved

Beth Tracey who led the Gladstone Brookes team said: “As a Patron of the Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation we love to get involved in these events because it gives us the chance to give back to the local community and it’s also a great day, both for the kids and for us.”

Previous visits have been by Green Lane Community Special School and Meadowside County Primary from Clough Avenue. A further five schools are expected to take part in the six month project which will end with a tag rugby event in July.  Each school will be asked to enter a team of 10.

The next school to visit will be Cinnamon Brow Primary School who will take part in a Comic Relief Olympics on Red Nose Day – March 15^th.

Kick off

The Rugby League World Cup kick off is October 26^th with England v Australia at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.  The Halliwell Jones Stadium is the venue for New Zealand v Samoa on October 27^th and will also host one of the quarter finals on November 17^th.

Danny O’Brien greets the children

Researching the answers to the quiz on computer

GB’s Jonathan Sumner lends a helping hand

Lisa Hutt also helps the search for answers

Designing your own rugby ball takes concentration

Martin Haisley also got involved

Rugby handling skills were a fun part of the day

Learning ball handling can be fun

Ready for the race

Practicing her body swerve

All smile for the team picture

Of course that struggle got even more difficult when the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) scandal broke. The lender, like most of the other high street banks, was guilty of selling the expensive insurance policies to borrowers who didn’t want or need them.

As a result thousands of borrowers have made claims against the lender and it has set aside a whopping £1.7 billion in order to compensate victims of mis-selling.

Add to that several ‘computer glitches’ that left consumers frustrated and annoyed and things are looking decidedly bad for RBS.

But it gets worse…

Understandably confidence in the bank – as with much of the banking sector – is at an all time low. And the latest mis-selling crisis to engulf the industry is only making things worse.

The Swaps mis-selling scandal is the latest crisis to grab the headlines. Lenders, including RBS, sold expensive ‘hedging’ products to small businesses who took out loans. These products, known as Swaps, were supposed to protect businesses from rising interest rates.

However, the Bank of England interest rate began to fall once the credit crunch hit and is now at an all time low of 0.5%. As a result those businesses that took out Swaps are seriously missing out.

What’s more many of the businesses that took out the Swaps claim they were pushed into taking them by their lenders – including RBS.

Banks reportedly coerced their borrowers into taking the products and did not explain the downsides to them.

What the FSA say

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was forced it step in, stating “We found a number of cases of bad practice, including possible mis-selling, meaning that customers may be entitled to redress. We are in the process of writing to those who have already complained to us.”
The regulator has now called upon lenders to act.

RBS has so far set aside £50 million in order to compensate small businesses that were mis-sold Swaps. However, it has recently announced that this figure is likely to be increased significantly.

Indeed the lender now expects to set aside at least £500 million and as much as £1 billion in order to pay out businesses. And with its reputation so badly tarnished already the Swaps scandal is the last thing the lender needs.

The banks are now having to pay back more than the entire economies of Jamaica, Mozambique or Iceland.  Lloyds Banking Group has the largest single exposure of £6.8 billion  – as much as or more than the economies of 40 of the world’s countries, including Malta, Liberia and Barbados.

‘Feel good’

But it’s not all bad news as recent research by ING Direct attributes the £9 billion paid out so far to keeping the economy going and giving the man-in-the-street a ’feel good’ factor by boosting the nation’s disposable income.

The ING research claims that new car sales are up and lots of people are now undertaking home renovations which they desperately need but previously did not have the money for.  There is also evidence that some PPI payments have been used to pay for private medical care.

Windfall

The average PPI payout is around £2,700, though many people have won considerably more than this.  Although the money is compensation for what the consumer has already paid out, most recipients treat the cash as a windfall and pump it back into the economy by buying goods or services they otherwise could not have afforded.

Gladstone Brookes record payout so far was to a lady who received £93,000 back from PPI she had paid on her credit card over many years.

We have received a 96% satisfaction rate from our clients in a survey of 937 people who included Mrs Powell for whom we recovered £23,000 for eight successful cases and Mr Walsh who said recently: “I am over the moon. I thought I was owed about £600, and ended up with near on £10,000!”

Can we help you?

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes making your own claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The banks claimed there had to be a cut of point for customers intent on claiming back the money they were owed from PPI mis-selling. After a landmark ruling in 2011 gave consumers who had been victims of mis-selling in the past the chance to seek compensation, banks became inundated with claims.

As a result lenders, despite being in the wrong for mis-selling in the first place, asked the city regulator, the Financial Services Authority, to step in.

The FSA dismissed the banks’ calls, saying it would only consider a deadline if it thought banks were acting in the best interest of their customers.

Meanwhile, consumer champion Which? criticised the bank’s demands, stating that before even considering a deadline the banks should be contacting their customers who have been mis-sold insurance and helping them to make claims.

And now it seems the banks have decided to back down.

Why the change of heart?

Rumours are circulating that the main high street banks are set to do a u-turn and retract their calls for a PPI deadline. Reports suggest Lloyds Banking Group, the bank with the biggest PPI bill by far, will lead the way in backing down. But why?

The main reason lenders will decide against a deadline is to avoid any negative publicity that it would bring them. Since the mis-selling scandal first broke the reputation of banks and the financial services sector in general has been badly beaten. Coupled with the negative publicity brought by the credit crunch, it’s clear to see why lenders would want to avoid any more bad press.

A deadline for claims would obviously serve nobody but the banks. Lenders would be able to put a stop to claims while borrowers who didn’t make their claim before the deadline would lose out. Lloyds and the other banks must have realised their aim was transparent and as such decided to back down.

Nevertheless, consumers who believe they may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance should not wait around. If you think your policy was mis-sold do something about it today and get back the money that is rightfully yours.

Lloyds posts £570m loss

Lloyds Banking Group has posted pre-tax losses of £570 million for 2012, down from £3.5 billion in 2011.

The banking group has blamed the losses on the fact it has had to set aside billions in Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling provisions.

The lender set aside a further £1.5 billion in the last quarter of 2012 to compensate customers who had been mis-sold PPI. This brought the total amount set aside by Lloyds Banking Group for PPI provisions to £3.6 billion.

Only 25% prepared for retirement

Only a quarter of UK investors (25%) feel that they are, or will be, well prepared for retirement financially, with a small percentage (3%) saying they have no idea how they will fund their retirement, according to the TD Direct Investing Investor Poll.

The top ways in which UK investors plan to fund their retirement are through a government pension (57%), through their employers’ pension (56%), through an ISA (52%), using their regular savings account (48%) or with a personal pension (44%).

Stuart Welch, CEO, TD Direct Investing, says: “With three quarters of the population admitting they do not feel prepared for retirement – and with the end of the tax year just a matter of weeks away – it’s an ideal time for everyone to review their financial plans in order to get prepared.

“In April this year, the overall amount UK investors can put into a Stocks and Shares ISA will increase to £11,520 – and according to TD’s research, 52% of UK investors plan to fund their retirement through an ISA.”

Workers undecided on pensions

Britain’s workers remain undecided on retirement saving despite growing awareness of the government’s reforms, which will see millions of people automatically enrolled into a pension for the first time – Aviva’s second Working Lives report shows.

The success of the new workplace pension changes, which started to roll out in October 2012, hangs in the balance as many workers focus on making ends meet in challenging economic times, the research into UK private sector employees and employers outlines.

Mark Noble, Aviva’s managing director health and corporate benefits, says: “Getting millions more people saving for retirement for the first time during difficult times is a real challenge – but automatic enrolment presents us with a once in a generation opportunity to get this right.

“Automatic enrolment will only become game-changing if employers, their advisers and the wider industry create sustained communications and engagement in the workplace to encourage employees to save. It’s about understanding the needs and the circumstances of the actual employees in each business, not as a single group but in an individual way through face-to-face conversations and personalised planning tools.”

The losses show a 433% increase over the previous year and include another £1.1 billion being set aside to pay compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance. A further £390 million was set aside to pay the fine imposed for the bank’s part in the LIBOR rate fixing scandal.

Announcing losses for the fifth straight year since being bailed out by the Government in 2008, bank chairman Sir Philip Hampton admitted in a television interview he did not know if taxpayers would ever get back the £45 billion cost of the rescue.

Terrible mess

“We will do our best to see if the taxpayers’ money can be returned, but the bank was in a terrible mess if you go back four or five years. It needed substantial re-capitalisation.  Although we have had a difficult year I think we’re on track for recovery. It will be for the Government to decide when it sells its shares and how much they can get for them.  Our job is to put the bank fully back on its feet,” he said.

The bank announced it was paying £607 million in bonuses to its executives – despite the losses – but said that was down from the £789 million paid in 2012.  Money has been clawed back from previous years and the overall bonus pot reduced for the current year to recover £302 million to partially fund the payment of the LIBOR fine.

Tough to swallow

Addressing the issue of bonuses, Sir Philip said he understood that bonuses were ‘tough to swallow’ for the public but that levels are falling with this year’s figures for the markets business ‘a quarter of what they were four or five years ago.’

Chief executive Stephen Hester admitted 2012 had been ‘a chastening year’ for the bank ‘with another choppy year ahead of us.’

“2012 saw landmark achievements for RBS,” he said.  “It was also a chastening year.  Along with the rest of the banking industry we faced serious reputational challenges as we worked with regulators to put right past mistakes.”

Can we help you?

Are you one of the millions of people who have suffered one of the banking industry’s ‘past mistakes’?  The nation’s banks have already paid out more than £8 billion for mis-sold PPI policies, but top analysts are estimating the total compensation bill could reach £25 million.

Reclaiming what is rightfully yours is simple with Gladstone Brookes. We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £300 million for our clients.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The bank will announce their annual figures on March 1^st and it is believed that the directors will be making special recommendations to the remuneration committee which sets executive bonuses.

The claw back is possible because previously awarded bonuses are not paid up front but are spread out over several years.  The system allows for a scandal like the mis-selling of PPI to be taken into consideration with prior payouts being cut as the full implications of past actions becomes apparent.

Exposure

LBG has the biggest exposure of all the UK’s banks to the cost of mis-sold PPI policies. They have already set aside almost half of the £13 billion + contingency fund that the banking industry has set aside to pay compensation to clients who have been mis-sold.

There was further speculation recently that the bank might increase its £5.3 billion compensation  pot by a further billion when the full year results are announced.

Gladstone Brookes have recovered over £300 million for people who have claimed through us. We received a 97% satisfaction rate from our clients in a recent survey of 937.  These included Mr Jolly who said: “I think the service has been brilliant from Gladstone Brookes. I am delighted with the outcome.  Gladstone Brookes have been very professional from start to finish.”  Miss Frazer said: “I was extremely happy with the service I received.  I was only expecting £2,000 and ended up with over £6,500! My claim was settled quickly and I was really impressed with the updates I received throughout the claim. I knew what I was paying from day 1 with no hidden costs and I’ve already referred two friends in a similar situation.”

Can we help you?

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler.

Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

What is bedroom tax?

Despite the name ‘bedroom tax’ now being commonly accepted, the changes the government are set to impose in April do not actually involve the introduction of a tax. Indeed, the bedroom tax is not actually a tax at all.

The changes being introduced apply to housing benefit. Those people claiming housing benefit usually receive between £50 and £100 a week. However, the government is trying to cut the benefits bill significantly and wants to reduce the amount of housing benefit given to some people.

Anyone deemed to be living in a house that is ‘too big’ for their needs will start receiving less benefit. If the local authorities believe you have too much space your housing benefit will be cut.

The size of the reduction will depend upon how much extra space a tenant has. If they have one spare room their housing benefit will be cut by 14%. If they have two spare rooms their housing benefit will be cut by 25%.

What is ‘too much space’?

According to the new rules every adult or couple in a property will be allowed their own bedroom. Children under the age of 16 and of the same gender will have to share a room. All children under the age of 10, regardless of gender, will have to share.

Who will be affected?

The changes will only affect council tenants and housing association tenants. If you rent a property from a private landlord you will not be affected.

Are there any exceptions?

Pensioners will be exempt from the cut. For a couple, only one person needs to be of pensionable age in order to escape the cut.

Parents who have a child away at university will be allowed to keep his or her bedroom, without facing a reduction in housing benefit, as long as the student stays at home for at least two weeks a year.

