Mis-Sold finance or Hidden Commissions claims are a rapid growth area for solicitors, often taking on cases on a CFA basis. From innovations from PPI claims, many of the ‘heavier’ financial claims, such as miss-sold pensions, mortgages, personal loans and pay-day loans are actively taken on by experienced solicitors representing claimants who are often unaware of the depth of the claim.
Some examples of our ATE products we have recently launched are;
Pay-Day Loans
Complaints for pay-day loan companies increased by over 5000% since 2008 as the birth of pay day loan companies grew rapidly following the financial recession. An estimated 3 million people in the UK have used, or still use Pay-Day loan companies, who have lent out a total of £4.2bn since 2008.
Sub-Prime Car Finance Loans
Car finance in the UK has been widely available to the general public since the 1980s. It was only until the turn of millennium that the concept drastically took off, with comparison website, the internet and car manufacturers establishing their own lending divisions offering a spring board to industry – designed for those individuals who could not always afford the vehicle outright. As the industry expanded, so did the appetite for securitised lending which led to a boom of sub-prime lending for car finance. The car finance market evolved in 2007, offering lending deals to sub-prime borrowers in collateral for their vehicles. Our mis-sold car finance ATE insurance was established by solicitors wishing to pursue car financing companies for wrongfully selling and advising borrowers on car financing deals.
Endowment Claims
Whilst these have been around since the 1990s and have only really taken off since solicitors have offered to work on a CFA basis.
Most claimants are not aware that there is not necessarily a time limit on endowment claims; even if the policy has matured or been cashed in, or if the firm who sold it is no longer in business. For example, even if your policy was sold to you prior to 1981, you may be able to gain compensation – although this is dependent upon who sold you the policy. Endowment mis selling claims deadlines depend upon either when you were sold the policy or when you became aware of the endowment shortfall issue. Our After the Event Insurance for endowment claims was designed for solicitors and regulated Claim Management Companies running high volume claims on behalf of clients.
Mis-Sold SIPPs
The pensions industry is calling for fundamental reform of how Sipps are regulated as advisers face the prospect of another substantial Financial Services Compensation Scheme interim levy. Mis-sold Sipps hit an estimated £300m in 2016.
The number of Sipp-related claims has increased by 59% this year, with total compensation for 2016/17 to be paid at £136m plus administration costs of £7m for the 2016/17 period alone. The lifeboat scheme said it “underestimated” the flood of Sipp claims, which has led to the warning it will most likely have to impose an interim levy on life and pension advisers next year.
In 2015 the Financial Watchdog launched an investigation in the way pensions were sold, transferred and set up dating back as far as 1980s. There are in excess of over 2.5m confirmed mis-sold pensions in the UK and growing, particularly amongst the now retired pension holders who are unaware of the gross mis-selling on an industrial scale.
Our After the Event Insurance for mis-sold pension claims was designed for solicitors and regulated Claim Management Companies running high volume claims on behalf of clients.
Our After the Event Insurance for financially mis-sold products are not automatically available for purchase from claimants. Our products are available only to solicitors based in the United Kingdom where a reasonable volume of cases is available to insure each year. We would be delighted to discuss this product with you so please do give us a call to arrange a meeting in how we can truly help your law firm develop these products effectively – combined with our training events.
As with all our ATE policies, tailor made premium structures are available.
Key Benefits of our ATE Insurance for Mis-sold financial claims:
- Flexible premium structures – from fixed fees, staged to percentage linked premiums.
- The ATE Insurance Premium is only payable when the client receives their damages. If no damages are obtained, the ATE premium does not have to be paid.
- We offer a minimal administration scheme and our dedicated platform, ‘VUE’ is extremely easy to use and obtain instant documents. We also integrate with many case management systems for claim management companies and solicitors.
- We only need to know if and when you issue proceedings or transfer files There is only one thing to report on during the lifetime of the ATE Insurance policy, and that is if you issue proceedings.
- All of ourAfter the Event Insurance policies are cancellable in many circumstances with nothing to pay
We understand all types of Financial Claims – talk to us and see how we can help.
With an in-house legal team and trainers, we are able to offer you guidance, support and training on any complex financial Mis-selling matters. From specially qualified solicitors, barristers and Independent Financial Advisors – we have an excellent team with many years of both claims handling and legal experience to assist our partners.