There’s been a number of similar recent reports here Bacardibill.

It looks like FOS has responded to similar complaints en bloc?

Situation changes if RBS lose this case at court this autumn?

Hi

I have received the same letter from the FOS. I cannot find the original feed so I am just replying on the most recent one.

It seems as though the FOS are just siding with RBS, regardless of the cases whether they are past or upcoming.

Hi Angibabes.

It does seem as though FOS has sympathy with the case that RBS is making. It's clearly a difficult and two-sided matter, otherwise it wouldn't have progressed through the legal system as far as it has.

Within the financial services industry, some take the view that FOS is too quick to take the side of consumers rather than firms. Most people within the industry wouldn't see them as being generally quick to take the side of a firm on difficult and finely balanced decisions like this.

I still think the court case has the potential to change everything. That's if RBS doesn't win of course. I doubt the time and cost involved in all of this would have been invested unless their legal advice is that they have a real chance of winning.

I had another conversation today. The adjudicator told me that even if RBS lose the court case they will not be changing their position

This may well be the case Hopefloats.

The legal case is likely to clarify the law however. If it's found that RBS has dealt with complaints inappropriately, once the law is clear, their regulator (the FCA) may require them to review the way these cases were handled and to put matters right.

Indeed, the bank itself might recognise this possibility in advance of the regulator and choose to review their complaint handling of such cases.

There's plenty of precedent for this. The FCA has ordered a number of banks to work back through batches of complaints that they handled inappropriately.

It obviously all depends upon RBS losing their case. They may be encouraged by the view that the FOS has taken.

Something else that occurs to me is the nature of how the Financial Ombudsman Service goes about putting matters right.

When they find a problem that has caused a consumer to lose out, they seek to put them back in the position that they would otherwise have been in (before the problem).

What position was someone in before RBS decided to deal with post trust deed claims in this way?

It depends upon which point in time that you choose.

They might take the view that an individual using a trust deed entered into it voluntarily. When they entered into it, they placed their assets in the hands of their trustee to help repay their debts. One such asset was the potential to make a PPI claim. There was no expectation that they'd be able to benefit from such an asset later.

If you focus in on this point in time, what have you lost from RBS setting-off the PPI against the debt later? The answer is nothing.

This isn't my/our point of view. I'm just speculating about how the FOS might have come around to the view that they've taken.

Hi
I spoke to FOS about my case and have been told similar but they also said their ruling is merely opinion and regardless if they had went with consumers in this case RBS would have been unlikely to pay out. She advised me to write to RBS to say I do not recognise this ruling and want the complaint to remain open.
I can’t find any reference to the upcoming case XA17/17 which you could view on scotrolls before. Is this case still going ahead? The FOS lady advised she has no idea when the case will be heard?

I'm afraid that I don't have any detail about the status of this case Mb77.

I too have had the same response from FOS. The letter stated that if I didn't accept the decision, I was to let them know and an ombudsman would make a final decision.
Spoke to the adjudicator who said that he would lodge an appeal, however he thinks that the outcome would be the same. He did say that everyone has been given the same answer and should they all appeal, them they might have to rethink things???

Hi sharoma.

It does seem like the FOS has grouped these claims together and dealt with them in a batch.

Please let us know how you get on if you do appeal.

Hi Bacardibill, had virtually an identical response from FO. However what they failed to mention is the forthcoming court case/appeal in October, which, if RBS is unsuccessful, means that we have a good chance of reclaiming the monies owed to us. My case was actually to do with excessive interest charged which they admitted, but the principle is the same. Not impressed with the FO at all.

Hi
Only issue is if it goes to final ombudsman’s decision the FOS told me you then can’t take RBS to court? I am not sure if this is true or not ?

I'm not sure whether that's correct Mb77, but I'm not an expert in this area.

I know that a final decision that a consumer accepts is binding upon a firm, but I'm not sure whether it can work similarly the other way as well.

I have a letter from rbs that clearly states if case is lost in October all money due will be paid back inc adjustment to payments