Anyone with a spare bedroom – for example a divorced parent who has a spare room for when their child/children come to stay – will see a reduction in their housing benefit.

With the Financial Services Authority implementing new rules regarding packaged account this March, industry commentators are predicting these accounts will be the next big mis-selling scandal. But what are they? How do they work? And why were they mis-sold?

What are packaged accounts?

Packaged accounts are fee-charging current accounts. Customers will pay a monthly fee for their account and in return will receive a variety of extra features – namely insurance policies. These policies can include travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and even car insurance.

There are other benefits too including overdraft facilities and even cashback but it is generally the insurance policies that offer the biggest draw. However, it is these that are also causing the most problems.

Why were they mis-sold?

Much like with PPI, the problem with packaged accounts is they were often sold to people who couldn’t actually benefit from their features. Just as PPI was, on many occasions, sold to borrowers who already had cover in place or who wouldn’t have been eligible to claim on the insurance policy because of their medical history or employment status, packaged accounts were sold to people who could not use the insurance on offer or did not need it.

For example, many customers had reached the age limit for the insurance policy on offer and would not be able to use it yet were still encouraged to take a packaged account.

Advisers at banks made a huge commission by selling these accounts so were only too keen to push them onto unsuspecting customers.

Now what?

The industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has now stepped in to make sure this type of mis-selling ends. Banks have been ordered to ensure their customers are eligible for the insurance policies that come with packaged accounts before making the sale.

What’s more, banks must also provide regular eligibility statements to keep customers up to date as to whether they are still able to make use of the insurance policies and to inform them if they are approaching or have reached the age limit for their travel insurance.

The new rules come into effect in March of this year however there are concerns that those borrowers who have already bought packaged accounts that they should not have been sold may consider making a claim against their lenders.

Staff from Gladstone Brookes – a patron of the Wolves Foundation – were on hand to help the children through the hour long class at the Orford Park sports complex.

The partnership between GB and the Wolves is aimed at providing educational experiences for local children and in this case a group of children with additional needs met up with Great Britain’s number one wheelchair fencer.

Vital

Adrian has won three gold and two silver medals in international competitions since first picking up a sword just over three years ago and believes passionately in passing along his love of the sport to children.  He said: “It’s vital that children get the chance to try a sport like this for its long term future and it proves very popular because most of them have seen sword play in films and are fascinated.”

The Wolves Foundation run the sport camp at Orford Park to offer a variety of sporting experiences to young people with additional needs, their friends and siblings.  Sports available include: football, rugby, handball, badminton, golf and archery.

Gladstone Brookes sales advisor Declan Clarke enjoys his work with the Foundation and is pleased to be part of the company’s involvement in the local community.

Exciting

He said: “I enjoy getting involved with the kids. It gives them something different and exciting to do. It’s not every day you get the chance to meet an international gold medallist.  Doing something like this also gives their parents a break during the half term holiday.

“Working with handicapped children is rewarding too.  They all have special needs and I enjoy it because we are giving them opportunities they might never have had to do everyday things as well as meeting and working with someone special like Adrian,” he added.

The move comes just three months after the previous £1 billion hike and though the bank may be hoping this will be the last increase required media commentators say it throws doubt on whether that will be so.

Increase

The bank is also poised to dramatically increase its provision for another mis-selling saga – mis-sold interest rate swap products.  They have already set aside £90 million to compensate businesses, but it is believed this could rise to £200 million when their annual figures are announced on March 1^st.

It is believed that the bank are currently sifting through records on the thousands of firms sold the complex investment products which were designed to protect them against a rise in costs, but the number were mis-selling can be proven may only run into the hundreds.  LBG still has 6,000 staff working on PPI complaints.

Pre-tax loss

All of this will contribute to a predicted £1.4 billion pre-tax loss for the taxpayer owned banking group.

Ian Gordon, a banking analyst at Investec, has predicted this figure which has been swelled by higher costs and other one-off provisions.

The annual figures will also spotlight the emotive issue of bankers’ bonuses.  LBG chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio is in line for a total of £4.4 million in bonuses and share awards.  Antony Jenkins of Barclays and Stephen Hester at Royal Bank Of Scotland have already waived their annual bonuses in the wake of different scandals including the LIBOR rate rigging.

Make a no hassle claim with GB

Let Gladstone Brookes help you to make a no hassle claim for any PPI you believe is owed to you on loans, credit cards or mortgages

We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £301 million for our clients like the man who took out a series of loans with Natwest and never asked for PPI to be added to any of them.  He struggled to make ends meet for 10 years before he saw an advert for Gladstone Brookes on mis-sold PPI and decided to see if he was owed anything.  As a result of the claim Gladstone Brookes made for him he has now received a payout of £13,927.44 from Natwest which has changed his life.

Making your own claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Last week Lloyds TSB was fined £4.3 million for failing to pay compensation quickly enough to thousands of their customers who had been mis-sold payment protection insurance. Almost 9,000 people had to wait over six months for their payments.

Attacked

Now financial journalist Jeff Prestidge has attacked the banks for trying put a time limit on when their customers can make a claim for mis-selling.

“It seems a bit rich for the banks to be asking the regulator to impose a spring 2014 deadline,” he said. “They would be wiser putting all their energies into cleaning up the PPI mess they have created.  Only then should they get a receptive ear from the regulator.”

The British Bankers Association is understood to still be in talks with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about imposing the time limit on claims despite rumours that some of its members don’t feel it’s a good idea because of the large degree of hostility from many consumer lobbying groups.

Estimates

The banks have seen estimates of the cost of the mis-selling scandal soar from an initial £3 billion suggested by the FSA to £8.4 billion already paid out and a contingency fund of £13 billion+  earmarked by the banks to pay compensation on successful claims.

The Bank Of England have been warned that the final cost could be as high as £25 billion after calculations were made using the FSA’s monthly PPI payout figures and historical selling data.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £300 million for our clients.

We achieved a satisfaction rate of 96% in a survey which included Mr Catchpole of East Yorkshire who received £6,621.77 after Gladstone Brookes appealed his case to the Financial Ombudsman Service for him. Gladstone Brookes also successfully recovered £26,461.59 for Mr & Mrs Matthews of Hampshire  – £6,431.67 in a cash lump sum and a reduction in their loan by £20,029.92, saving them £101 each month for the remainder of the  loan.

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website.  Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has been fined £4.3 million for causing undue delay to payments for successful claims and FOS recently produced figures showing that at one point in 2011 97% of cases previously rejected by the bank were overturned in favour of the consumer.

Quickly and fairly

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which? magazine, said: “Banks must deal with complaints quickly and fairly and help consumers claim back the compensation they are due without hassle.

“We want to see the FSA continue to take action against any firm dragging its feet over settling complaints.”

Recent responses on PPI mis-selling forums seems to indicate that the banks are in a war of attrition against those trying to reclaim their mis-sold PPI premiums.

One industry commentator says the banks are ‘relying on people’s confusion, ignorance or simple lack of time to ensure that a fair chunk of those entitled to payouts won’t take up their rights.’

Millions of pounds

Dissuading large numbers of potential claimants by making the claims process difficult for them could save the banks millions of pounds.  Consumers are being urged to persevere with their claims and overcome obstacles placed in their path.

Worried banks have been trying to persuade the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to impose a deadline on new claims to try to stem the flow of claims which has already forced them to set aside more than £13 billion to pay compensation to successful claimants.

Financial analysts have suggested that there are millions more claims still to be made and the final bill for compensation could rise as high as £24 billion.

Let us take the strain

Make a no hassle claim via Gladstone Brookes and we promise to persevere on your behalf to reclaim the money which may be due to you.

We are PPI reclaim specialists who have so far recovered over £301 million for our clients.  Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

The event was the second of Gladstone Brookes’ charity fundraisers following on from the £1,000 + Christmas Toy Appeal.

More planned

More events are planned for the rest of the year including Wear Your Wellies To Work, a fundraiser for Help For Heroes on Armed Forces Day in June, Wear Pink To Work in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness and the BBC’s Children in Need in November.

Charity committee chair Kelly Archbold said: “It was a good day and nice to see all three buildings working together to raise money for such a good cause. We’re looking forward to our next event – Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day on March 15th.”

Unemployment still a problem for older workers

Despite improvements, over 50s are more likely to be unemployed longer term than younger people, figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed.
Paul Green, director of communications at Saga, says: “Unemployment for people over 50 has reduced by 8,000 people in the last quarter from 397,000 to 389,000. This is also a significant reduction from the 424,000 unemployed older people the same time a year ago.

“While it is encouraging to see levels of employment improve for older generations, of those unemployed people over 50, just less than half of them (177,000 people) have been without work for 12 months or more, revealing that older workers are more likely to be unemployed longer term and find it more difficult to get a new job than younger age groups.

“As people in later life are more likely to bring extensive knowledge and experience to a job, Saga encourages employers to be more open to employing older workers.”

A third of UK drivers auto renew car insurance

New research from Gocompare.com has revealed that 8.7 million (31%) UK drivers allowed their car insurer to automatically extend their policy for another year the last time they received their renewal.

Of the drivers who didn’t simply automatically renew their insurance last time, almost half (48%) were prompted to act by the need to save money, and 35% just didn’t trust their insurer to give them the best deal year after year.

Scott Kelly, head of motor services at Gocompare.com, says: “Drivers who allow their car insurance policies to auto-renew and expect to get the best deal are kidding themselves. Renewal documents often start by explaining that you don’t need to do anything for your cover to continue. Unfortunately, they don’t explain that doing nothing is the worst thing to do if you want to be sure you’re getting the most competitive premium and still have the cover you need.”

Just four in ten consumers trust energy suppliers

New research reveals that just four in ten consumers trust Britain’s energy suppliers.
According to the study by uSwitch.com complaints, poor customer service and record-high energy prices have all contributed to consumer trust crumbling.

Of those who distrust their supplier, almost half (48%) say it’s because they do not give good value for money while 37% blame a lack of openness or transparency. However, poor communication also seems to be key – a quarter (25%) distrust their supplier because they don’t provide easy-to-understand bills and information, while 17% think suppliers communicate with them badly and 12% say they make it difficult for the consumer to communicate with them.

With the current emphasis on cutting energy costs, whether through energy efficiency or moving to a better deal, a third of those who don’t trust their supplier (33%) say it’s because they don’t try to help people to reduce their energy bills.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, says: “The breakdown in trust between consumers and energy suppliers is symptomatic of a far deeper malaise. The simple fact is that this market is not working for consumers, which is why it’s now critical that Ofgem gets the prescription right and sets it firmly on the road to recovery.”

Following the interest rate swaps scandal, which came to light last year, four banks have been instructed by the Financial Services Authority to work towards compensating small businesses that were victims of mis-selling.

Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland will now have to review all of their sales of interest rates swaps products to small businesses.

Martin Wheatley, CEO designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, says: “Small businesses will now see the result of the revieew as the banks look at their individual cases. Where redress is due, businesses will be put back into the position they should have been without the mis-sale. But it is important to remember that this review is firmly focused on the particular circumstances of each sale. These will determine whether there were failings in the sales process and, if so, whether redress is due.”

What are swaps?

Swaps or swap agreements were financial contracts sold to many small businesses when they took out loans. The purpose of these contracts was, supposedly, to protect the borrower from rising interest rates. Swaps agreements offered a form of insurance against rising rates.

However, many businesses took these ‘contracts’ out before the credit crunch hit. Once the downturn began and interest rates began to tumble those businesses with swaps agreements found themselves locked into contracts and paying very high rates while other businesses benefited from the interest rate cuts.

How were they mis-sold?

Much like the PPI scandal, failure to ensure the customer (in this case the business) understood the product they were purchasing was at the root of the mis-selling.

Many businesses now claim that they felt they were sold these products without fully understanding what they were buying. Lenders were so keen to make a sale they failed to give the customer all the information they needed in order to make an informed decision on whether or not they wanted the product.

What’s more, a large number of businesses say they were pressured into taking out these swap agreements, claiming they were told if they didn’t buy these additional products they would not be given the loan they needed.

What happens now?

The FSA is currently working on a report on a further six banks which is set to be published in the next few weeks.

Figures show that the total payout in December 2012 was £360 million – the lowest since October 2011. The payout peak is shown as May 2012 with £735 million being paid in a single month.

