Do I have a claim?

walmer3

My partner and I took out a joint loan with BoS in May 2005, with payment protection included. When I was made redundant earlier this year I called the insurers, only to discover that the payment protection was only payable in the event of death or critical illness - but not redundancy.
Moreover I have looked again at the paperwork sent through at the time and I see that the insurance was only applied to me and not my partner.
This is now doubly worrying as my partner was made redundant today.
I can't honestly say that PPI was applied without my consent as with any loan or card I've ever had, I've usually been keen to protect the payments. However I naively thought that the payment would be protected in the case of redundancy, not just death or illness. Both my partner and I already had death insurance (through work and/or separately purchased independently of this loan). And I certainly wouldn't have expected just one of us to be insured.
Please, someone, can you give me a ray of hope? Thanks a lot for reading this.

maxdp

walmer3 wrote: »

My partner and I took out a joint loan with BoS in May 2005, with payment protection included. When I was made redundant earlier this year I called the insurers, only to discover that the payment protection was only payable in the event of death or critical illness - but not redundancy.
Moreover I have looked again at the paperwork sent through at the time and I see that the insurance was only applied to me and not my partner.
This is now doubly worrying as my partner was made redundant today.
I can't honestly say that PPI was applied without my consent as with any loan or card I've ever had, I've usually been keen to protect the payments. However I naively thought that the payment would be protected in the case of redundancy, not just death or illness. Both my partner and I already had death insurance (through work and/or separately purchased independently of this loan). And I certainly wouldn't have expected just one of us to be insured.
Please, someone, can you give me a ray of hope? Thanks a lot for reading this.

Hi There

Sorry to hear of your present difficulties. Unfortunately that is quite normal that only the first named person is insured.

If you believed that you were covered for redundancy and that you were both covered then that is enough to take this further. Also it was probably a PPI policy that was added up front to your Loan so there would have been interest on that as well.

Try ringing them and explaining the situation to see if they will refund your PPI. If not then you will have to go down the official route with guidance from the template letters on this site. Unfortunately this can take up to 18 months if it goes through the FOS. I think that you need to push the Financial Hardship both when writing to your lender and then to the FOS if it goes that far.

Send the Template letter from Martins guide and give them 8 weeks to reply. Send by recorded delivery. If you get no satisfactory response there then take it to the FOS. Forms can be downloaded from a link on this site.

If you need further guidance or cannot find the links to letters etc then post again and I am sure somebody will put links up for you. I wish you all the very best.

dunstonh

There is probably no complaint here. Not having a policy is not something you can normally complain about.

You have a life assurance policy with CI cover bolted on. That is quite normal. The mortgage clerk at the bank would have run through the insurance options at the time and asked what you wanted. Most people dont insure for everything as they cant afford to. So, they pick what is important.

Covering just one party could be because of your budget, personal circumstances (i.e. you already have life assurance so dont need more) or if you could not be accepted on standard terms for health reasons.

The BoS have an MPPI policy and the mortgage clerk would have got credit for selling it. So the fact they didnt sell it would usually suggest that you didnt want it or couldnt afford it. Most people choose not to buy it during good times.

walmer3

Thank you both for your replies. Honestly, I don't recall the clerk on the phone asking anything at all about what insurance options I had or required. At the time my employer paid 4 x salary on death, as well as another term assurance policy I had taken out some years previously so I was very well covered for death if that had come up. If I'd had the choice to pick what was important it would have been redundancy.

I've spoken to them now on the phone and they have just asked me to put the complaint in writing. Which I'll do. Obviously your replies have to prepare me for the possibility that my complaint won't be upheld but I will keep my fingers crossed anyway. : )

dunstonh

At the time my employer paid 4 x salary on death, as well as another term assurance policy I had taken out some years previously so I was very well covered for death if that had come up.

Death in service doesnt need to be considered for mortgages as it is not guaranteed and its paid out under a trust. The existing life policy may not have matched the amount or term of the mortgage. Did you supply the bank details of that life policy? They may not even have been aware of it.

I've spoken to them now on the phone and they have just asked me to put the complaint in writing. Which I'll do. Obviously your replies have to prepare me for the possibility that my complaint won't be upheld but I will keep my fingers crossed anyway. : )

They will check the factfind that was done and if done correctly, it will state that you didnt want that type of cover and the reason why. So, you will be relying on the clerk not documenting the facts correctly. Statistically, that is unlikely to be the case....but possible. Most endowment payouts were not upheld complaints as actual mis-sales but because documentation was missing or unsatisfactory (warnings missed or key facts left out for example). Firms have learnt from that but you still get poor admin from time to time.

walmer3

Thank you again dunstonh. In fact the loan was not a mortgage, just an unsecured personal loan. I am not sure if that makes any difference to your comments but just wanted to clarify.

dunstonh

ahh, it does make a difference as I must admit I had thought mortgage when you had said life and CI cover. Although, unfortunately, that is going to work against you potentially as not having loan PPI is the complete opposite of most of the complaints you see in here.

The BoS use tied sales reps I believe which probably means they dont have a standalone PPI cover but have an MPPI. So, they probably wouldnt have had the product available that you needed. Hence the life and CI cover sale.

When advice is given, your needs are documented. However, when something isnt taken out, there is often no documentation to support that. So, I wouldnt want to call this one either way but I would err on the side of unlikely as the balance of probability is that a bank sales rep would want to get a sale if they could. So, there must be a good reason why they didnt.

walmer3

Thank you again dunstonh. To clarify, the loan did have PPI added but the nature of the product didn't/doesn't suit our needs - possibly for the reason you've explained that the salesperson simply didn't have any alternative products available to offer. Certainly no advice was given at the time and while I might have indicated that repayment cover would be desirable, I certainly wasn't asked if I already had cover for death etc under alternative policies. I accept your point though that they would prefer to 'upsell' and get more commission/brownie points if they were able to. On the basis of nothing ventured nothing gained I'm sending a letter anyway.

dunstonh

Keep us updated how you get on. Its always nice to know outcomes; good or bad. Good luck

maxdp

walmer3 wrote: »

Thank you again dunstonh. To clarify, the loan did have PPI added but the nature of the product didn't/doesn't suit our needs - possibly for the reason you've explained that the salesperson simply didn't have any alternative products available to offer. Certainly no advice was given at the time and while I might have indicated that repayment cover would be desirable, I certainly wasn't asked if I already had cover for death etc under alternative policies. I accept your point though that they would prefer to 'upsell' and get more commission/brownie points if they were able to. On the basis of nothing ventured nothing gained I'm sending a letter anyway.

Good for you I would give it a go.