MBNA Business! Pursue or Take The £500.00?

alexand_2

Hello,

I recently started the ball rolling to recover around £2,100.00 of PPI monies paid to an MBNA Business credit card.

The reason I am reclaiming is that I was unable to make a claim for 'Unemployment Insurance' to have my minimum payments made, due to my temporary unemployment as a 'self-employed' carpenter. After reading the small print (and I do mean SMALL print) in the Payment Protection Cover leaflet I had at home, it stated words to the effect that I basically had to de-register with the Inland revenue as a contractor, something I didn't wish to do as I had hoped work would pick up in the near future. I would have also had to show proof from my accountant (accountants stamp) that I was no longer trading as a self-employed carpenter.

Ok, I understand some of us take out these so-called PPI's and never really read the small print, I am one of them, until such time I meed to make a claim.

But looking deeper into the small print there is no hope at all for someone self-employed to make a valid claim without first de-registering from all HMRC (business) affairs.

I have copied the letter I received form MBNA Business below...

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Taken from a letter I received in February 2010:

Our records show that the PPC was applied to your account following your request when applying for your credit card account on November 18th 2007. You will note that you were given the option of PPC and the enclosed application form confirms that you agreed to the cover. In addition, you also ticked to confirm that you understood that you were purchasing the product and that the terms and conditions were available for reference.

The terms and conditions were also issued in the form of a benefits booklet along with any financial obligations. During this time, it was your responsibility to ensure that you were eligible for the cover and that the policy met 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 and your personal circumstances.

Since the policy was applied, an updated version of the PPC terms and conditions were issued in January 2008, advising a change in pricing. These also provided you with a further opportunity to contact us to discuss the details of the policy.

At MBNA we pride ourselves on being fair and reviewing each case on an individual basis, therefore after reviewing your case and taking into account what we discussed; I have refunded £500.00 to your account as a gesture of goodwill and this will show as a credit on your next statement.

In the event that we have not resolved your concerns to your satisfaction or if you have any further information in relation to your concerns, that you feel may be relevant and must be considered, please contact us on....

If we do not hear from you withing eight weeks, we will consider this matter fully resolved.
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Attached to the letter was my credit card agreement along with copies of the online form that

I had ticked 3 times as follows:

Tick 1

This is a credit agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Sign it only if you want to be legally bound by its terms.

Below the ticked box read: I confirm that the tick in this box is a valid means of
establishing the authenticity and integrity of my signature to this credit agreement. I
understand that MBNA will hold this acceptance data ontheir files.


Tick 2

I wish to purchase Payment Protection Cover


Tick 3

I confirm that the tick in this box is a valid means of establishing the authenticity and
integrity of my signature.


My question is this:

Do I pursue it further to try and claim the full amount of $2,100 or give up and just accept their £500.00 (By the way, the £500 has already been credited to my account)?

My initial letter to MBNA mentioned the following:

With reference to the payment protection policy that I had taken out with MBNA, I now believe that I was mis-sold this policy for the following reasons and that I was not given the correct information when the policy was sold to me:

• Your representative did not give me full information on what the policy would and would not cover, for example knowing from my records that I was self-employed that I would have to cease trading and have my accountant verify this to be considered ‘unemployed’.

• Having recently looked at the paperwork for my PPI protection, I noticed that I am not entitled to claim for all sections of the policy without first having to cease trading as a self-employed contractor, when I was informed and led to believe that all parties were equally entitled to the insurance cover.

• MBNA knew of my self-employed status when I had taken the card out along with the payment protection, yet failed to mention that I’d have to cease trading and inform HM Revenue that I was no longer self-employed, before I could make a valid claim.

• I am also concerned the sales assistant that sold me the policy has no financial background and the policy was not sold in my best interests.


Unless you can satisfactorily justify to me that the policy was fair and reasonable I am requesting a full refund of all premiums paid over the duration of my MBNA credit card, and subsequent interest on these payments that I have paid to date.

As I believe I have been deprived of this money and I also expect 8% statutory interest, the amount a court would award, to be added to each payment made.

I look forward to a full and prompt response to this letter and for the matter to be concluded within eight weeks from the above date or I shall be contacting the Financial Ombudsman to investigate my complaint further.

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Any advice with regard to this thread would be appreciated.

Thanks kindly,

Alexander

di3004

Hi there

Yes These small prints can be very small indeed.

However, they should have made sure with your first to check if you were eligible, they had a responsibility to do this, if this was 2007 then surely this should have been an advised sale, so possibly not sold to you in your best interest.

It is entirely up to you, if this was not the final response, you can ask them to reconsider, stand your ground that you strongly believe you were mis sold and the adviser should have explained the policy to you, where possibly you would not have taken it out if given that opportunity to have your say.

So it maybe worth another shot, if this was final and your not satisfied you should be able to move this on to the Financial ombudsman service (FOS).

Wait for other opinions on this first if you want to, good luck please let us know what you decide.
Cheers.;)