independent agent

judej55

when i contacted paymentshield to complain about mis-sold ppi they replied that as it was arranged by an independent agent, they are not responsible, is this true?

roonaldo

Only you know, we dont know. This implies they did not sell it to you. Who arranged the policy for you?

dunstonh

judej55 wrote: »

when i contacted paymentshield to complain about mis-sold ppi they replied that as it was arranged by an independent agent, they are not responsible, is this true?

Paymentshield are correct. They have no liability for the advice given by someone who is not an agent of paymentshield. (and paymentshield have no agents)

Paymentshield policies are quite good quality and I dont believe they got involved in the single premium market where most PPI complaints get upheld. So, that eliminates the most common complaint reason. What is your reason for complaint and when did you buy the insurance and what insurance is it?

judej55

It is Life cover with Critical Illness protection. The Financial Advisor sold me the policy at the same time as he advised on changing my mortgage provider in 2000.I did not need this level of cover as I am a Teacher and would be paid for 12 months in case of illness. It is very expensive,over £50/month.

dunstonh

It is Life cover with Critical Illness protection.

Paymentshield are not a life assurance company. They do not offer life assurance or critical illness cover.

Paymentshield offer accident, sickness and unemployment cover (including standalone unemployment cover) and home insurance.

I did not need this level of cover as I am a Teacher and would be paid for 12 months in case of illness. It is very expensive,over £50/month.

Teachers benefits do not mean you have no need for life assurance or critical illness cover (teachers scheme has death in service only but not critical illness cover).

However, as its unlikely to be life and CI cover as its paymentshield, then it would be one of the other things. If it is MPPI and not PPI, then it can pay out in addition to your teachers sick pay (some types dont and they are ones that are often classed as mis-sale).

The fact it is expensive in your eyes does not make it a mis-sale. If it creates an unnecessary overlap of existing benefits then it can do.

Next question is going to be the date you took it out as we need to see if you are pre or post regulation for insurance.

judej55

I took the policy out in 2000.

magpiecottage

The General Insurance Standards Council's code of practice only came into force in 2001, so I do not think this would fall under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service unless the person selling it was an employee (not simply an agent) of a bank, building society or insurance company.

In theory you could take them to court but the defence would probably be that the Mortgage Code Compliance Board actually advocated getting a disclaimer from borrowers who refused to take out MPPI. So they acted in accordance with what was considered good practice at the time.

That is always assuming they did not go down the route of "you knew that you had those benefits from your employment (or should have done since it is hardly plausible that a teacher is incapable of reading their own employment terms) - so why didn't you explain that to the adviser?"