Does anyone have any advice for me... It's looking increasingly likely that I will not continue with following my complaint via the FOS, I'm getting the impression that they have made their minds up already and continuing with the complaint through them is not going to get me anywhere. Do any caggers have any experience of taking banks to court, or know of any postings etc on here that could give me a few pointers and ideas. I'm really looking at information on whether it is a good idea taking a bank to court, especially when the claim would fall outside the small claims court. I'm getting to the point now whether to carry on with querying the amount of my payout, maybe Lloyds have wore me down to the point that it's not worth carrying on with the fight to win back what I think I am owed. Any tips or help would be much appreciated... Mikey40

dx Good to hear from you, the whole refund issue has come about from the refund figures given to me from Lloyds TSB (a fair pay out I might add , but it's the principle), but then pointed out me that this figure was short of what I should be expecting. DJ kindly did a breakdown of each loan and showed that from his calculations I was somewhat short overall, hence I went back to FOS and queried this. According to them the Lloyds have followed their 'methology' of putting a claimant back to where they should reasonably be if I didn't take out the PPI in the first place. I am querying this figure with DJ's and own calculations, but now am wondering if its all worth it! Mikey

I coming round to the conclusion that I'm pushing the proverbial brown stuff uphill with the FOS, so am increasingly thinking of taking Lloyds TSB to court option regarding my dispute on the amount paid out by Lloyds. Do other caggers have any experiences of doing this, know where the best stickies are to find the best informaton on this course of action or just have there own views on the action, anything would be much appreciated. The one thing that springs to mind is that the disputed figure is over £5000, so am thinking this may not be able to go through the small claims court? Mikey

Well have had a very quick letter through from my new adjudicator, it's not good news, but have a look at letter below. Would appreciate any thoughts and helpful hints on a letter to send back to them, as they haven't given me much time... 'Background to the complaint: This complaint concerns the redress paid as a result of a complaint about the sale of five single premium PPI policies in connection with loans taken out in October 2001, July 2002, May 2003, April 2005 and February 2007. Following your complaint that the policies had been mis-sold to you, Lloyds TSB wrote to you on January 28th 2010, advising that they would be prepared to offer redress in accordance with the guidance set out by this service. However, this redress was only offered in respect of the policies sold to you in April 2005 and February 2007. Lloyds TSB also made an offer to pay the difference between a rebate calculated on a pro-rata basis and the rebate you actually received upon early cancellation of the policies purchased in October 2001, July 2002 and May 2003. You did not accept Lloyds TSB’s initial offer and referred your complaint to this service for consideration. Following our involvement, Lloyds TSB agreed to offer redress in accordance with our guidance, in respect of all five PPI policies. This offer was communicated to you in our letter of 19th April 2010. Once we received your signed acceptance form on 28 April 2010, we forwarded this on to Lloyds TSB and asked them to contact you regarding the settlement, Lloyds TSB calculated the redress and issued this to you accordingly. However, having received a breakdown of the calculation from Lloyds TSB you are now in dispute with the amount of redress that has been paid. This is because the breakdown of the calculations that Lloyds TSB has provided, differs from your own. You want Lloyds TSB to pay you the difference between the redress that you received and the redress reflected in your own calculations. Findings: Before I set out my findings, it may be helpful if I explain the approach that the Financial Ombudsman Service takes assessing complaints. We are impartial and independent of both firms and complainants. We give equal consideration to the information provided by the both sides. Where there is a dispute about what happened, we base our decisions on the balance of probabilities – in other words, on what we consider is most likely to have happened in the light of the evidence. I have carefully considered all information that you and Lloyds TSB have provided. I have set out my findings overleaf: In my view, the settlement issued by Lloyds TSB is not unfair. This service’s general approach to calculating redress in this type of case would be for Lloyds TSB to put you back into the position you would have been in had you not taken out the PPI policies. This service has had sight of Lloyds TSB’s calculations, has looked at them and is satisfied that the correct methodology has been used. I have noted your comments that you feel that Lloyds TSB should pay the figures quoted in your calculations, sent to this service on 3rd August 2010, however, I do not consider that this would be reasonable in the circumstances. I say this because, I feel that Lloyds TSB’s settlement adequately compensates you for the mis-sale of the PPI policies. Conclusions: Because of this, I have to tell you that I am unable to recommend that your complaint should be upheld. I appreciate that this likely to come as a disappointment to you. I know that this is not the outcome you were hoping. Nevertheless, I hope that my explanation has been helpful in setting out clearly why I have taken this view. However, if you disagree with how I have reached my conclusions, please reply by 22nd April 2011 – telling me your reasons along with any evidence that you have not already provided and that you think is important to the case. Could you please let me know if you plan to reply fully but do not think you will be able to meet this deadline. As a reminder, you will also have the right to ask an ombudsman to review the case – as the final stage in our process. But if we do not hear from you by 22nd April 2011 , I will assume that you have decided not to pursue the complaint further.' As stated any help or advice much appreciated Mikey

I've got an update on where I stand with my complaint with lloyds TSB, I received a letter from the FOS, which states the following: 'Your case has now been referred to me. I am an adjudicator at the FOS. I specialise in settling disputes informally. As part of my work, I will look at both sides of the complaint, weigh up the information, and then tell you and Lloyds TSB what I think. Where I cannot settle a complaint informally, I can issue more formal recommendations about whether the complaint should be upheld or not. If you or Lloyds TSB do not accept what I say, either side can ask for the complaint to be reviewed by an ombudsman. The time it will now take to reach an outcome on your complaint depends on the issues involved and whether we need any more information. In the meantime, I would be grateful if you could let me know, if anything happens that you think may affect your complaint – or if there is an additional information that you have not already sent us and that you would like me to consider... ' Well I've got mysself a new adjudicator... it's a case of wait and see again me thinks!! Will keep you posted! Mikey

Just a quick update... no news! nearly a month now after my 'case' got passed to the FOS' Offers and Mediation team... still waitng with baited breath! Hope to report back soon with a more positive update... Mikey

Well had an email back from me adjudicator... 'I acknowledge safe receipt of your letter dated 28 February 2011. I can confirm that your file will now be transferred to our offers and mediation team for further consideration' Offers and Mediation team hey... another adjudicator perhaps?! We shall see...

