Alliance& Leicester ppi problem - please help!

Katat

I got my Alliance& Leicester credit card in 1994. In March 2003 the account was taken over by MBNA. In May 2003 ppi was added to my account which I did not realise until July 2007 at which time I cancelled it.

I wrote to A&L to query this as I have no recollection of asking for this. I would not have requested ppi for two reasons:

1. I am self employed and A&L were aware of this and I know ppi is useless to me.

2. I had a previous loan with A&L in 1998 which included ppi. When I was made redundant in 2000 my claim was refused on the grounds that I decided to become self employed rather than sign on as unemployed. I wrote and complained to A&L as there was nothing in my loan agreement which said that becoming self employed after redundancy would make any claim against ppi invalid.

On 15th November 2008 I wrote to A&L and asked for a copy of my CCA and a breakdown of all ppi payments charged on my credit card from May 2003 until I cancelled it in August 2007 including a copy of the ppi agreement with my signature on it.

It took numerous reminders and I finally had a response dated 4th February 2009 which said A&L are unable to provide a copy of my CCA and signature pack as this was completed prior to my account being administered by MBNA but they do confirm that my cc application was completed in May 1994.
No furthet info was given regarding my CCA but they went on to say that they confirm that their records indicate that I requested ppi during a telephone conversation with one of their advisors on 6th May 2003. They are unable to listen to or provide me with a recording of the conversation as it was not recorded. The amount I have paid for ppi is £1886.72

In other words, it is their word against mine that I ever asked for ppi cover even though I have pointed out the reasons I would NOT have requested it, including the fact that they knew full well that I was self employed and had been refused a claim on my earlier loan on tohose grounds.

I also find it very suspicious that I had the card for 9 years without requiring ppi cover and within 2 months of MBNA taking over the accounts from A&L the ppi was applied to my account.

I know I should have spotted it sooner on my statements but in all honesty I did not expect it to be there so did not look for it.

Can anyone advise me what I can do next regarding getting a copy of my CCA and demanding a refund for the ppi payments which I did not authorise?

Many thanks for any advice/suggestions.

maxdp

Hi There I have successfully got PPI plus interest back from above. I was also self employed. I would write again reiterating your complaint give them 14 days to reply. Tell them that you are willing to take it to the FOS. Then when you get their reply post that up on here.
Have you sent them the SAR LETTER plus 10.00 already that may make them provide all the missing info.

Let us know re above then we could suggest which way to go now.

Good Luck

Katat

Thanks MaxDP for your encouagement and advice. I have written again already this morning reiterating my complaint and saying I will go to the Financial Ombudsman if they do not send a favourable reply within 14 days.
What is the SAR letter? (Newbie here so do not know all the terms and abbreviations yet!)

By the time they do reply I will have found out what the SAR letter is and will use that in my next response. Will post their reply as soon as I get it.

Thanks again - it is good to know somebody was successful!

di3004

Katat wrote: »

Thanks MaxDP for your encouagement and advice. I have written again already this morning reiterating my complaint and saying I will go to the Financial Ombudsman if they do not send a favourable reply within 14 days.
What is the SAR letter? (Newbie here so do not know all the terms and abbreviations yet!)

By the time they do reply I will have found out what the SAR letter is and will use that in my next response. Will post their reply as soon as I get it.

Thanks again - it is good to know somebody was successful!

Hi there

An SAR letter is a Subject Access Request, when you request for this they must supply all the information they have on you on your account(S), they have 40 days to comply.

There is a £10 charge for this, in either a cheque or postal order and always post by recorded delivery for your proof and to keep check on the dates they have as you can track your posting down on the royal mail website, tracking section.

You will find a SAR in the thread with details.

If you require any further help just give us a yell where we will be happy to help all we can, good luck.;)

Di

Katat

Thanks for the info. Will look up the SAR and send it anyway without waiting for the reply to this morning's letter. I really appreciate your help - it seems like some kind of game of chess!
K

Katat

Hi di3004 - a quick question - who do I make the postal order payable to? I don't want them to just credit the £10 to my account and ignore the SAR by saying I didn't pay the required fee.
Also who should I address the letter to? The correspondence I have had so far has been with a different person every time.
Thanks,
K

di3004

Katat wrote: »

Hi di3004 - a quick question - who do I make the postal order payable to? I don't want them to just credit the £10 to my account and ignore the SAR by saying I didn't pay the required fee.
Also who should I address the letter to? The correspondence I have had so far has been with a different person every time.
Thanks,
K

Hi Katat

Here I have many addresses, for A&L, and I am sure someone who have been dealing with these will confirm which one just in case, and please do check your bank account, if its the case they have taken out the £10, and not supplied you with your request you have this to proove on a statement, so they will not get out of it, but I know what you mean, I imagine you would write it out to Alliance & Leicester PLC bank, yet again hopefully this will be confirmed by someone else to be on the safe side and here are some addresses, good luck and please let us know how you get on, we shall take your complaint from there or when your ready.
I think its the top address to be honest, I copied and pasted this from another site of where I am a member.