The high street banks are believed to have paid out around £8.5 billion in claims so far and, though they have earmarked over £13 billion to pay out claims, many analysts are predicting this will not be enough.

Increased by £500 million

Despite claims that PPI compensation payouts are slowing, Barclays have just increased their provision by £500 million and it is expected that a similar amount will be announced by the Lloyds Banking Group when they announce their annual figures on March 1st. Royal Bank Of Scotland are expected to set aside a further £400 million.

LBG fined

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has been fined £4.3 million for delaying payments to clients who had successfully reclaimed mis-sold PPI premiums.

The fine is the first ever imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) specifically for delaying payouts to customers, some of whom were kept waiting more than six months for their money after LBG had agreed to pay them out.

Are you owed money?

If you think that you are owed PPI you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards act now and ensure that you receive the redress that you may be owed!

Making a claim via Gladstone Brookes could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Gladstone Brookes has already recovered over £301 million for our clients and if you have been mis-sold our experts can help you recover what is rightfully yours.

The City watchdog says that three of the group’s businesses – Lloyds TSB, Lloyds TSB Scotland and the Bank Of Scotland – delayed paying redress to more than 140,000 of its customers, including 25,000 which ‘inadvertently fell out of the process.’

Let customers down

Tracey McDermott, FSA director of enforcement and financial crime, said: “The industry let customers down badly in relation to the sale of PPI. The significant volume of complaints is a product of Lloyds own failings and the least customers can now expect is that redress, when it is due, will be paid promptly.”

LBG sent 582,206 offer letters to successful PPI claimants between May 2011 and March 2012 stating that they hoped to make the payments within 28 days, but for some the wait was much longer. Around 87,000 customers had to wait 45 days, 56,000 were kept waiting for over 80 days and 29,000 over 90 days. The longest wait was over six months for 8,800 consumers and a further 24,589 payments were only made after the successful claimants started chasing their payouts.

Deficiencies

FSA rules state that redress should be paid promptly, but when clients called in to chase their payments ‘deficiencies in its process meant LBG was not able to fast-track the payment to the customer, inform them when the payment would be made or explain why it had been delayed.’
The investigation found Lloyds had ‘failings in their systems and controls’ including failing to:

• Establish an adequate process for preparing redress payments for PPI
• Give staff the knowledge or experience to ensure the redress system worked properly
• Track PPI redress payments
• Monitor whether it was making all of the redress payments it should do

Breaches

Tracey McDermott said: “In short Lloyds redress payment systems fell well below the standard the FSA expects and the size of this fine reflects how seriously we view these breaches….. PPI is an area of continuing focus for the FSA and we continue to monitor how firms handle the complaints and pay redress.”

The FSA further commented that the size of the fine took into account Lloyds TSB’s past record. In 2003 it was fined £1.9 million for sales of high income bonds, £3.5 million in 2011 for mishandling complaints and £4.2 million for incorrect mortgage terms.

LBG is the second bank this year to be fined for delaying payouts to its customers. The Co-operative Bank was fined £113,000 for failing to process complaints quickly and fairly.

An LBG spokesman said that when the bank started compensating its customers for mis-sold PPI in 2011 it ‘had not fully anticipated the volume of complaints to be processed at the outset and experienced some administrative errors as we scaled up our systems and processes.’

He added: “We acknowledge this led to some customers not being compensated on time and we apologise to those customers whose payments were delayed. It is important to note that almost all customers who were due redress during the review period have now been paid in full and …… we have taken steps to ensure customers have not been financially disadvantaged.”

Make a no hassle claim

Let Gladstone Brookes help you to make a no hassle claim for any PPI you believe is owed to you.
We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £301 million for our clients. Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Furthermore, one in ten customers were given, what is classed as ‘unsuitable’ advice.

After the results were released the Financial Services Consumer Panel claimed consumers should be able to expect more than this. The Panel claimed more transparency was needed in order to ensure customers received a fair service.

Adam Philips, chair of the Consumer Panel, says: “We are keen to see the FSA identify the institutions giving particularly bad advice, not least because the name of one appears to be already in the public domain. The anonymity of these institutions means that consumers are kept in the dark. People should be aware of wrongful behaviour and given the opportunity to take their business elsewhere.”

So why is it so important that banks are transparent?

To answer this question we first need to look at what transparency is. To be transparent in this situation simply means to be honest and open about your offering. You want your bank to be upfront with you about the services it is offering you. You want to be able to trust the bank. That’s why transparency is so important.

Borrowers want to be able to see what they’re getting and what they’re paying for. This information should be clear and easy to understand for the customer. It should be readily available and should not contain anything that could lead to mis-understanding.

Following the PPI mis-selling scandal confidence in the UK banking sector hit all time lows. Consumers, already scarred by the credit crunch, lost all faith in their lenders. How could they trust a bank that actively sold products to consumers who did not need or want them, under false pretences?

Even as banks set aside billions of pounds to compensate customers who have been mis-sold, confidence remains low. This, of course, isn’t helped by the fact many lenders are still trying to shift the blame for the scandal away from themselves.

In order to restore some faith in the banking sector lenders must ensure they are wholly transparent in their product offering and in the way in which they treat customers. Another scandal like the PPI mis-selling crisis could be the final nail in the coffin for consumer trust in banks.

The bank’s exposure to the mis-selling scandal is much less than Lloyds. They have set aside £538 million whereas the bill for Lloyds is expected to top £5.3 billion.

Juan Rodriguez Inciarte, executive vice president of the Spanish bank and deputy chairman of Santander UK, said: “The UK is a complicated market because people often complain they did not understand something and that is not always true.

Lose money

“When you invest in a product you should know you could lose money. It’s human nature to complain when you lose money, not when you earn money.”

But Alliance & Leicester – one of the Santander brands – holds the dubious honour of being the bank to have received the biggest fine to date from the industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Serious failings

In 2008 Alliance & Leicester were fined £7 million for ‘serious failings in its telephone sales of payment protection insurance.’ They were also ordered to write out to all their PPI customers warning them that they may have been mis-sold their policy.

FSA Director of Enforcement, Margaret Cole, said: “The failings at A&L were the most serious we have found. This is reflected in the record PPI fine.”

Santander have also found themselves under a new cloud with a further fine on the horizon after a ‘mystery shopping’ exercise by the FSA found that they had breached the rules on giving investment advice.

Unsuitable products

The FSA investigated six banks and building societies using researchers posing as customers seeking to invest a lump sum. The investigation found that some retail customers were steered towards unsuitable products.

According to the investigation report the advice given by all six firms in the survey was inconsistent with 75% being good but in 11% of cases the advice given was unsuitable and in 15% the advisors did not obtain enough information to make a proper recommendation.

Santander stopped taking on new investment clients in December but have said they will continue to advise existing customers.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the world of financial assistance and we have already recovered more than £301 million in mis-sold PPI premiums for our clients.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

If it happens the split would deal a death blow to the banks’ attempts to present a united front in their attempts to secure a cut-off date for future claims.

Sky News has claimed that at least one of the major high street banks is having second thoughts about the industry’s campaign for a time bar and is likely to put pressure on the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) to drop the scheme.

The BBA has been in talks for several months with the Financial Services Authority (FSA), trying to get the time bar established as soon as possible in an attempt to limit the final bill for mis-sold policies.

Hostile reaction

It is understood that a number of the banks have become concerned about the hostile reaction to the plan from many consumer lobbying groups who argue that a time limit on claims would be unjust given the scale of the mis-selling in the past.

The widespread mis-selling of PPI has become the biggest ever financial scandal in the UK. It has already cost the banks more than £8 billion in payouts and some financial experts are claiming the final bill could rise as high as £24 billion.

It is believed that around 3 million consumers have already successfully claimed back their PPI premiums, but this is only about 10% of the PPI policies sold. Industry commentators have been suggesting in recent weeks that the £13.8 billion already ear-marked by the banks to pay out claims will not be enough.

Run out

Which? magazine has claimed that if successful complaints continue to rise at current levels the money already set aside will run out by the end of the year and in the case of Lloyds TSB it could run out as soon as the end of March.

Barclays added £600 million to its compensation provision earlier this month and the other major players are expected to announce their own increases alongside their annual results which will be published in the next few weeks.

The BBA commented: “We are working with our members on a number of aspects of PPI complaints. The on-going work focuses on addressing backlogs and making sure that customers can be confident that the offers they receive are right.

Unable to comment

“Discussions with the FSA to clarify the parameters of their complaints handling guidance are on-going. We are unable to comment further at this stage.”

The FSA has confirmed that it has been talks with the BBA about a time limit but would ensure the banks funded a huge advertising campaign to make sure there was sufficient awareness of the PPI issues.

A spokesman said: “Our key priority is to make sure consumers are protected so the FSA board would need to be convinced that any proposals would be in the interests of consumers……….No changes to existing FSA rules would take place without full public consultation.”

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Gladstone Brookes has become a national brand in the field of financial assistance and has already recovered more than £301 million for our clients.

We achieved a satisfaction rate of 96% in a survey which included Mr Lee who said: “Delighted with service, fast and efficient and a very good result.” Miss Frazer added: “I was extremely happy with the service I received. I was only expecting £2,000 and ended up with over £6,500! My claim was settled quickly and I was really impressed with the updates I received throughout the claim. I knew what I was paying from day 1 with no hidden costs and I’ve already referred two friends in a similar situation.”

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website. Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

Labour peer John McFall accused the bank of avoiding regulatory enforcement in 2008 due to its size and legal resources while smaller banks were fined. This refers to the £1 million fine levied by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on HFC Bank because the bank put its customers ‘at an unacceptable risk of being sold PPI when it was not suitable for them.’

Pressured the FSA

Baron McFall claimed Lloyds TSB had pressured the FSA into dropping any enforcement action following a two year investigation into the bank’s actions.
He said: “Lloyds bullied to make sure enforcement did not take place”, but Lloyds chairman Winfried Bischoff denied this had happened, saying the bank did not bully the FSA ‘in any way.’
The bank was further accused of failing to acknowledge the scale of the problem early enough and criticised for its decision to await the outcome of the British Bankers’ Association judicial review challenge to an FSA ruling on the mis-selling of PPI rather than initiate client contact and pay redress.

Change the rules

It has emerged that Lloyds chief executive Antonio Hortas-Osorio, who appeared before the Commission with Mr Bischoff has written to Justice Secretary Chris Grayling to ask him to change the rules on the payment of a £850 fee to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) each time a case is referred to them for adjudication.
The Lloyds chief claims that many of the cases submitted ‘are without merit’, claiming a quarter of cases submitted to Lloyds turned out to be false.

However, FOS chief executive Natalie Ceeney has publicly challenged that claim and said that many claims which were dismissed later turned out to be justified when investigated by FOS. Figures released by FOS have shown that at one point last year 97% of cases rejected by Lloyds were upheld after a FOS appeal.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Experts have claimed that many people who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance are either not aware they have it or are unsure whether it was of any use to them.

Gladstone Brookes are experts in recovering PPI which has been mis-sold to our clients. We have recovered of £310 million so far, including over £9.2 million in January 2013 alone.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Gladstone Brookes staff were on hand to help out when the 36 children arrived for a fun-packed day themed around the Rugby League World Cup which kicks off with England v Australia in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on October 26th. The Halliwell Jones Stadium is the venue for New Zealand v Samoa on October 27th and will also host one of the quarter finals on November 17th.

The 8-10 year olds from Years 5 and 6 at Meadowside split into two teams to share activities throughout the day. The morning was taken up with one team playing tag rugby while the other took part in a Rugby League World Cup quiz and designed their own rugby balls. The balls were later signed by Gladstone Brookes sponsored Warrington centre James Mendeika before the teams swapped activities. The afternoon session was all go with one team tackling the Fun Wall Challenge while the others played Try Time Tussle on a specially designed inflatable with the teams swapping activities again half way through the afternoon so everyone had the chance to try everything.

James Mendeika joined in the activities throughout the day and was then assisted by Wolves mascot Wolfie in giving out certificates of achievement. The designer rugby balls were delivered to the school later.

