Belmont Thornton/Lloyds TSB

Treborz

Hi there

Here is the scenario.

Back in 2003 i took out a bank loan for £12,000 to buy a new car. As a naive, but healthy and fully employed, 21 year old i automatically said yes to the PPI cover as the bank manager was completing the forms for me and really answered the question for me as to whether it was needed or not.

As it turns out the total cost of the loan with the PPI cover over the 5 year term was in the region of £17,500 as opposed to £13,500 had I not taken it out. Unfortunately it took me (with a little help from my parents) until 2005 to cotton on to the fact that i had been mis-sold the cover and with the help of my mother i settled the loan early and have subsequently paid off my mother some time ago. I can't remember the amount i paid back (but it was over £10,000) but following a phone call with my bank yesterday i established that i got £700 back as a repayment of some sort following settlement.

I have forms from Belmont Thornton sitting in my room and i am in two minds as to submit a claim through them. I have read some bad stories on here however i do not know how else i can get some of that money back as i am 100% sure it was mis-sold to me.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Rob

Premier_2

1. On what basis do you believe you were mis-sold PPI?

2. Have you read the MSE guide to reclaiming PPI? It tells you how (assuming you were mis-sold) and won't cost you a penny. No need to pay someone to do something you can do yourself.

You need to check you are not out of time and/or whether there has already been a previous settlement and on what terms by the lender (It's not claer in your post what the £700 refund was for)

Treborz

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I have just completed the questionnaire in the MSE guide to reclaiming and intent to send it to my bank.

I believe i was mis-sold the PPI cover becuase the advisor was aware that I was young, healthy, still living at home with my parents, and working in the finance industry here on Guernsey which means that my employer would have covered any pay in full should i have been off work. I should have mentioned in my previous post that it is Lloyds TSB Offshore that the loan was with and I do not believe we are covered by the Ombdudsman here.

I am not sure what the £700 was for as the woman i spoke to wasn;t very clear on the matter. In any case in the two years i had the loan the PPI applied would have been much greater than £700. The bank have confirmed that they still have my records albeit in archive. I called yesterday asking for a closing statement in order to get the loan account number.

I think i will send the questionnaire off with a cover letter and give it a go. Will let you know how i get on.

Rob

dunstonh

Be wary of using Belmont Thorton. Our compliance company have them blacklisted and consider most of their generated complaints as malicious because of the high number of fraudulent complaints received via them. I suspect this will be the same at other firms as well as complaints handlers know the dodgy claims companies and will typically work harder to refuse that claim.

I believe i was mis-sold the PPI cover becuase the advisor was aware that I was young, healthy, still living at home with my parents, and working in the finance industry here on Guernsey which means that my employer would have covered any pay in full should i have been off work

1 - age has nothing to do with it - so no mis-sale there
2 - health - that is when you are meant to take insurance. So no mis-sale there
3 - living at home is irrelevant - so no mis-sale there.
4 - working in finance industry - so you should know better and that could work against you a bit.
5 - employer may pay you but for how long? - even if they do, doesnt mean that the insurance would not pay out.

You may have a valid reason for complaint. However, some of the things you have listed are not valid.

Treborz

I have decided against using Belmont Thornton and will try on my own.

The fact i was living at home with my parents shows is irrelevant you are right. What isn't irrelevant is that if i had defaulted on any payments they would have supported me. They are also (premier) customers of Lloyds and were known to the advisor i met.

The point i made about working in the finance industry was to emphasise the fact that the advisor should have known better also. I was 21 and had only been in the industry a year or so, so hardly a seasoned veteran in all things financial.

dunstonh

The fact i was living at home with my parents shows is irrelevant you are right. What isn't irrelevant is that if i had defaulted on any payments they would have supported me.

it is irrelevant as far as the complaint goes. Reliance on parents is not guaranteed and would not turn a valid sale into mis-sale. You would be viewed as an individual adult. Not a dependent child.

The point i made about working in the finance industry was to emphasise the fact that the advisor should have known better also. I was 21 and had only been in the industry a year or so, so hardly a seasoned veteran in all things financial.

It does depend on where you work. If its in insurance or retail sales then it will possibly be held against you. If its in a totally unrelated area of finance then it wouldnt.

I'm not trying to put you off. Just helping you focus on the areas that are less likely to be successful or more successful. As it stands, your reasons for complaint are weak. However, banks are very scattergun in complaints and you see upheld complaints on weak cases and rejected complaints on strong cases. It is hard to predict an outcome.

Treborz

I work in Wealth Management; Trusts, Offshore Companies and Pensions.

My main gripe is the advisor completed the forms for me and didn't really give me a chance to answer whether i wanted the PPI or not, basically told me i did and ticked the box without explaining exactly what it was for.

Premier_2

Treborz wrote: »

... and working in the finance industry here on Guernsey which means that my employer would have covered any pay in full should i have been off work. ...

I think dunstonh has already dismissed most of the reasons you give, but in regards to this one, what if they made you redundant?

Treborz

Then i would have got a healthy redundancy package and i would have no trouble finding another job in the industry here. Unemployment within the sector is pretty much non-existent.

Premier_2

Treborz wrote: »

Then i would have got a healthy redundancy package and i would have no trouble finding another job in the industry here. Unemployment within the sector is pretty much non-existent.

Of course you would. :cool:

Who would have believed this is the same company that almost collapsed in 2008 if it were not for the £17,000,000,000.00 (yes count those digits! :eek:) the UK government had to inject to keep it afloat. You don't get much redundancy when a company goes bust.

It happened once, and the signs are it could well happen again (and the UK government are making plans to ensure it won't have to bail them out next time).

At a time when the majority of the world's banking sector were in financial meltdown, I somehow doubt you could have just walk into a new job.

Coffee anyone? I thought I could smell some on the go

PPI_Technichal_Expert

Premier wrote: »

1. On what basis do you believe you were mis-sold PPI?

2. Have you read the MSE guide to reclaiming PPI? It tells you how (assuming you were mis-sold) and won't cost you a penny. No need to pay someone to do something you can do yourself.

You need to check you are not out of time and/or whether there has already been a previous settlement and on what terms by the lender (It's not claer in your post what the £700 refund was for)

Hi. The 700 pound refund you received would have been a non proportionate rebate of your single premium ppi when you paid off your loan early.