Well another letter posted off to the FOS, asking them to look again at their decision... will see what the next 12 months bring!! Mikey40

DX What can I say! Many, many thanks. I'm blown away by all the help I've received on this forum, really has kept me going when the going has been tough, but hey I'm in it for the long term, and with the help of you guys then I'm sure justice will be done! DJ OK, if you think that's the next course of action then I will get to it asap. Is it worth mentioning my query about the first loan, or is that something which gets resolved in the letters they sent me... but for the life of me I can't tell where!?!?! Will draft an accompayning letter and send one of the xls files, and mention I have the rest for their perusal if they so wish!! Do you have any other tips on what to put in the letter. Once again many thanks for all your help... maybe there might be still more to come! Mikey

Dj For some reason I can't view the xls document, every time I go to open it it asks me log in again and then it says I can't?! Confused! Can you PM it to me? Thanks for taking the time out. I will PM you back on the other points... Mikey

Well have finally had a reply from the FOS and it's not good news, and to be honest I'm a tad confused and not sure what's the best way forward now. Any help or advice from fellow caggers would be much appreciated. I'm off for a strong coffee and another read of the below... 'Dear Mr [edit], Thank you for your e-mail and I apologise for the considerable delay before reply. I acknowledge your patients whilst this matter has been investigated. Having now considered the situation, I believe the Lloyds calculations are broadly in line with the Financial Ombudsman's guidance. The objective in carrying out the settlement calculations is to put a consumer back into the position that you should have been in if PPI had not been set up from the outset. The refund of the actual PPI premiums paid on the loan is straight forward to calculate but the settlement balance, when each individual loan is restructured into the next loan is more complicated to understand and this has caused the biggest discrepancy in your calculations compared to those of Lloyds TSB. I believe you have also not taken into consideration the rebate calculated by the firm as each loan has been recalculated. Taking the example of loan account ..... the total PPI premium amounted to £2455.59 excluding interest. At the point of your loan restructure, the firm crystallises the interest in this case after nine months and you received a rebate of £1643.77 to reduce your outstanding loan when it rolled over in to the next loan. The first step for the firm is to recalculate the loan and the payments to what they would have been if you had taken the loan without PPI. In this case, you paid £484.28 in PPI premiums but if the loan had been written without PPI you would have overpaid your account by £539.94 and this is referred to as the settlement difference. The firm calculates the 'actual' premiums you have paid towards the PPI policy, in this case nine premiums of £53.80 totalling £484.28 plus the 8% interest on the PPI paid, totalling £293.20 which results in the refund of £777.48. You also receive £226.52 which is the excess balance interest and £132.97 representing the 8% interest on the excess balance interest. I acknowledge that the settlement calculations are extremely difficult to describe but with the combination of the PPI premium rebate and the settlement difference calculations which are calculated in each step of the process, this does meet the objective of putting you back into the position you should be in had you not had PPI in the first instance. In summary, on loan account ........you have received £1643.77 PPI rebate, £777.48 refund of PPI premiums paid plus £226.52 and £132.97 representing the excess balance interest and 8% interest respectively. The settlement difference is obviously rolled forward into the next loan and so on, and this element of the refund also enjoys an 8% per year interest calculation and is dealt with in loan account ''''''''' settlement calculations. I hope this is of assistance in your understanding of the calculations. You may wish to take independent financial advice to revisit the figures or as we explain in our leaflet, your complaint and the ombudsman, consumers have the right to ask an ombudsman to review their complaint - as the final stage in our process. However, I hope that this will not now be necessary in this case.' hmmmmm!! Mikey 40

Can agree with that! I been waiting almost 18 months from my initial letter to Lloyds, did get a pay out which though substantial still wasn't correct, so went back to the FOS in September last year and am still waiting for a decision. Despite many emails and telephone calls it's aways been a case of the adjudicator having to chase the bank and from the sounds of it being fobbed off! Stick with it steve76, we can't let the banks continue to get away with it! Mikey40

Happy New Year to everyone! Back gain with another update, had another email from my adjudicator... 'Thank you for your e-mail and I apologise for the considerable delay that has occurred in resolving this matter. I will revisit this matter with Lloyds and will contact you again early next week.' So as you can see not much progress! Was hoping a new year would mean a fresh start and finding whether Lloyds were right or wrong on there figures. Not too much to ask is it?! Anyways I will see what next week brings...! Mikey40

Me again! New update to keep you all on your edge of your seats... Had this back from adjudicator... 'I can confirm that Lloyds TSB have provided me with further information and I am currently reconciling the figures to ascertain the discrepancies. I hope to conclude the matter for you very shortly.' Continuing to watch this space!!

Did just that dj, was told that the complaint was still a 'live' issue and he was again chasing Lloyds for a response. he said he would contact me again in a couple of days to give me a further update. If heard nothing in 7 days will phone again... ah all fun isn't it! :lol