Year 5 winner Billy and Year 6 winner Sarah pictured with James and Wolfie

Gladstone Brookes charity co-ordinator Stuart Farley said: “This was another very successful day and the kids really enjoyed themselves, especially getting the chance to meet James.”
Charity committee chair Kelly Archbold said: “Gladstone Brookes went into 2013 with the aim of helping to make a difference in the local community by helping out local charities wherever possible. If you are a local charity which would like the help and support of Gladstone Brookes please email CommitteeCharityEvents@gladstonebrookes.co.uk

Giving evidence to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards he claimed the biggest mis-selling scandal in British history was caused by a misunderstanding between the banks and City watchdogs.

The American born banker said “There were certainly cases where customer did not receive the right product and were not told the full details and for that I am deeply regretful. However, I don’t believe that’s the majority of cases. The vast majority are not related to that but to a difference of understanding between the industry and the regulator.”

Ripped off

He came under attack from Labour peer John McFall who claimed PPI had a commission rate of 87%. Lord McFall also cited a series of warnings about PPI policies going back 10 years saying: “It would seem as if the whole world knew about PPI mis-selling and customers being ripped off but the board of Lloyds. You were just going to go on and make your profits.”

But Mr Daniels refused to concede. Referring to the bank’s compliance with FSA rules he said: “We thought we were on the side of the angels. We were responsible.” He told the hearing: “I believe customers did know what they were buying. I think they got good value. When we priced PPI we built the product that was the most generous in the market. We gave a very competitive price for a very valuable product and I think the customers enjoyed that.”

Bogus claims

He claimed that in the early days of the PPI mis-selling saga that large numbers of claims were paid back to customers ‘on an industrial scale’ because that was easier. He told the MPs and peers: “I have heard that a fair amount of bogus claims have been paid out as they were so overwhelming staff could not tell if a claim was bogus or not in the timeframe set by the ombudsman. So a fair amount of claims paid out were not legitimate, certainly in the early days. I’m not sure if it is still going on.”

Asked if he could put a number on how many claims were not legitimate he said: “The outright bogus claims that came in template form that were never customers of Lloyds. So 50% were never customers and never took the product. Of those that did take the product or were customers we maintain we upheld the standards of the time.”

Overturned

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has recently released figures which showed that at one point last year 98% of claims which had been rejected by Lloyds were overturned in favour of the client.

In 2010 Lloyds were instrumental, along with other members of the British Bankers’ Association, in calling for a judicial review into the way PPI claims should be investigated. In the following year the High Court passed a ruling which meant Britain’s banks were forced to re-open thousands of PPI mis-selling claims.

Mr Daniels was asked if he thought the banks had made a “calamitous misjudgement” in calling for the review because when they lost it paved the way for a flood of claims. He replied: “This has taken on proportions no-one could have anticipated. I would agree that compensation paid out has far exceeded any estimate by the regulator and the industry,” he said.

The evidence given to the commission differs markedly from that given by Helen Weir who headed Lloyds retail division between 2008 and 2010. Appearing before the hearing last month she acknowledged that the banking industry had mis-sold PPI along credit cards and loans.
“I acknowledge the mis-selling of PPI across the industry and at Lloyds and apologise wholeheartedly for my part in that,” she said, adding that she regretted that the scandal had led to a breakdown in trust by customers and had damaged banks’ relationships with the Financial Services Authority.

The banks have so far paid out over £8 billion in compensation for mis-sold PPI of which Lloyds TSB has paid the lion’s share. The industry has set aside £13.6 billion to pay claims, but Which? magazine has claimed the money will run out before the end of 2013 and that Lloyds might even run out money by the end of March.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Let Gladstone Brookes help you to make a no hassle claim for any PPI you believe is owed to you.
We are a PPI reclaim specialist who have so far recovered over £301 million for our clients. Making a claim is as simple as 1-2-3

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website
2. We send your claim pack – just sign and return
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more

Quarter of people don’t want to retire

Nearly a quarter (24%) of people planning to retire this year say they don’t feel ready to stop work yet, and more than a fifth (21%) say they don’t like the idea of being at home all of the time in retirement, according to new figures from Prudential.

Its Class of 2013 research tracks the plans and expectations of people entering retirement this year.
Nearly six in ten (57%) of this year’s retirees say they would consider working past the State Pension Age, with two fifths (40%) of those wanting to work in full-time employment and three fifths (60%) considering working part-time.

This motivation for continuing to work is not just financial. More than half (55%) of those considering working past State Pension Age believe it would keep their minds and bodies active and healthy, compared with 40% who are motivated by boosting their retirement incomes. Almost as many (38 %) say they would be happy to work on simply because they enjoy working so much.

Panel calls for more transparency to stop mis-selling

The Financial Services Consumer Panel has welcomed the publication of the FSA’s mystery shopping exercise into the quality of lump sum investment advice given to retail clients.
Carried out between March and September 2012, the exercise revealed one in four customers was given poor advice, with as many as one in ten being given unsuitable advice.

Adam Phillips, chair of the Consumer Panel, says: “We would have expected much better results given the FSA’s recent focus on investment advice. These findings are very disappointing. They do however highlight the importance of mystery shopping. Consumers should be entitled to expect more from financial institutions.

“We are keen to see the FSA identify the institutions giving particularly bad advice, not least because the name of one appears to be already in the public domain. The anonymity of these institutions means that consumers are kept in the dark. People should be aware of wrongful behaviour and given the opportunity to take their business elsewhere.”

Pipework problems lead insurance claims

Problem pipework tops the list of home insurance claims, new research has revealed.
Leaking water from plumbing takes the number one spot for the most frequent claims, according to data from Aviva, followed by storm and accidental damage. Theft lies in fourth place and fire, which covers damage from small cigarette burns to major house fires, is in fifth place on the list which combines the number of claims made for both buildings and contents insurance.

Caroline Cooper, director of property claims at Aviva, says: “While freeze, floods and storm damage have hit the headlines in recent months and kept our claims teams busy, it’s no surprise to see that it’s the more normal everyday problems that can prompt most calls from customers. What can start as a small leak, or a frozen pipe, can lead to serious damage to ceilings, floors and your prized possessions if left un-checked or unnoticed over time.

“If you do find a leak then it’s worth getting it checked out by a plumber as soon as possible to prevent the problem getting any worse and, of course, ring your insurers who can fix any damage caused by leaking water.”

The FSA investigated six banks and building societies using researchers posing as customers seeking to invest a lump sum. The investigation found that some retail customers were steered towards unsuitable products.

Disappointed

Spokesman Clive Adamson said: “This review shows that customers are not consistently getting the quality of advice on their investments that they should expect when visiting an advisor in a bank or building society. Whilst we are disappointed by the results of this review we are encouraged by the action that the firms involved have taken to rectify the situation for their customers.”

An FSA enforcement investigation can result in a fine or censure or may be dropped altogether if it’s found no rules were actually broken.

None of the firms investigated was named by the FSA but BBC Scotland’s business editor Douglas Fraser revealed he had learned that “Santander appears to be the bank with most problems around its financial advice to customers.”

A Santander spokesman commented: “We continue to believe it is important to offer customers a broad range of financial products which are suitable to their needs and individual situations, and we are working towards that objective.”

To review advice

In a statement the bank said it is continuing to review advice given around investment products. Its 800 in-branch financial advisors stopped giving advice in December in the wake of the report’s recommendations. They are now said to be considering strategic options for the division though no jobs are currently at risk. The bank will continue to give advice to existing customers, but will not seek new business.

The FSA said that the advice given by all six firms in the survey was inconsistent with 75% being good but in 11% of cases the advice given was unsuitable and in 15% the advisors did not obtain enough information to make a proper recommendation.
Among the problems found with sales staff across all the firms mystery shopped were:

• Not assessing the level of risk that customers were prepared to take with their lump sum investment.
• No adequately assessing their financial circumstances and needs.
• Not properly gauging how long customers wanted to hold the investments.

Improvements

A spokesman for the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) pointed out that most of the advice given had been suitable and added that restrictions on sales commission should already have led to improvements while agreeing that more could still be done.

A spokesman said: “Any examples of advisors failing to gather enough information on their customers and not recommending the right products is unacceptable. This exercise took place before the industry implemented new FSA rules which mean advisors are now better trained and not paid commission for making sales.”

Commentators, including The Wall Street Journal, are seeing the financial advice review as part of the FSA’s attempts to get the banks to clean up their acts after the PPI mis-selling scandal which has already cost more than £8 billion to pay compensation to consumers and has forced the banks to set aside £13 billion with the figure being continually reviewed.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Gladstone Brookes has already recovered over £301 million for our clients and if you have been mis-sold our experts can help you recover what is rightfully yours.

Borrowers who had knowingly taken out PPI did so because they wanted to ensure their loan, credit card or mortgage repayments would be covered should they become unable to work. However, many were mis-sold their policies and, unbeknownst to them, would never have been able to make a claim on their policies because of, amongst other things, their employment status, employee benefits or medical history.

The scandal is on a scale not seen before and it has meant many people have lost confidence in financial services altogether. As a result, people are turning their backs on financial products that they may actually need.

Is protection important?

Protection products on the whole can be very useful. Insurance should give consumers the peace of mind of knowing they are covered financially in any eventuality. Indeed, in principle Payment Protection Insurance was a good product. However not everyone qualified for it (although sadly, too many were sold it regardless).

Borrowers should not discount all protection products as a result of the PPI scandal.

Why income protection is a better alternative

Income protection does what PPI claimed to do and a lot more to boot. Whereas PPI was designed to cover specific loan or mortgage repayments should the borrower become unable to work, income protection actually covers all or part of your income. That means you will receive a monthly sum, just like a salary, every month for a certain period. The length of this period depends upon your policy but is usually either one or two years.

There is also more flexibility in terms of when the payments will begin. For example, if you are unable to work because you fall ill and your employer pays sick pay for a certain number of months, you can time your income protection payments to begin after your sick pay ends.

Check before you buy

Of course as with any policy there will be criteria you have to meet in order for your policy to pay out and certain things may not be covered by certain policies (existing medical conditions for example). Therefore it’s vital that you read the small print on any policy before you take it.

However, another benefit of income protection is you can actually shop around to find the best product for you, as opposed to having it pushed upon you by your bank. This means you have more chance of finding a good deal.

Payment protection insurance is a product designed to fund payments on your loan, mortgage or credit card if you are unable to keep up the instalments through accident, sickness or unemployment.

But it was added to many agreements without the consumer even being aware they were paying for it. Even if you were aware that PPI had been added to your agreement, you may not have been made aware that it was useless to you and would not have paid out if you needed it because of exclusion clauses you were not made aware of at the point of sale.

Were you mis-sold?

PPI has been mis-sold in a whole range of ways, but the most common are:

• It was added to your agreement without your knowledge
• Policies would not pay out because of pre-existing health problems
• No cover for the self-employed or those on fixed term contracts
• Policies being sold as compulsory and not optional
• Policies not covering the full term of the loan

If any of these applies to you then it’s possible you were mis-sold your policy and be due a full refund of everything you have paid, plus interest.

More than £8 billion paid

The banks have earmarked billions of pounds to pay compensation for mis-sold policies and it is estimated that they have already paid out more than £8 billion, but there are suggestions that bill could rise as high as £24 billion as there are millions more consumers who have yet to make a claim.

The average payout is around £2,750, but some clients are receiving life-changing amounts of money. Gladstone Brookes has already recovered more than £301 million for our clients and in January 2013 successfully reclaimed £9.2 million with 20 clients receiving over £20,000 in compensation.

Deadline for claims

As the costs spiral, worried bankers have been lobbying the industry regulator The Financial Services Authority (FSA) for a deadline on future claims. However, the FSA has stated that there will be no deadline imposed without a public inquiry to make sure that such a move would be in the public interest.

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website. Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

The £1.6 billion pounds set aside to pay consumers who have been mis-sold PPI by the bank is a large contributor to the losses and the bank have earmarked a further £850 million to repay for those mis-sold interest rate hedging products. Another £4.6 billion was used to buy back some of their own debts.

Not in their interest

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins said in an interview with the BBC: “You should not sell products to customers that are not in their interest. I have been very clear that we have to run this business in a way that delivers for our customers and clients. It will take years before people change their impressions of us, but I’m not daunted by that.”

The strategic review ordered by Mr Jenkins after he took over last August is aimed at reducing the banks costs by £1.7 billion. Up to 1,800 of the job cuts will come from the corporate and investment divisions with the remainder coming from the European retail and business banking areas.