ADDRESS for Data Protection Act S.A.R.

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER PLC
CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE
CARLTON PARK
NARBOROUGH
LEICESTER
LE19 0AL



ADDRESS FOR PRELIM / LBA LETTERS

Alison Riley
Customer Services Manager
Alliance & Leicester PLC
BOOTLE
Merseyside
GIR OAA

Direct line: 0151 966 2192
Direct fax: 0151 949 4715

ADDRESS FOR COURT CLAIMS SERVICE

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER PLC
CARLTON PARK
NARBOROUGH
LEICESTER
LE19 0AL

Katat

Many thanks! Will send it off this week with a postal order as I have read some posts which say some companies have copied signatures off cheques in order to create other docs. Maybe a bit far fetched but better paranoid than sorry!
Will let you know what happens!
Best regards,
K
:eek:

di3004

Katat wrote: »

Many thanks! Will send it off this week with a postal order as I have read some posts which say some companies have copied signatures off cheques in order to create other docs. Maybe a bit far fetched but better paranoid than sorry!
Will let you know what happens!
Best regards,
K
:eek:

Hi hun

Yes your very wise.;) Not far fetched, you can never be too careful these days.
Good luck and we look forward to hearing from you again soon, any problem just post up and let us know when your ready to move on, all the best.;)

Di
X

oscar52

If its your A&L credit card, address is

Customer Advocates Office,
MBNA
PO BOX 1004
Chester Business Park
Wrexham Road
Chester
CH4 9FW

If you want to query the PPI / PPC sale, ask them for a screen shot of your account notes showing the call and sale of the product (and you can just ask for this, no need to pay)

Katat

Hi di3004

I received the letter below from A&L today. This was in reply to the reminder I sent on 13 Jan 09 as I had not had a response to my initial letter. Someone else had written a few days ago saying there was no recording of the call nor a copy of my original contract and I have already replied to that one saying not good enough and I don't accept their account of my requseting the PPI on the phone. Seems like more than one person is dealing with this?

As expected the letter below tells me to get stuffed or go to the FOS so not sure what to do next. I maintain I did not request PPI as they say I did given past experience with them about PPI when I had a loan which I explained in my initial post. Any suggestion as to what to do? I have not sent the SAR letter yet and now not sure who to send it to.

Thanks!
K

Letter received today 11.02.09

Dated 02.02.2009

Dear xxxx

Account xxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 13.01.09 regarding the Payment Protection Cover (PPC) and the additional issues on your Alliance & Leicester credit card account which is issued by MBNA Europe Bank Ltd.

I note from your letter that you feel you are ineligible for the PPC due to your employment status and are now requesting that we issue a full refund of premiums. I confirm that even though you are self employed you are still eligible for PPC. However there are certain criteria that must be met in order for you to claim.

Our records show that the PPC was applied to your account following a conversation with one of our specialists on 6 May 2003. At A&L credit cards we are not required to record 100% of our calls, we are however confident that our sales process is compliant. Our associates are trained and assessed to a high standard and as an additional measure the bank conducts thorough call listening quality reviews on a regular basis; these are completed by both the team manager and a stand-alone quality team with the bank.

Furthermore, our associates receive regular coaching and feedback and are equipped with a fully compliant script when offering an insurance product. This script ensures all customers are provided with detailed information regarding the policy, including key features and benefits, eligibility and exclusions to allow them to make an informed decision. To ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements no advice or recommendations are given as part of our sales process.

We do not require signed confirmation as you agreed to the cover verbally and the terms and conditions were issued. These provided you with 30 days in which to read and cancel, should the policy not meet your requirements. Also you could have contacted us at any time to discuss the details of the policy should you have had any questions relating to the benefits and exclusions applicable to the cover.

Since the policy was applied updated versions of the PPC have been issued. These were sent in November 2004 confirming the change of insurers and more recently in January 2007 advising a change to the benefits and increase in cost. These also provide you with a further opportunity to contact us to discuss the details of the policy.

PPC premiums have clearly shown on each of your monthly statements where a balance has remained outstanding. The terms and conditions of the credit card state that it is the customers responsibility to ensure they check each statement and contact us if they dispute any transactions.

The cover is an optional benefit and can be cancelled at any time. Following my investigations I note that you contacted us on 10 July 2007 to request the cancellation of the PPC. In line with the terms and conditions of the policy we require 30 days notice to cancel the cover, therefore a further premium was charged.

I regret to advise you that I am unable to issue a refund of the premiums. Having considered all details of this case I am satisfied that the cover was requested and that you have ben covered in line with the terms and conditions of the policy.

Finally, I am aware that my response may not meet your expectations; however I believe this issue has been fully addressed. It therefore appears that we have now exhausted our internal complaints procedure. Consequently, this is our final response.

If you are still dissatisfied with this final response you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of this final response letter.

Their address is as follows:

Financial Ombudsman Service
Customer Contact Division
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR

We will not enter into any further correspondence regarding this matter unless instructed to do so by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Yours sincerely,

Gail Powell
Vice President

Enc. Financial Ombudsman Service booklet.