They would be stupid not to plead it, so they probably will. The real point is that there’s nothing inherently wrong in making a claim that might be time barred.
In terms of concealment it boils down to when you had sufficient knowledge to know you had a claim - or ought to have known. I’m not really sure what relevance the date of any complaint has, other than perhaps demonstrating that by then you had sufficient information to know you probably had a claim.
Although this could get expensive, I feel I do not want to let them get away with it. I think I need to get a claim in now and if that falls by the wayside at least I will learn where a judge is coming from, what standard of proof they require and go from there. I may then well try another claim on the basis of what I learn and based on the latter date of concealment (06/08/2028) providing I receive the audio file from earlier this month where they admitted to deleting documents.
I was going to ask the judge to stay the application to give the bank sufficient time to search and come back with an offer but perhaps that is stupid. Why shouldn't they be put under pressure? My thoughts are that if they are given another 6 weeks to investigate my latest complaint then if they reject that I simply take it to the Ombudsman. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but the Ombudsman has now given me a case number for the 04/09/2019 rejection letter as they wish to triage my case given the extenuating circumstances I have put forward and then possibly open a case. One issue here that the Ombudsman will not take a case on if there is an active court claim. Also the Ombudsman only upheld about 11% of all PPI cases in the last 6 years and with the time bar upon me I feel I have no choice but to make a claim. I shall plead with the Ombudsman to look at the case whilst the claim is stayed and see if they make an exception. Having looked into it, I doubt a judge will stay a claim for a year whilst the Ombudsman looks into it. They will probably say I am chancing it.
When did I have sufficient knowledge? I thought I had sufficient knowledge in August 2019 when the PPI deadline approached but I certainly didn't have sufficient evidence as I had not even found copies of the loan agreements at the time I made the claim. And if I need statements to prove I paid the loans off in full then I currently don't have sufficient evidence now!
The main problems as I see it (and they have hinted at this) is that they will say that they don't have copies of bank statements from 37 years ago or that they cannot now know whether the loans were paid in full. To head that off, I am going to make a DSAR for a copy of the last statement on each loan ie the final month that I had paid and which represents the final instalment payment of each loan. If I ask for all copies of statements from 1988 - 1992 or whenever then they are highly unlikely to want to trawl through a lot of microfiche records and will probably reject the DSAR as too labour intensive especially as I have also recently sent a DSAR in. They could simply reject a second DSAR anyway according to ICO.
I am a hoarder so the likelihood is that I still do have the bank statements although finding them is a different matter. I am trying to get on top of clearing as I am nearing the end of my life (and perhaps sooner than I had anticipated - the question is how long do I have.) I have made the bank fully aware of my circumstances including the tests for cancer (which I have put off for 3 years because of other issues in my life ie the will challenge which you may recall) so they will either kick their heals hoping I will die before it gets to court or they will do the right thing (unlikely).
I did have a root around for the bank statements 6 years ago and couldn't find them. I wonder if my partner in the late 90's threw them away thinking she was doing the right thing and tidying up.