Mr Jenkins, who has pledged to change the culture of Barclays in the wake of the PPI and LIBOR rate rigging scandals, also confirmed the bank are to close their structured capital markets tax avoidance unit’ which has been described in the past as facilitating ‘industrial scale tax avoidance.’

“Change is needed”

“There is no doubt that 2012 was a difficult year for Barclays and the entire banking sector,” said Mr Jenkins. “The behaviours which made headlines during the year stemmed from a 20 year period in banking in which the sector became too aggressive, too focussed on the short term and too disconnected from the needs of customers, clients and wider society…….. Change is needed both in our industry and at Barclays.”

In a statement to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards last week Mr Jenkins told MPs and peers that bonuses at Barclays will be cut to compensate people wrongly sold financial products and that he was foregoing his own £1 million bonus for the year.

Barclays are the first of the big high street banks to announce their annual figures. Announcements from Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland/Natwest, HSBC and Santander are expected within the next few weeks.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

Making a claim with Gladstone Brookes is as simple as 1-2-3, even if you’re not sure whether or not you have PPI on your agreement.

1. Make contact with us either by calling our claim line on 08000 461 825 or filling in the claim form on this website. Our special PPI calculator will help us find out if you have PPI or not.
2. We fill in your claim pack and send it to you – just sign it and return to start your claim.
3. We win your money – you don’t need to do anything more.

A warning from Which?

According to consumer body Which? even with the extra amount it has set aside Barclays will still run out of money to compensate victims of mis-selling by October of this year. What’s more, Barclays is not alone. Indeed Which? believes that if PPI pay-outs continue at the same pace as they did last year most of the major banks will run out of provisions this year.

Which? predicts Lloyds Banking Group will run out by March 2013, RBS by June 2013 and HSBC by December 2013.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd says: “Some banks have been in denial about the true scale of the Payment Protection scandal. They must come clean about how many more PPI complaints they’re expecting, publish updates on the amounts that have been paid back, and claw back bonuses from executives who presided over this £13.6 billion mis-selling fiasco.

“The banks should be proactively contacting their customers and making sure it is as easy as possible for those with a legitimate claim to get their money back, without any hassle.”

Why are banks in denial?

Banks are well aware that they have mis-sold PPI on thousands of occasions. By deciding not to challenge a High Court ruling back in 2011, which gave consumers the opportunity to claim for past mis-selling, they all but accepted their mistakes.

However, it seems they are still dragging their feet when it comes to admitting the full scale of the problem. They seem to want to avoid unveiling how big the crisis really is. By drip-feeding their provisions they can give the illusion that the mis-selling scandal is not as big as we all know it to be.

But consumers are going to continue to make claims – and rightly so – and banks are going to have to increase their provisions in order to ensure each claim is satisfied. Refusing to pay out is not an option thanks to the fact the Financial Ombudsman is on hand to step in.

As such one can’t help but think it would make more sense for banks to face up to the problem now, admit the scale of it and start working towards solving it completely.

Principal Ombudsman Carolyn Wayman said recently: “Tough times are really biting and people are in some real difficulties.”
She added that many people may have been sold PPI or haven’t made a claim because they don’t understand that the plan which was sold to them was unsuitable. She says consumers should ask themselves two questions:

1. Did they know they had PPI?
2. If so, did they want and need it?

Those most likely to complain fall into three groups:

• Those with unusual employment circumstances (self-employed or on fixed term contracts)
• People with health problems (which means they may not have been able to claim on the policy
• Those who were sold single premium plan where the full cost of the insurance was added to the start of the loan

Financial journalist Neasa MacErlean said recently that the policies which have already been claimed on represent just 10% of the total number sold and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) expects claims to continue at their current record levels until 2016 at the earliest.

FOS is the organisation which handles appeals from claimants whose cases have been rejected by the banks and their recently published budget for 2013-14 states: “This challenge seems likely to remain with us for some time – probably for several years.”

Worried banks who are continuing to increase their contingency funds for PPI compensation, have been in talks with government regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about the possibility of putting a time limit on claims, but the FSA have said that no time bar will be imposed without a public inquiry into the need to have one.

Gladstone Brookes have recovered £301 million for people who have claimed through us and in January alone recovered payments for 20 clients in excess of £20,000, including £46,475.76 for a 55-year-old Edinburgh woman paid out on her mortgage and loans.

We received a 97% satisfaction rate from our clients in a recent survey of 937. These included Mrs Eccleshare who said: “From the first day everyone was happy and helpful, you kept me updated all the way through and I am over the moon with the outcome.” Mrs Mason was also very pleased. She said: “I received a very good service from the start of the claim and the pack was very easy to understand. I had good communication from Gladstone Brookes. I am happy with the outcome of my claim – it was really quick and prompt.”

Can we help you?

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Squeezed incomes taking toll on savings

Many consumers admit to regularly dipping into their savings accounts to cover every day living expenses, according to the Lloyds TSB Savings Index.
Savings accounts are the back stop for many consumers as money runs tight, with over half (53%) of savers regularly accessing their savings throughout the year. One in nine (11%) are doing this on a monthly basis, 16% dip-in every couple of months, and a further 26% raid their account a couple of times a year.

Just under a third (30%) of savers are accessing their funds to cover unexpected outgoings, which could include emergency household repairs or car maintenance. Similarly, one in five (21%) are using their savings to cover day-to-day living expenses, and a similar amount (20%) use their savings to avoid going overdrawn.

Andy Bickers, savings director at Lloyds TSB says: “The nation’s wallets have been under much strain for some time now, so it is not surprising that savings have moved down the priority list for many. Although, it is encouraging that so many agree that it is important to save, it is clear that many are struggling to do so in the current climate.”

Base rate held

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to maintain the official Base Rate at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.

The Bank says the MPC thinks that the UK economy is set for a slow but sustained recovery in both demand and effective supply, aided by a further easing in credit conditions – supported by the Bank’s Funding for Lending Scheme – and some improvement in the global environment. But the risks are weighted to the downside, not least because of the challenges facing the euro area.

Water rates to rise

The average water bill is set to rise by 3.5% to £388 in April and will see consumers forced once again to tighten their purse string, uSwitch has warned. The hike in water bills comes just months after households saw energy bills soar to a record-high of £1,352 a year. In total, households will now need to find a further £107 a year to pay their essential water and energy bills.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, says: “In total, consumers will now have to find an extra £107 a year to meet the cost of their essential utility bills. Households now face forking out £1,740 a year on energy, water and sewerage alone. With incomes remaining stagnant, this will be another squeeze on family finances and will no doubt cause sacrifice and hardship for many.

“There really is no need to pay over the odds for any household bills and there are a couple of simple but effective steps to help protect yourself from rising prices. While consumers might not have the choice of switching to a cheaper water supplier, they do have the option of moving to a water meter which could save them £54 a year. As a rule of thumb, if there are more bedrooms than people in a household then a water meter could be more cost effective.”

The Ombudsman says in the last quarter it has received 145,000 complaints from customers who believe they were mis-sold PPI but whose lenders are denying them compensation.

The latest results bring the number of PPI-related complaints received by the Ombudsman in the last financial to almost a quarter of a million.

Why is the number rising?

The scale of PPI mis-selling was huge. Millions of borrowers up and down the country were sold PPI products they should never have been sold. Borrowers who already had cover through their employer’s sick pay policy were encouraged to take PPI anyway. Borrowers whose medical history or employment status meant they’d never be able to claim on their PPI were sold expensive policies anyway. Furthermore, many borrowers were sold the insurance without their knowledge. Thousands of borrowers are paying for policies they don’t know they have.

The reason the number is rising is more and more people are becoming aware they were mis-sold. People have spent years paying for policies they didn’t know were mis-sold or didn’t know they had but, as the scandal gains more and more publicity, borrowers are becoming aware that they can do something about it.

As borrowers read about other claimants getting back what they deserve they become more confident that they can do the same.

Will it keep growing?

If experts are to be believed, yes it will. Indeed, just last month the Bank of England warned that the amount sent aside by banks and lenders so far could DOUBLE to £25 million.

The regulator says the figure could soar as banks continue to deal with their mistakes. What’s more, according to research conducted by The Times, the actual figure could reach £40 million!

Will this be good for consumers?

The good news about the fact the amount set aside by banks is rising is it demonstrates that banks and lenders are facing up to their responsibilities (although the Ombudsman figures show some lenders are still dragging their feet when it comes to paying out).

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that if banks have to pay out so much money, they’re going to be keen to recoup their losses somehow which means product pricing may increase considerably.

Three years ago City watchdog The Financial Services Authority (FSA) estimated the overall level of compensation required at £3 billion, but this has been consistently revised upwards to the current level of £12 billion earmarked by the banks.

Now industry sources are now suggesting even this is not enough.

Millions more claims

Figures are difficult to confirm, but it is understood that 3 million people have already had successful claims and the banks have paid out over £8 billion. However, that represents just 10% of the total number of PPI policies sold which means there are millions more potential claims.

The volume of new claims is still increasing. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) recently announced that they took on an average of 11,000 new claims a week in the last three months of 2012 and they have had to take on an extra 1,000 staff to cope with the onslaught.

FOS are the agency which mediates between customers and the banks if a claim has been rejected so their increased figures are only the tip of the iceberg.

Judicial Review

The banks tried to put a stop to PPI claims when they called for a Judicial Review in 2010. But they lost the landmark court case in 2011 which opened the floodgates to a deluge of claims which has grown into Britain’s biggest ever consumer scandal.

Addressing a group of MPs currently reviewing British bank standards FOS Chief Ombudsman – Natalie Ceeney – said that the banks could have cut the bill for mis-sold PPI if they had acted sooner, but the public lost their trust in the banking system.

“The bill would have been far lower if they had tacked this earlier. It felt like a long period of prevarication,” she said. She added that the amount of compensation so far “doesn’t come anywhere near the profits made from PPI.”

Can we help you?

To reclaim PPI premiums on policies which have been mis-sold could not be simpler. Just click on our claims form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826

Both Lloyds Banking Group – which includes HBOS – and the Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS) may be forced to seek an extra £5 billion in funds to top up their safety reserves and meet regulatory rules.

This is on top of the £65 billion cash injection the government gave the banking industry when the crisis first hit in October 2008.

“Lloyds may need £10 billion”

Espirito Santo analyst Shailesh Raikundlia told The Sun newspaper: “If regulations become more onerous on capital ratios, Lloyds made need as much as £10 billion – but it’s more likely to be £5 billion. RBS may also need as much as £5 billion.”

The news comes at a time when the RBS share price dropped by 6%, wiping £1 billion off the value of the taxpayers stake, on claims regulators in the US are looking to slap criminal charges on banks involved in the Libor rate fixing scandal. RBS could be fined up to £500 million for their part in manipulating the overnight lending rate.

Taxpayers own 83% of RBS and just under 40% of the Lloyds Banking Group.

Both banks have been hit by the need to set aside funds to pay customers who are successfully reclaiming mis-sold PPI premiums. Mr Raikundlia thinks it likely they will both sell shares to raise the cash rather than ask the Government for another handout.

Gladstone Brookes have recovered over £292 million for people who have claimed through us. We received a 97% satisfaction rate from our clients in a recent survey of 937. These included Mr Jolly who said: “I think the service has been brilliant from Gladstone Brookes. I am delighted with the outcome. Gladstone Brookes have been very professional from start to finish.” Miss Frazer said: “I was extremely happy with the service I received. I was only expecting £2,000 and ended up with over £6,500! My claim was settled quickly and I was really impressed with the updates I received throughout the claim. I knew what I was paying from day 1 with no hidden costs and I’ve already referred two friends in a similar situation.”

Can we help you?

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

One would think then that banks and lenders would have learnt their lesson. With such a mammoth bill to pay as a result of their last errors, you would expect them to steer clear of PPI completely and concentrate on rebuilding their reputations.

It was therefore surprising to discover that some lenders are currently in the process of developing new PPI products – and have been warned against doing so by the FSA.

Why are lenders trying to develop new PPI?

It’s important to remember that PPI, in theory, was a useful product. It was intended to cover the repayments of a loan, mortgage or credit card if the borrower became ill or was unable to work.

