Can someone advise please?

Baggiebird1nil

Me and the OH took out a secured loan with Halifax quite a while ago which we are still paying. We took out PPI with the loan as the OH does not get paid if he is off sick. To cut a long story short a few years ago OH was made redundant and we missed a couple of payments (we did advise the Halifax in advance). He then got another job but had an accident and ended up having 12 weeks off work. We applied to the Halifax to use the insurance while he was off work but they told us that as we had defaulted on the loan then the insurance was no longer valid. That was in 2002. I have now asked the Halifax if the insurance was loaded at the front of the loan because our payments have not changed. They said they couldn't tell me so I have asked for a copy of the original loan agreement.

My question is if the insurance was loaded at the beginning of the loan could we claim it back?

di3004

Baggiebird1nil wrote: »

Me and the OH took out a secured loan with Halifax quite a while ago which we are still paying. We took out PPI with the loan as the OH does not get paid if he is off sick. To cut a long story short a few years ago OH was made redundant and we missed a couple of payments (we did advise the Halifax in advance). He then got another job but had an accident and ended up having 12 weeks off work. We applied to the Halifax to use the insurance while he was off work but they told us that as we had defaulted on the loan then the insurance was no longer valid. That was in 2002. I have now asked the Halifax if the insurance was loaded at the front of the loan because our payments have not changed. They said they couldn't tell me so I have asked for a copy of the original loan agreement.

My question is if the insurance was loaded at the beginning of the loan could we claim it back?

Hi there

Sorry to hear this.

I would definately give it a go.
And these front loaded policies are very costly indeed.
Reclaiming link bottom of my post with info of these policies.

Write to them and complain and request they refund you.
I am not sure on what happens if you default but you did make them aware.

I would also consider requesting a Subject Access Request (SAR) where they must send everything they hold on the account, all info and details of loans etc.
There is a charge for this for £10 made by postal order or cheque payment, and they have 40 days to send the information.
Template SAR letter here on link:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1475553

Then here below a link of the guidelines of reclaiming, check this out, they have 8 weeks to respond in full to your complaint, if they do not resolve this in your favour by the final decision then you can always complain to the financial ombudsman service (FOS).
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

Post all letters by recorded delivery for your proof of posting, good luck and please ask for help anytime.;)

Baggiebird1nil

I'll give it a go. #they can only say no!

di3004

Baggiebird1nil wrote: »

I'll give it a go. #they can only say no!

Yes definately, good luck.;)

magpiecottage

If the policy is front end loaded then, provided it has not expired (some only provide cover for part of the term) then the fact that you missed a couple of payments on the loan should be irrelevant. If it is a qualifying claim and the policy is in force you should be able to pay.

If it is no longer in force, you probably still have grounds for complaint if it was not made clear to you that it would not run for the whole term of the loan but you would be paying interest on the premium until the loan ended.

Even if you do claim, if it was added to the loan and you were not offered a monthly premium alternative then you probably have grounds to reclaim any additional costs over and above the monthly premium product (which they will probably calculate at £6 per month per £100 monthly benefit). Under the Mortgage Code, Halifax would have also been expected to make clear the total cost of the policy, including interest, over the entire term.

Only if you did in fact pay a monthly premium and it was cancelled when you missed the payments on the loan would they be able to avoid payment - always assuming of course that the redundancy itself did not give rise to a valid claim.

If that is the case then your monthly payments should reduce by the amount of the loan.

Pursuing the complaint route will not require you to spend the £10 and force them down a defined procedure with the option to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied with their response.

di3004

Brilliant detailed advice here MagpieCottage, cheers.:beer: