You might receive a Grant Thornton PPI claims letter even if your IVA is already completed. But if your IVA is over do you have to respond?
- Why have you received a Grant Thornton PPI letter?
- Do you need to respond to it?
- Can you claim for PPI yourself instead?
- Find out how to keep any PPI compensation you are awarded
Why have you received a Grant Thornton PPI letter?
The financial regulator (the FCA) believes that banks have underpaid PPI compensation. As such Grant Thornton is writing to all clients who are currently in an IVA and asking them to revisit their PPI claims.
The letter you receive will state that you should now co-operate with a solicitor called Slater Hayward Law (SHL). It says they will further investigate your PPI claims to understand whether more compensation should be paid.
However what if you get this letter after your IVA is completed? It is possible that you received your Completion Certificate years ago. So what should you do?
The Grant Thornton IVA company has recently been bought out by its management. As a result the name of the organisation has changed to Aperture.
Do you need to respond to Grant Thornton?
If you have already got your Completion Certificate there can be no question that your IVA is over. You are no longer legally bound by it and Grant Thornton is no longer your Supervisor.
The first sentence of the Grant Thornton PPI letter is as follows: “As your Supervisor, our main purpose is helping you to complete your IVA”. As such this letter is clearly aimed at people who are still in their IVA.
Because your Agreement is already completed it is most likely that the letter has been sent to you by mistake. Grant Thornton are wrong to have suggested that they are still your supervisor when they are not.
Now your IVA is finished can you claim for PPI yourself and keep the money?
If your IVA is over and you have your completion certificate there is nothing to stop you making claims for PPI yourself. If you have not made claims in the past there is a good chance that you are still owed thousands of pounds.
But if you respond to the Grant Thornton PPI letter and authorise SHL any compensation is likely to be paid to them not you. So what should you do?
You can go ahead and initiate the claims yourself. However claiming for PPI after an IVA is not straight forward. To give yourself the best chance of receiving compensation it is sensible to use a specialist Claims Management Company.
A specialist claims management company understands your situation and how to deal with the banks and your IVA Company. Standard claims management companies may not be able to do this.
Do you have to respond to the Grant Thornton PPI letter if you are still paying your IVA?
If your IVA is not yet completed then you are still bound by its terms. This is the case if you are still making payments or if they have finished but have not yet received your completion certificate.
In these circumstances Grant Thornton are still within their right to ask you to co-operate with them. As such you will have to allow Slater Hayward Law to initiate PPI claims on your behalf.
You could resist the request. However if you do not co-operate it is possible that your completion certificate will be withheld. In the worst case a threat could be made to fail your IVA.
IVA Information is not a Claims Management Company. We are unable to help you with your PPI claims. If you want help you need to use a claims company regulated by the Ministry of Justice.