Christopher Nott, Partner
If there’s one sentiment that’s swept the country over recent months, it’s astonishment. Most of us have been taken aback to discover that our money has been spent in ways we never thought possible.
In my world of commercial disputes, we’re often arguing that a client should be repaid money they ought never have been asked to pay out. This area of our work has just gathered huge momentum - we’ve issued proceedings in 17 lead cases that are representative of similar claims involving more than 800 individuals who we believe are owed a combined sum of over £1.5m.
We’re not fighting MPs. This time it’s banks.
Some lenders have been mis-selling secured lending products for years and their way of operating is now firmly under the spotlight. Just this month the FSA banned lenders from selling single premium payment protection insurance (PPI) alongside unsecured personal loans.
But promises of low interest rates have long persuaded people to take out loans secured on their homes. And there’s a sting in that particular tail. People who try to pay off these loans early sometimes face hefty (we say excessive) charges. They may also find that they have been sold expensive or unnecessary PPI which provides no or little refund when it’s cashed in. And they may not have been told that commission payments – which often stretch into thousands of pounds – have been paid by the lender to the credit broker.
Our commercial disputes team is working with our client, the consumer champion Give Me My Money (www.givememymoney.co.uk) to get lenders to refund the money they’ve routinely and wrongly taken from customers. We believe there are millions of people who are affected, most of whom don’t realise they could claim.
Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that people are taking a stand against the sort of practices we’ve tolerated, although probably never fully understood, for years. Whatever the incentive, we hope to play some part in changing things for the better.
For more information about making a claim, contact me or call one of the Give My My Money team on 0844 561 6826
Christopher Nott T: 029 2047 4403 E: c.nott@capitallaw.co.uk
