Not upheld: Other regulated complaint complaint against Charterhouse Claims Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H instructed CCL to pursue a mis-selling claim against Lender A for a payday loan. CCL obtained an offer from Lender A to reduce Mr H's balance by £1,580 as a gesture of goodwill, and invoiced Mr H for their success fee. Mr H complained that CCL had not acted in his best interests by accepting the offer without providing a breakdown of Lender A's calculations, and requested the fee be waived. The ombudsman found that CCL acted within the contractual terms and fairly, as Lender A's offer was made within regulatory guidelines and CCL had escalated Mr H's concerns back to the lender and offered him the option to pursue the matter with FOS. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that CCL acted within the contractual terms agreed by Mr H, which clearly stated that a success fee would be charged if a reasonable offer was received. The ombudsman noted that Lender A's offer was made as a gesture of goodwill within regulatory guidelines, not as an admission of mis-selling, and therefore CCL was fair to accept it. When Mr H challenged the offer, CCL referred his concerns back to Lender A and offered him the option to escalate to FOS, which the ombudsman considered to be acting in his best interests. The ombudsman also noted that issues with the repayment plan fell outside FOS jurisdiction.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website