Credit management services are on 08453660232 or 08458351922 (insolvencies) though, but it's the payments team who are responsible for the distribution of monies, including set off, and you won't be able to talk to them.

Sorry just in from work. I owe more than the ppi is paying out. I dont know the exact amount that was in my trust fund for my creditors but my IP has informed me that the RBS has not claimed their share,it is still sitting with him.

Hi Tanyadm,
thanks for the info,much appreciated. I'll just have to wait the 28 days and take my chances with the fos. Its not just about RBS taking the money but also in the way they go about it.They cant treat people like this. I'm on medication for depression so as you can imagine when you get told you are getting all this money i could have through the medication out the window, HA, but to then be told a couple of days later that you aint,and then past from pillar to post has not really done me any favours personally.

I agree Scoop. I personally feel that all of their calculations should be done before there is any offer letter. I.e. so that they are saying "We are awarding you X PPI refund, but are setting it off against Y debt, so you will receive Z (if anything)".

Exactly Tanyadm. I just got word today informing me that the ppi money has been put into the RBS account to go towards my written off debt to them. Will need to go to FOS. They re-opened the account but i was under the impression obviously that after closing it and writing off the debt,then what debt is there? also i thought they would need my permission to have a credit check done before any account is opened,that is the law.My IP who i spoke to today is being kind enough to write to the bank personally,he mentioned some thing about unfair preference which is against bankruptcy legislation. I will keep you posted on how i go with this. Not going down without a fight.

Hi scoop.

I think its safe to say that RBS will have taken their own legal advice on this and believe their position to be defensible. Lots of people would also agree that their position is fair enough after, presumably, voluntarily agreeing to write off a large sum of money that you previously owed to them.

Lots of people would also take the contrary view, presumably including your former trustee based upon his legal understanding.

As we understand this the position is untested in court. It would probably be prohibitively expensive to test this in court. Therefore it will be interesting to hear the Financial Ombudsmans verdict when it eventually comes.

I do think it's quite wrong for RBS to repeatedly send out these letters telling people they're getting a payment before they do their insolvency checks.

Also, the experts here will know better, but my understanding of "unfair preference" is that any asset of the trust deed, including PPI refunds, should be split by the trustee equally between creditors, rather than retained by one only. However, if your trustee is discharged, then this wouldn't apply as they have no dealings in your finances?

In any case, RBS are completely within their rights to retain the money, and there is a section on the Ombudsman website explaining their right to set off.

They've not technically opened a new account, but just reactivated the existing debt. As far as I'm aware, once the set off has been paid into those accounts, they then shut them off again and don't chase for the remainder (I'm hoping that to be the case, anyway, and have made a complaint to RBS Executive the lack of clarity about how the payments are distributed - I'm expecting a response on that by the end of the week and will update here once I've received it.)

It's disappointing, and the real issue is that they've given you the run-around, but there's little you can do to fight them retaining the money.

Ok a protected trust deed means no creditor can take any action against you for the recovery of any debt due at the date of that trust deed,also a creditor accepts that a dividend in a trust deed represents full and final settlement in respect of the debt due to them and that they will discharge the debtor from all obligations in respect of that debt.Now if a creditor can then take money from you years later for this debt then what is the point in a trust deed at all.

Hi scoop.

Perhaps the bank believes the end of their right to claim against you is also the end of your right to claim against them on the same accounts. Both parties have benefited and lost in certain ways.

There's no legal certainty though so any views or thoughts are just speculation.

Yes I can see how some people may look at it that way but at the end of the day this is with regards to the mis-selling of PPI which I paid in full under good faith by being advised by a trusted service - it should be irrelevant whether or not I have entered in to a Trust Deed at a later date for debts that were not connected to my PPI compensation.

The thing is, that although the PPI payouts are happening now, the actual PPI money existed prior to and during the trust deed period, so that is their justification right there. It actually says in one letter I got from RBS - "At the point that we owed you money, you also owed us money."

Another communication from them said "As I am sure you will appreciate, we are a business and we have a duty to our shareholders to always try and recover money that is owed to us. We feel that ÔÇÿset off' is a legitimate way to recover our position."

The largest part of me thinks it's fair enough, I didn't pay them what I owed, and I've come into money via them, so why wouldn't they keep it.

In my case, I was missold front-loaded, single premium PPI - i.e., it was the first thing that the loan instalments repaid - this particularly form of PPI is no longer sold and is one of the most refunded.

My PPI refund was £1549 plus the statutory interest, my loan amount outstanding roughly £1500. Had it not been missold in the first place, the debt would have not existed at the point that I entered the trust deed.

But the system is what it is, they're playing within the rules that they are set by the various authorities - so what can you really do?

Please realise that I'm not pouring cold water on your comments for the sake of it, I'm in the same boat as you, and I wouldn't want to see someone put themselves through stress for no reason, especially as I know that even post trust-deed, it's still possible to feel financially and personally vulnerable.

I think its interesting that shareholders are mentioned in that letter tanyadm.

When it comes to RBS those shareholders are effectively you, me and everyone else reading this.

I think we'll all have our different views on this. My IP is supporting me 100% in this. He has posted a letter for me to give to the FOS and has also sent one to the RBS. I dont know exactly what has been written but every little helps. I would not have minded if the bank had taken the ppi refund from the loan when i entered my trust deed which is where the put my ppi compensation but its the previous 6 that i paid my ppi on i think i should get back.

Well, good luck, Scoop - let me know how you get on. I'm still waiting to find out if I'll get the surplus from mine, or the statutory interest. The full refund would be amazing, but they are indiscriminately setting off refunds without considering the fuller picture of any individual circumstance - I suppose they wouldn't want to set a precedent, because the likes of us discuss it and could go back to them and say "Well, you did it for that person!", then their bill would get even bigger.

TDA - yes, you're absolutely right. And 'the shareholders' weren't expecting the money back anyway, seeing as it was written off, so it's majorly opportunist of them!

Yes will definately keep you posted Tanyadm. I'm not sure if thats what my IP is writing in these letters as he knows of cases where the RBS has paid out to people in our circumstances. It maybe some time before i can update as i dont know how long the FOS will take to come to a decision. Until then its been nice talking to you and i wish you all the best with your case.