Borrowers who were concerned about missing payments wanted the security of knowing they would be covered should the worst happen. In these uncertain times protection and having a back up plan is essential.

It is for this reason, it seems, lenders are trying to develop a new product that offers the type of protection PPI claimed to.

But there’s a ‘but’…

Whilst PPI was, in theory, a good idea for customers, it was also very lucrative for lenders. Banks and lenders made a fortune selling these policies and it was primarily for this reason that so many policies were mis-sold.

Many borrowers were sold PPI when, because of their employment status, they would never have been able to make a claim on it. Other were already covered by another policy or their employer’s sick pay policy yet were sold PPI anyway. Furthermore some borrowers were sold PPI without even knowing about it. Banks and lenders added the expensive policies to the customers’ loans, without their consent.

Now the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading have joined forces to issue a warning to those firms looking to develop similar products to PPI.

The FSA and the OFT have warned that firms must make sure any products they sell are sold in the best interests of their customers. If they don’t they run the risk of creating a similar to problem to the PPI scandal. Lenders and banks must make sure they are not simply chasing pound signs and instead take the customers needs into consideration.

If a claim for mis-selling is successful the existing PPI policy is scrapped because the client has proved it wasn’t appropriate for them. But lenders don’t have a system in place which replaces that policy with something more appropriate. If the home owner then runs into financial trouble they could be placing their home at risk.

Not all MPPI is bad

PPI policies are designed to cover the debt payments of anyone who suddenly loses their income through accident, sickness or unemployment which is a sensible thing to do. The mis-selling scandal arose through the irresponsible way it was sold with policies sold to people who would never be able to benefit from them because of various restrictions amongst other things. In addition, the Policy was paid for via a Single Premium and often added to the Mortgage accruing interest for the full term, as opposed to a monthly charge.

However, if you have been sold the policy correctly and find yourself in dire financial straits then the policy will pay your premiums for 12 months from the date you make the claim which is exactly what you want it to do. The problems arise if your sickness or unemployment goes on for longer than the term of the policy.

A mix of cover

Insurance industry experts suggest a mix of cover between MPPI paid for by a monthly premium and an income protection policy which will cover you until the end of the mortgage or even until you retire.

MPPI cover with some firms can cost as little as £2.73 a month per £100 worth of monthly benefit which makes it attractive to young borrowers, but such policies can have very restrictive exclusions which mean you may not get paid if you don’t qualify.

A long term income protection policy will guard against such health problems and policies generally have more clarity over exclusions, but they are more expensive. Some providers don’t offer involuntary unemployment cover, but there are stand-alone policies available.

Can we help?

If you feel that you have been mis-sold PPI in the past on your mortgage, loan or credit card then Gladstone Brookes can help you.

Making a claim with us could not be simpler. Just click on our claims form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826 and let our experienced staff help you make that claim.

FOS, who have taken on 1,000 extra staff to cope with the surge of claims, received 145,546 claims in the last quarter of 2012 which means they received more complaints in three months than any whole year between 2000 and 2010. It takes the total for the past financial year to almost a quarter of a million complaints.

Two thirds upheld

The Ombudsman only deals with claims where the banks or building societies have previously rejected a claim so its workload is only the tip of the iceberg. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has claimed that claims management companies have clogged up the system by referring huge numbers of claims to FOS whether or not there are grounds to do so. However, the latest FOS figures show that they have been upholding two thirds of complaints in the clients’ favour with some banks having an overturn rate of more than 90%.

So far around 3 million clients have already made a successful claim for the mis-selling of PPI, but that figure is thought to be only 10% of the number of PPI policies sold, according to financial journalist Neasa MacErlean writing in The Independent.

Financial experts are now suggesting that all the big banks will be increasing the amount of money they have set aside to pay complaints. They have already earmarked about £12 billion, but the latest projections by some experts say the final bill for mis-sold PPI will be over £15 billion. Fresh announcements could come in the next few weeks when the banks start to report their year-end figures and projections for the coming financial year.

Increasing pressure

The increasing pressure of new claims and the amount of redress already paid to clients whose claims have been successful has forced the BBA to ask the City watchdog – the Financial Services Association (FSA) – to impose a deadline on new claims in an attempt to finally put a stop to the rising tide of complaints because the costs they are faced with are ‘creating uncertainty for investors.’

The FSA has refused to introduce a time bar without ensuring it would be in the public interest via a public inquiry. However, they are still in talks with the BBA and haven’t ruled out a time bar in the future. A spokesman said: “We have had initial discussions and are prepared to consider the merits of this and other options. A key consideration will be the potential to get compensation to more consumers more quickly.”

Can we help?

Do you think you may have been mis-sold PPI on a loan, credit card or mortgage?

Making a claim through Gladstone Brookes could not be simpler. Just click on our claims form on this website or call our Freephone claims line on 08000 461 826

I a bid to avert a repeat of the widespread mis-selling of PPI in the past the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Office OF Fair Trading (OFT) have published joint guidance ‘to help prevent the problems associated with PPI recurring in a new generation of products.’

The nation’s banks have already set aside over £12 billion thousands of people wanting to reclaim PPI mis-sold to them over the past decade or more.

New products being sold

Sales of the old style policies have recently been scaled back or withdrawn altogether, but there are a number of new products starting to be sold like short term income protection policies, designed to replace a client’s salary for a short period of time, and temporary ‘debt waiver’ features on credit agreements and mortgages.

In the joint guidance the FSA and OFT say: “New payment protection products may offer benefits to customers, but of not designed and sold with the customers’ interests in mind, may pose risks similar to PPI. The previous failings in relation to PPI must not be repeated.”

Guidance warnings

The guidance warns that the banks “should not equate eligibility for the product’s protection with the consumer having a need for that protection.”

The FSA said the banks should take steps to identify their target market but then “must ensure that those without an income or a need for such insurance are excluded from the target market.”

It also warns providers to be particularly careful when they bundle together different types of protection or link it to other products or services. Care must also be taken to consider whether or not the customer could get the same benefits from the state or from their employer before offering them the cover and assess whether the total cost does not outweigh the benefit.

Clear information

In an attempt to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself both the FSA and OFT say that customers should be given clear information on how the product they are buying works, including the price and any potential catches.

The regulators say they will continue to monitor developments in the field and are prepared to ‘take further action’ if there are signs that these new products are posing a risk to consumers.

Over 3 million consumers have already claimed against mis-sold policies, but that is estimated to be just 10% of the total number of PPI policies sold.

The banks and building societies who have already set aside more than £12 billion to pay the mis-selling bill were hoping that the worst was behind them with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) revealing that the banks paid out £411 million in November 2012 alone.

Increasing volume

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) also see no end to the increasing volume of claims. They have just published their proposed budget for 2013-2014 in which it says: “This challenge seems likely to remain with us for some time – probably for several years.”

The organisation investigates claims which have previously been rejected by the banks and have just announced they are taking on an extra 1,000 staff to deal as they expect their case load to rise to around 245,000 cases in the next financial year – an increase of 50% on the current year.

Many households may not even realise they have a mis-sold policy on which they can reclaim PPI and others may not understand that the plan they were sold was not suitable for their needs.

Two simple questions

Principal Ombudsman Caroline Wayman says people should ask themselves two simple questions to check if they were mis-sold:

1. Were you aware that you even had a policy?
2. If you did, did you want it or need it?

FOS recently produced figures which showed that more than 90% of cases rejected by some banks had been upheld when the case was appealed to them.

Ms Wayman says that people likely to have a cause to complain fall into one of three groups:

• Those with unusual employment circumstances – self-employed or on a fixed contract.
• People with pre-existing health problems who may fall foul of exclusion clauses built into the policy.
• Those who were sold single premium plans where the whole of the cost of insurance was added to the overall loan amount meaning the customer was paying interest on the cost of the insurance for the life of the loan. It is now illegal to sell policies in this way.

Running out of time

Are you running out of time to make a claim? The banks have recently been in talks with the FSA to introduce a time limit for the receipt of new claims. However, the FSA has said that though talks are continuing they don’t expect to introduce a time bar without a full public inquiry. Even if a limit is eventually imposed, it is expected that the banks will have to write to anyone who has bought PPI to inform them they will need to make a claim before it’s too late.

Can we help you?

Gladstone Brookes received a 97% satisfaction rate from our clients in a survey of 937 who included Miss Frazer who said “I was extremely happy with the service I received. I was only expecting £2000 and ended up with over £6500!” and Miss Pybus was extremely happy with the service received from Gladstone Brookes who recovered £15,168.86 on her behalf from Barclays.

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Rahul Sharma, director of Neev Capital, says that many people saw their payouts as a windfall and went out to spend it having a better Christmas. “This was disposable income that people didn’t think they were going to get,” he said.

Bigger payouts

The average payout for clients who try to reclaim PPI is £2,750, but some clients end up receiving much more. Claimants with older claims are repaid interest they paid in the past because their premiums were part of their loans. Interest added to interest is known as compounding which means the total payout is multiplied even higher.

A Hertfordshire businesswoman told the BBC recently she had received £65,000 for her claim. “I nearly fell of my chair! I was absolutely staggered at the amount. I had no idea it was going to be anywhere near that.”

Claim numbers still rising

The number of people wanting to reclaim PPI continues to rise and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is having to recruit an extra 1,000 staff to handle an expected 245,000 appeal cases for the 2013-2014 financial year. FOS adjudicate on appeals from clients who have had their cases rejected by the banks and recently released figures which showed that in some cases they have overturned 97% of claims which had initially been rejected.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) initially estimated the compensation bill would be around £3 billion, but over £8 billion has already been paid out in PPI compensation since 2011 and the banks and building societies have set aside £13 billion to pay out claims, but fear the figure could still go even higher.

Can we help you?

Gladstone Brookes received a 97% satisfaction rate from our clients in a survey of 937 who included Mrs Powell for whom we recovered £23,000 for eight successful cases and Mr Walsh who said recently: “I am over the moon. I thought I was owed about £600, and ended up with near on £10,000!”

If you want to reclaim PPI you believe you may have been mis-sold on any loans, mortgages or credit cards via Gladstone Brookes it could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

It has emerged that the FSA – as the regulator for financial services in the UK – conducted the inquiry between 2005 and 2007 and the case was ‘resolved’ in 2008 – the same year that Lloyds stepped in to save Halifax and the Bank Of Scotland.

The FSA has refused to say why it dropped the probe and commentators are now saying the revelation has deepened the controversy over what has become the biggest financial mis-selling scandal in history.

The Lloyds Banking Group has already set aside more than £5 billion to repay customers and their chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio warned at the time that the bill might rise even higher. The industry as a whole has set aside £13 billion.

Evidence was given in at the Commission inquiry by three former top executives of Lloyds.

Helen Weir – formerly chief financial officer and then head of retail distribution – admitted that profits from the sale of PPI policies subsidised loss-making unsecured loans, but she also claimed customers wanted PPI. She apologised for the mis-selling of the product and regrets the damage it has done to the banking industry. She said the scandal had caused a breakdown in trust among customers and damaged the bank’s relationship with the regulator.

Former head of insurance products Phil Loney admitted that sales of PPI policies had been part of sales targets for Lloyds TSB and ex chief risk officer Carol Sergeant admitted that concerns about the way Lloyds was selling PPI were raised at board level seven years ago.

The Commission’s lawyer – Rory Phillips QC – said that the net income from sales of PPI policies made up nearly 14% of the bank’s profits.
The inquiry by the Commission is continuing its investigations.

If you or any of your family and friends have been impacted by the mis-selling of PPI on any loans, mortgages or credit cards to reclaim PPI premiums on mis-sold policies via Gladstone Brookes could not be simpler. Just fill in on the claim form on this website or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

The British Bankers’ Association called for a claims deadline of April 2014, but the Financial Services Association (FSA) has said it will not agree to a deadline on when consumers can reclaim PPI without a full public inquiry.

But this doesn’t mean that a deadline has been ruled out.

What the FSA say

The FSA has said it will consider the banks’ approach, but would only agree if a deadline is “in the interests of customers.”

A spokesman said: “We have had initial discussions and are prepared to consider the merits of this and other options. A key consideration will be the potential to get compensation to more consumers more quickly.”

