Britannia Building Society & Britannic Assurance

ianpalmer2007

Hi - I took out a mortgage in Nov 2002 with Britannia B S.
I was given the distinct impression I had to have MPPI to get the mortgage approved (I thought it was because I was 50 yrs old and a bit of a risk - even though it was only a 10 yr mortgage)

I paid about £40 per month to Britannic Assurance for a policy that protected me in the event of death, illness or redundancy (even though I worked for a local government organisation and had a very safe job and private life policies / death in service etc etc)

In May 2008 I was reorganising my affairs and rang Britannic and asked if I had to pay this or could I withdraw without any penalties and was surprised to hear "just write in and cancel - no problem".
I subsequently cancelled the policy that month.

Can I claim for being mis-sold - do I have a case?

If I do have a claim is it against the Britannia or Britannic?

dunstonh

Can I claim for being mis-sold - do I have a case?

The MPPI has been set up correctly (paying monthly by direct debit). So, in that respect there is no wrong doing.

Your only potential, based on what you wrote, was that you claim you were told you had to have it. Although you don't sound as if you are sure.

Your problem is likely to be that you have no evidence to support your claim and whilst you may get away with that on credit card or loan, its less likely on a more serious debt like a mortgage where the CML had it as best advice to have it and even today the FSA still consider it right and in the FSA's own report they acknowledged that MPPI does not suffer the same issues as other types of PPI (MPPI issues are mainly single premium and ineligibility).

So, unless you can prove you were forced to have it you are likely to get rejected. I know my compliance company would reject a complaint like that.

ianpalmer2007

Thank you very much indeed.

This saves me wasting my time and you are quite right that my memory is a bit "sketchy" as to why I took this.

I have no proof that they did say "you have to have this" - although I can't see why I would have taken it as I was well covered by other policies (apart from redundancy).

Ah well - move on......................

Many thanks

dunstonh

If you had loan or credit card PPI even if your memory was sketchy, the providers of those have virtually no audit trails most of the time. So, the onus is on them to show it. Most cant and thats why there is such a high uphold rate. (it doesnt mean they were mis-sold - they just cant prove it wasnt). Most MPPI plans are sold under advice with a mortgage so they have loads of your details and should ascertain you have a financial need and document it. So, when it comes to complaints, it is much easier to show the need and reasons why you should have it.

you could still complain and you may get lucky but "generically", you would expect a rejection as their admin should trump your [lack of] admin.