The Financial Ombudsman Service received a PPI complaint in 2008. The ombudsman has failed to make a ruling on the case in the three years that it has been on its desk.
The claim was brought by Stephen Pattison and Katrina MacKay. Pattison and MacKay took out a £11,000 loan in 2006 with Welcome Financial Services. The £2,868 loan included a PPI package, accident plan and life coverage. The amount of the loan was nearly £30,000 which was to be paid off over the course of 15 years.
However, the terms of the PPI and life coverage did not cover the entire term of the loan. The PPI terms only covered the first three years of the loan.
Pattison and MacKay issued a complaint with Welcome Financial Services, which subsequently denied the claim. The clients brought the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service two years after the loan was signed.
The representative overhearing the complaint upheld it. In the meantime, the bank stated that it intended to make a goodwill gesture. Welcome offered to withdraw the PPI and life insurance obligations. However, in the process they also stipulated that the clients would have to pay a newly calculated rate that was 1.4% higher. The customers objected, as their current rate already exceeded 20 percent.
Pattison and MacKay brought the complaint to the FOS, asking for their feedback on whether or not it was fair. However, the FOS stated that that would have to be treated as a separate complaint.
The clients have been waiting for a decision for three years. According to an update they received from the FOS in December, they may have to wait another year before they receive a judgment. A spokesman recently stated that the decision should be resolved within the next two months, but they could not commit to an exact time-frame.
The clients are very disappointed with the outcome and insist it is not what they expected when they filed a complaint with the FOS. They feel that they have been taken advantage of by Welcome Financial Services and are not receiving justice as they expected.
After the public continues to be irate over the PPI scandal, many politicians, citizens and advocacy groups are calling for regulation. Although the prospect of regulation sounds welcoming to many people, others see potential problems.
After the massive fallout from the PPI mis-sellings that took place in 2011, many customers are starting to look out for these packages in the coming year. Many customers from last year still have not received their payments from the banks, despite the fact that the Office of Fair Trading has started cracking down on them.