What Which? say

Consumer organisations are opposed to any deadline with the chief executive of Which? – Peter Vicary-Smith, saying: “Before even thinking about a new time bar the banks should be proactively -contacting their customers and making it as easy as possible for people entitled to a legitimate refund to claim back their money without any hassle.”

Millions yet to claim

It is estimated that over 2.5 million Britons have already had successful claims, but that millions more have yet to reclaim PPI premiums on policies which were mis-sold to them.

The banks have already set aside £13 billion to compensate clients who were mis-sold PPI on loans, mortgages and credit cards and they are understood to be concerned that there are still many more of their customers ready to make a complaint.

The level of claims has accelerated within the past 12 months with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) receiving in excess of 1,000 new claims a day. They have been forced to take on more staff to deal with the deluge of complaints they are handling and consumers are being warned that appeals to FOS could take a year to be resolved.

What FOS say

Chief ombudsman Natalie Ceeney has been quoted recently as saying: “It’s extraordinary that we have received over 500,000 complaints about PPI and despite these record numbers this mis-selling scandal shows no signs of slowing.”

FOS recently produced figures which showed that more than 90% of cases rejected by some banks had been upheld when the case was appealed to them.

What can I do?

To reclaim PPI premiums on policies which have been mis-sold could not be simpler. Just fill in on our claim form or call our FreePhone claims line on 08000 461 826.

Banks have been found guilty of selling the expensive insurance policies incorrectly for years and finally, following a landmark High Court ruling in 2011, consumers were given the chance to fight back.

The ruling meant that anyone who believed they had been mis-sold PPI was now able to make a claim against their lender. And thousands of people did just that.

Borrowers, fed up of how they had been mistreated by their lenders, took a stand and demanded a refund and compensation.

Claims Scandal Growing

Banks had no choice but to set aside funds in order to compensate victims of the scandal. The amount set aside to settle claims currently stands at over £12 billion but as the scandal continues to grow there are suggestions that that could more than double to a massive £25 billion.

It’s not surprising therefore that banks are beginning to panic. As a result banks and lenders, starting to feel the pressure, have demanded a cut off date be set so that anyone looking to make a claim could soon run out of time.

Lenders are reportedly putting pressure on the industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to set a deadline by which time all PPI claims must be made. If the banks got their way anyone who tried to make a claim after this cut off point would be turned away.

Can the banks enforce a deadline?

They can certainly try. Banks will argue that the scandal is getting out of control and stopping them from providing the service they want to provide. However, the calls have already been met with stiff opposition.

Banks are hardly popular right now and the PPI mis-selling scandal has just further enforced the public’s opinion that they can’t be trusted. There is unlikely to be any sympathy for lenders and since the FSA has already spoken out against banks following the PPI débâcle several times it’s unlikely it will side with them now.

What now?

For now the PPI mis-selling scandal looks set to grow and grow. More and more borrowers from across the country are coming forward to claim back what they are owed. Borrowers who were sold PPI policies that they could not use because of their employment status or medical history or those who were sold PPI they they didn’t want or without their knowledge are all fighting for what is rightfully theirs. As the scale of the scandal begins to become clear, banks will be continue to get what they deserve.

Independent figures just released show Britain’s banks are receiving more than 100,000 new claims a month for the mis-selling of PPI and they appear to be rejecting thousands of them without foundation.

Sources: Financial Services Authority and Financial Ombudsman Service, based on figures for Jan to June 2012

Gladstone Brookes is committed to trying to reclaim mis-sold PPI premiums for its clients and if we believe a claim has been unfairly rejected we will appeal the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and attempt to get the decision overturned.

Claims Rejected

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and FOS have combined to produce figures which show the top three banking groups in the UK received 138,000 new claims a month for the mis-selling of PPI for the first six months of last year.

The same figures show that over 5,200 of those claims were unfairly rejected. On appeal to FOS, 98% of Lloyds Banking Group rejections were upheld in favour of the client. Barclays decisions were overturned in 93% of cases and the Royal Bank Of Scotland group had 87% of their rejections quashed.

Overall, FOS upheld seven out of ten cases in favour of the customer. In all cases the banks were required to calculate how much money was due to the customers they had previously refused to pay out.

What Financial Mail say

Richard Dyson, writing in the Financial Mail On Sunday, says: “Banks are unfairly rejecting tens of thousands of PPI claims without properly assessing the merits of each case. Some banks flatly deny that customers ever had PPI – even where they have proof.”

FOS are currently taking on over 1,000 claims a day and are finding that many of the cases were wrongly rejected by the banks. A spokesman said: “In some cases complainants are being asked what year they took out the loan and if they answer incorrectly the complaint is then being rejected. We do not think that is reasonable.”

Increased Rejections

Recent figures produced by Gladstone Brookes has shown an increase in the number of rejections being issued by Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Bank Of Scotland, Black Horse) after they were granted extra time by the FSA to make their final decisions.

A spokesman said: “It would appear the banks are using this extra time to reject a higher proportion of claims than they have previously. We will appeal these decisions with the bank but if the bank continue to dig their heels in, we are confident that the majority of these rejections will be overturned by FOS when we appeal the cases to them.”

The Gladstone Brookes Promise is your guarantee that you are dealing with a company of integrity which has already recovered more than £292 million for our clients over the last five years.

The Ministry Of Justice (MOJ) announced this week that their Claims Management Regulation Unit had closed more than 200 rogue claims management companies last year with a further 140 being warned about their conduct.

She said: “We have introduced a number of measures in the past year which will mean consumers are much better protected and which offer a route of complaint and compensation while sending a clear message to the minority who break the rules their tactics will not be tolerated.”

The grounds for action by the MOJ against the rogue firms included:

• Bombarding clients with nuisance phone calls and texts
• Misleading information being given in telesales calls
• Not giving customers written terms and conditions
• Making false claims about how much a potential customer was likely to receive and how quickly that could be achieved

Rules Broken

Other companies were found to have broken the rules on the handling of clients’ money, demanding upfront fees, taking money without authorisation and failing to refund clients when a contract was cancelled.

Gladstone Brookes is one of the leading companies in the PPI reclaim market and in the five years we have been in business we have recovered more than £292 million for our clients. We have thousands of satisfied customers and 96% of our clients would recommend our service to a friend.

Following the intense publicity regarding the way in which some companies have been contacting potential clients we have issued a statement to establish exactly where we stand on the issues.

1. Gladstone Brookes has never cold called clients and never will. Our clients call us in response to our advertisements in a variety of media or having been recommended by word of mouth.
2. Gladstone Brookes will only ever contact you by using our main number 08442 510 510 and we never withhold our number.
3. Gladstone Brookes offers a no win no fee service to our clients so we don’t charge our clients a single penny unless we have successfully recovered money for them from the banks.
4. Gladstone Brookes does not charge up-front fees.
5. Gladstone Brookes will never pass on your details to a third party without your permission.

Gladstone Brookes are proud of the service we provide to our customers and constantly strive to improve the process of getting you back what is rightly yours.

Have you had your letter from the bank telling you that time is running out for you to make a complaint about mis-selling of PPI?

Some clients of the Santander banking group have had their claims rejected recently because they received warning letters back in 2009 after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Alliance & Leicester £7 million for the way in which they mis-sold PPI to their clients.

Claims Refused

Santander are now refusing to investigate claims because clients did not respond in time to the warning letters.

Now other High Street banks are starting to issue similar letters, giving their clients a deadline by which time they have to make any complaint or they will lose the right to do so.

Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS) and Natwest have issued letters to clients who took PPI with their loans or credit cards stating: “Both we and the Financial Services Authority have concerns regarding the way PPI was sold to some customers through our branch and telephony channels.”

RBS are one of the biggest banking groups in Britain and have set aside £1.4 billion to cover the cost of claims for mis-sold PPI. The Lloyds TSB Banking Group – which also includes the Halifax and the Bank Of Scotland – have set aside over £5 billion and Barclays have set aside £2 billion.

What can I do?

Don’t miss out on your chance to claim back money which may be owed to you. Gladstone Brookes have already recovered over £292 million for our clients who were mis-sold their PPI policies and are ready to help you to claim what is rightfully yours before your time runs out.

Call us today on 08000 461 825 or fill out our PPI Claim Form to make your claim for the money which may be owed to you.

Staff had been putting a great selection of toys in special collection boxes in each of the company’s three buildings over the last week before management weighed in with a generous £800 donation which was spent in a whirlwind visit to the local branch of Toys R Us.

All the toys have been donated to the appeal which is jointly organised by the Warrington Guardian and Big Storage. It benefits a whole series of local charities who are working hard at this time of year to make life a little brighter for families who are feeling the pressure.

Gladstone Brookes charity co-ordinator Kelly Archbold said: “2012 has been a very difficult year for lots of people and money is tighter than ever this Christmas. It’s nice to know that the generosity of Gladstone Brookes staff means we will put smiles on the faces of children when they wake up on Christmas morning.”

There are families on very low incomes, in debt, homeless or living in a refuge who find it very hard to give their children any toys at all at Christmas.

The St Joseph’s Family Centre is based in Museum Street, very close to the Gladstone Brookes head office.  Centre manager Rita Mahon said: “It is wonderful to see the relief on the face of a parent when they realise that there will, after all, be something in the Christmas stocking for their children.  We are extremely grateful to each and every person who donates so generously to this appeal.”

Other charities to benefit from the appeal are Jacob’s Unique Memory Pot, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, Grangeway Court Homeless Lodge and St Katherine’s Contact Centre.

Saga says a difficult start to the first half of 2012 was followed by a leap in happiness and wellbeing during the summer.  However, some of these significant improvements in the Quality of Life waned in the last quarter.  Inflation expectations have risen, and whilst employment of older people has increased, long-term unemployment remains a problem and savings income remains depressed.

There were 389,000 unemployed people aged 50-64 over the three months to August 2012 – 1.1% higher than the previous quarter and 6.7% up from a year ago.
The Saga Quality of Life Index has declined slightly this quarter though remains higher than in the first half of the year.
The specialist provider says the first two quarters of 2012 were extremely challenging for the older generations but this was followed by much better wellbeing measures in the third quarter.

Dr Ros Altmann, director general of Saga, says:

“The past two quarters findings indicate that things are generally improving.   However, as we enter 2013, it is important that policymakers act to prevent inflation squeezing older people’s living standards.”

Meanwhile Altmann has hit out at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg over his suggestion of means-tested benefits for pensioners.

She says: “Nick Clegg is arguing that we have to take pensioner benefits such as Winter Fuel Payments away from wealthy pensioners.  This may be a populist headline, but it is absolutely the wrong policy.  This is not the way to deal with old-age support.  Yes, we have to balance the books, but not by extending means testing to millions more older people.  Making the benefits taxable, increasing the age of entitlement and comprehensively reforming our disgracefully low Basic State Pension would all be ways of controlling costs better.

“Extending means testing would be a further major disincentive to those hard-working people who are trying to save for their own future.  If Nick Clegg’s policy is adopted, it would punish those who have tried to be self-reliant and give much more money to those who have not saved for their future.  And then what’s next?  Will he tell us that rich pensioners don’t need a state pension either?  This could be the slippery slope to undermining our whole pension system.  Lets’ not have any hasty knee-jerk policies that could have very damaging long-term consequences.”

According to research from GoCompare.com nearly one in five (18%) Brits say they will be more cautious in 2013, with 7% believing that the ‘13′ year is a bad omen for things to come.

The research found that many Brits are putting off making big purchases or taking life-changing decisions because of the risk of the number 13 bringing them bad luck.

Indeed the Society of the Irish Motor Industry in the Republic of Ireland was so concerned that buyers would be put off buying cars registered as ‘13′, that it approached the government asking for the 2013 year identifier to be modified to 131 instead. As such from next year cars registered in the Republic of Ireland during the first half of the year will have a 131 registration and those registered in the second half of the year will have a 132 registration.

GoCompare says although 22% of Brits admit to feeling uneasy about the number 13, only 7% say that 13 has actually been an unlucky number for them. Indeed, more than double that (16%) believes that the number 13 has actually brought them good luck.

John Miles, business development director at Gocompare.com, says: “It’s difficult to pin down the exact root of the belief that the number 13 is somehow unlucky and in some cultures, such as in Tibet and Italy, 13 is actually seen as a lucky number.

“From an insurance point of view it will be interesting to look back over 2013 to see if there are an increased number of claims for accidents. However, there’s also the possibility that claim numbers may fall as a result of people generally being more cautious and careful because of the number 13 connection. Time will tell whether 2013 turns out to be a lucky or unlucky year, but you can protect yourself from many misfortunes by making sure you have appropriate insurance.”

However, while some people may be fearful of 2013 many others will be glad to start it and finish 2012. According to Citizens Advice Bureau, in a survey of over 1,700 people, 79% said debt problems in 2012 have let to them losing sleep, 56% said their debt problems were affecting their relationship and 51% said their work was suffering as a result of their debt.

Here’s hoping 2013 will bring some much-needed relief for those suffering from money worries.

Get an ISA

Savings rates are paltry at the moment to say the least. However, saving is a still a smart thing to do – if recent years have taught us anything it’s that things can go wrong very quickly and having a back up plan is essential. But with rates so low it can feel as though your money is not working as hard as you are. The best way to get a good deal on your savings is to take out an Individual Savings Account. Not only do ISAs have slightly better rates than regular savings accounts you won’t be charged any tax on your money.

There is a limit to how much you can put into an ISA – currently £5,640. Be sure to make the most of your account and put in the maximum amount if possible.

It’s also worth noting that savings accounts that lock your money in for a certain amount of time offer better rates (although remember you won’t be able to access your money freely).

Invest in premium bonds

Premium bonds are savings accounts from National Savings & Investments (NS&I). You can buy between £100 and £30,000 worth of premium bonds. The way they differ from regular savings accounts is instead of accruing interest you are entered into a prize draw each month with the chance of winning anything from £25 to £1 million. The more bonds you have the more chance you have of winning.

Overpay your mortgage

If you have a lot of savings and you’re not earning much interest on them it may be worth checking if you can make overpayments on your mortgage. Not all mortgages allow this but those that do will allow you to pay off a chunk of your loan thus allowing you to clear it sooner than you thought. Contact your lender to see if this is an option for you.

Get an offset mortgage

Offset mortgages allow you to keep your savings but cut your monthly mortgage repayments or shorten your mortgage term. They work like this – you will keep your savings in a savings account with the same lender you have your mortgage with. The amount of savings you have will be offset against your mortgage and you’ll only pay interest on your mortgage, less the savings. So, for example, if you have a £200,000 mortgage but you have £30,000 savings, you’ll only pay interest on £170,000 of the mortgage. You can then either pay less each month or you can continue paying the same amount each month and in turn finish paying your mortgage sooner than you would have done. You won’t earn any interest on your savings but in the current low interest rate environment you won’t be missing too much!

Big hearted staff at Gladstone Brookes have today joined in this year’s Warrington Christmas Toy Appeal aimed at putting a smile on the faces of underprivileged children this festive season.

Collection boxes are being set up at each of the company’s three buildings in Warrington so staff can donate toys and games right up until the firm break up for Christmas on December 31st. Toys can be for any age group, gender or size.

That will still leave Santa plenty of time to make sure there’s some special Christmas cheer for some deserving children.

FINDING IT HARD

There are families on very low incomes, in debt, homeless or living in a refuge who find it very hard to give their children any toys at all at Christmas

Gladstone Brookes management have also stepped up to the plate by announcing that they have doubled the dress down money already contributed by staff staff so there will be another £750 available to buy even more games and toys for the appeal which is jointly organised by the Warrington Guardian and Big Storage.

SMILING FACES

Company charity co-ordinator Stuart Farley said: “The true meaning of Christmas is thinking about others who are not as lucky as we are and this is our chance to spread a little happiness and put a smile on some faces on Christmas morning.”

The Toy Appeal benefits a whole series of local charities who are working hard at this time of year to make life a little brighter for families who are feeling the pressure.

The St Joseph’s Family Centre is based in Museum Street, very close to the Gladstone Brookes head office. Centre manager Rita Mahon said: “It is wonderful to see the relief on the face of a parent when they realise that there will, after all, be something in the Christmas stocking for their children. We are extremely grateful to each and every person who donates so generously to this appeal.”

Other charities to benefit from the appeal are Jacob’s Unique Memory Pot, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, Grangeway Court Homeless Lodge and St Katherine’s Contact Centre.

Split into two groups, the visitors took part in two different activities lasting an hour each with assistance from staff of the Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation and Foundation partner Gladstone Brookes.

In the first group they picked a team from the World Cup out of a hat and were given a series of questions to answer based around the team (name of head coach, captain’s name, kit colours etc) and they were helped to research the answers on the Apple Macs in the Wolf Den by Gladstone Brookes staff.

Once they completed the quiz they were asked to colour in a picture of Wolfie using the colours of the team they chose and then make some predictions for the World Cup with the best guesses winning a prize next year.

After the hour was up they switched to a training drill where they learned the “Wolfie Grip”, which is the best way to hold a rugby ball, followed by a race around a circuit. The group was then split into two teams for the Tag Challenge with attacking team members trying to score a try by running past the defending team, making sure the defenders didn’t grab the tag secured around their waist.

At the end of the day Wolfie joined the group in the stands for a presentation where each of them received a certificate to mark their achievements, a leaflet promoting next year’s World Cup and a Warrington Wolves branded rugby ball.

Gladstone Brookes charity co-ordinator Stuart Farley said: “This gave kids who wouldn’t normally get the chance to do something like this a great day out and our staff learned as much from them as they did from us.”

Beth Tracey agreed, saying: “It was a great day and inspirational to see the way the kids enjoyed what they were doing.”

Shane Duffy added: “It was a very rewarding day, seeing the standard that they have reached and how much they enjoyed it.”

According to the report the UK’s over-55s are increasingly working past the traditional retirement age and larger numbers are falling back on their savings in later life to meet living costs.

Monthly Finances

The figures show average monthly income for the over-55s has increased by just £109 in the last two years (from £1,335 in Q4 2010 to £1,444 in Q4 2012). The retiring have driven this trend, gaining £166 overall, while monthly incomes have risen a mere £9 for pre-retirees and fallen by just £1 for the long-term retired.
Monthly spending by the UK’s over-55s has actually fallen in the last year, with average outgoings of £1,231 in Q4 2012 down from £1,269 in Q3 2012 and £1,300 in Q4 2011.

Savings

The average savings pot for over-55s has fallen by almost £4,000 in the last quarter (£14,544 – Q4 2012 compared with £18,364 – Q3 2012). This remains larger than a year ago (£11,153 – Q4 2011), but while pre-retirees’ savings have reached their highest level since the report began, total savings have decreased among the two older age groups, both in the last quarter and in the last two years.

The need for the long-term retired to dip into their savings to maintain their standard of living has seen the percentage with less than £2,000 saved grow from 23% (Q3 2012) to 30% (Q4 2012).

What Aviva say

Clive Bolton, managing director of Aviva’s At Retirement business, says: “Whether it’s through choice or necessity, the fact that people are working for longer shows how vital it is to work hard to achieve financial stability, so you can enjoy your retirement without the constant worry about making ends meet.

“The growth of income among the retiring population is a clear sign they are taking the opportunity to prepare for the future, and prioritise their outgoings to clear existing debts. And while the long-term retired may find their savings dwindle in retirement, it’s important to remember that, with the right advice, there are often alternative ways to cope with rising living expenses and unforeseen costs.”

Many consumers were sold PPI when their employment status actually meant they were unable to make a claim on it. Borrowers who were unemployed, self-employed, retired or a student should never have been sold PPI. Some borrowers were entitled to full sick pay from their employers yet were sold PPI anyway when it was of no use to them. Others were not told about the product but instead had it added to their loan without them realising. Meanwhile some borrowers were told about the PPI but were led to believe it was compulsory, rather than an option extra.

But why did it happen? What makes staff at banks mis-sell products such as PPI?

Incompetence

One of the main factors in the mis-selling crisis was consumers were not adequately informed about what PPI was, how it worked and who could use it. It is possible this was down to the sheer incompetence of the staff. If the bank staff did not understand the product they were hardly in a position to inform a customer. It’s certainly possible that many people were mis-sold PPI simply because the staff at their bank were not qualified or educated enough to sell it correctly.

Pressure from above

Banks are primarily businesses and businesses need to make money. Staff are constantly under pressure to meet sales targets and it’s possible that this pressure from bosses prompted the mis-selling scandal. Staff, eager to meet their sales targets, may well have sold PPI without giving due consideration to the individual needs or circumstances of the consumer.

Greed

Finally, it’s likely that greed played a major part in the crisis. Staff earn commission on sales, banks earn a profit on products and so by selling PPI everyone wins – everyone except the consumer that is.
Indeed, greed has been at the heart of much of the financial crisis of the last few years and until that changes one can only wonder what the next big mis-selling scandal will be. ]]> http://www.gladstonebrookes.co.uk/blog/2012/12/12/banks/why-banks-mis-sell/feed/ 0 http://www.gladstonebrookes.co.uk/blog/2012/12/04/charity/gladstone-brookes-tough-mudders-raise-1500-for-help-for-heroes/ http://www.gladstonebrookes.co.uk/blog/2012/12/04/charity/gladstone-brookes-tough-mudders-raise-1500-for-help-for-heroes/#comments Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:53:00 +0000 James http://www.gladstonebrookes.co.uk/blog/?p=3319 It has been billed as one of the toughest endurance events on the planet -12 miles of energy sapping mud and 22 military style obstacles – but our brilliant Gladstone Brookes team not only battled through to the end but raised £1,500 for the Help For Heroes charity along the way.

Amongst other things our brave eight strong team crawled through water-filled tunnels, leaped from a 15 foot high platform into a freezing cold lake for Walking The Plank, slithered under the barbed wire in Kiss Of Mud and risked 10,000 volts of electricity in the final Electro-Therapy obstacle at the event which was held at Cholomondeley Castle in Cheshire on November 17^th.

Their commitment to the cause on a freezing cold day raised just over £750 which has since been generously doubled by the company.

The group’s chosen charity was Help For Heroes who provide direct, practical support primarily to those wounded in current conflicts, but they also provide funds to other injured and sick service personnel, veterans and their families. This is provided through grants to individuals and other Service charities, capital build projects and support for life at four recovery centres throughout the UK and to date the have distributed more than £4.2 million.

Plans are already being laid by Team GB for an entry on one of next year’s events and from the interest being shown by the rest of the Gladstone Brookes workforce we could be fielding more than one team in 2013.

If you don’t know what it’s all about yet check out our video below and you can see a longer version on YouTube by following this link.

Payday Loans leading to debt

Indeed, debt is a major problem for many people during the festive season as millions of people spend much more than they should and are faced with the worry of receiving credit card bills come January.

Sadly, Christmas debt is not restricted to credit cards though. In recent years especially, more and more people have took out loans from payday lenders and as a result have found themselves struggling to repay an ever-increasing debt.

What are payday loans?

Payday loans are short-term loans designed to help people who are a bit short of cash before payday, as the name suggests. In theory, the borrower will use the money to tide them over and repay it as soon as they get paid. However, unfortunately it doesn’t always work like that. Many borrowers are unable to repay the full amount and as such their debt grow thanks to the fact payday loans have notoriously high interest rates.

On many occasions the lender neglects to explain these consequences to the borrower meaning the borrower has no idea just how much trouble they can get in if they don’t make the repayment.

Is the payday loans problem getting worse?

It certainly is. The Citizens Advice Bureau says it has seen a ten-fold increase in the amount of clients receiving help with multiple debts that included a payday loan debt in the last four years.
In the first quarter of 2009/10 only 1% of CAB debt casework clients had at least one payday loan and in the same quarter last year this had risen to 4%. In the same quarter this year, 10% had at least one payday loan.
Now Citizens Advice is calling on people who have taken out payday loans to take part in a national survey in order to find out if payday lenders are behaving accordingly.

What the Citizens Advice say

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice says: “Quick cash payouts can have damaging long-term consequences. Citizens Advice Bureaux up and down the country are seeing people who are already in long-term financial difficulty and are using payday loans as a desperate way to try to stay afloat. With the added costs of Christmas around the corner we’re worried that even more people may see payday loans as away to get by, leading them into a spiral of debt.
“Citizens Advice is calling on people to name and shame payday loan companies who aren’t acting fairly.”