Halifax total mortgage protection

MCGONIS

Hello!

I have spent hours and hours on this forum trying to find a scenario that fits mine. I can't really find one. But there seems to be a few people on the site who have some real knowledge about mortgage PPI.

I was hoping for some advice I suppose. My mum and dad got a mortgage in 2000 through Scot Mortgages in Glasgow. They went there as their own bank declined their mortgage application.

The advisor told them that he had a contact within the Halifax offices that would approve the application. They paid him £200 and the mortgage went through fine. He added PPI - they call it Total Mortage Protection. I have found a letter from 2000 stating it was "effected" and if they wanted it removed they had to sign and return a letter to Scot Mortgages.

They never returned the letter [my mum still says to this day, I thought if I took it, my loan would be accepted] and the PPI ran for years and years. Started at £14 a month - ended up at £60 a month by 2006 -as a seperate premium initially by GE Financial Insurance and in November 2000 changed to Halifax Insurance Ireland Limited.

They borrowed additional amounts between 2002-2006, each time Halifax checked that my father was employed at least 16 hours each week and the cost of the Total Mortgage Protection went up.

At the only meeting they ever had with an advisor from Halifax, they had a 30 minute slot and left with a new mortgage rate, a current account, a credit card and an increased premium on the Total Mortgage Protection. They attended this appointment as my mum had telephoned the helpline when their mortgage deal was ending, and was looking for a new one. The helpline told them it would require a meeting at a branch.

Scot Mortages have ceased trading. The Halifax mortgage account has now been closed.

I think they may have a case for complaining about the insurance - but I don't want to go down the route of "we were never told that insurance was available elsewhere etc etc"

So, hopefully someone can advise me realistically is there any cause for complaint here? Thanks in advance......

smitchy73

Hi mcgonis,

"Scot Mortages have ceased trading. The Halifax mortgage account has now been closed."
I think you can check with the FSA/FOS to see if they were regulated, I'm not not really sure about the mortage part here but others like dunstonH is a good chap who knows alot about the mortgage side of things.

"I think they may have a case for complaining about the insurance - but I don't want to go down the route of "we were never told that insurance was available elsewhere etc etc"

Use whatever means necessary to complain about this, although as dunston might tell you it is harder to prove the mis-sale of mortage protection as it is a monthly premium and can usually be cancelled at any time. Use all the excuses you can, any previous cover, sickness cover at work already, redundancy protection at work, failure to ask if you had cover elsewhere or if you had any previous medical condition etc.

Also where you said your folks went in with a 30 minute slot and came out with credit card, current account etc check the credit card to see if there is ppi on it, it should be listed on any card statements they have.

A similar thing happened with us.

Hope this helps.

src007

MCGONIS wrote: »

Hello!

I have spent hours and hours on this forum trying to find a scenario that fits mine. I can't really find one. But there seems to be a few people on the site who have some real knowledge about mortgage PPI.

I was hoping for some advice I suppose. My mum and dad got a mortgage in 2000 through Scot Mortgages in Glasgow. They went there as their own bank declined their mortgage application.

The advisor told them that he had a contact within the Halifax offices that would approve the application. They paid him £200 and the mortgage went through fine. He added PPI - they call it Total Mortage Protection. I have found a letter from 2000 stating it was "effected" and if they wanted it removed they had to sign and return a letter to Scot Mortgages.

They never returned the letter [my mum still says to this day, I thought if I took it, my loan would be accepted] and the PPI ran for years and years. Started at £14 a month - ended up at £60 a month by 2006 -as a seperate premium initially by GE Financial Insurance and in November 2000 changed to Halifax Insurance Ireland Limited.

They borrowed additional amounts between 2002-2006, each time Halifax checked that my father was employed at least 16 hours each week and the cost of the Total Mortgage Protection went up.

At the only meeting they ever had with an advisor from Halifax, they had a 30 minute slot and left with a new mortgage rate, a current account, a credit card and an increased premium on the Total Mortgage Protection. They attended this appointment as my mum had telephoned the helpline when their mortgage deal was ending, and was looking for a new one. The helpline told them it would require a meeting at a branch.

Scot Mortages have ceased trading. The Halifax mortgage account has now been closed.

I think they may have a case for complaining about the insurance - but I don't want to go down the route of "we were never told that insurance was available elsewhere etc etc"

So, hopefully someone can advise me realistically is there any cause for complaint here? Thanks in advance......

Mortgage PPI is usually considered a good idea. It was on the whole much cheaper than credit card and loan PPI.

As well as this mortgage payments tend to be much higher, which means if you lose your job you could end up in real trouble (unless you have insurance).

If you work less than 16 hours a week it would show mis-selling because you can't claim on the 'unemployment' element. However if your father was working 16 hours that won't be a valid point.

The saleperson didn't have to tell your parents, that they could buy PPI elsewhere. Its like going to Asda and saying, why didn't you tell me about cheaper Tesco products.

As well as this if Scot's Mortgages are no longer trading they have no money to issue a refund. There is a scheme that can issue refunds when a business has gone under (the FSCS) however they can only take on PPI complaints if the product was sold after 15th Jan 2005.

Unfortunately this looks like a non-starter!

dizzeeblondee

The GE financial Insurance bit got my attention.

My parents have got a very complicated claim upheld with the HX for mortgage protection, and are currently waiting for the redress calculations.
The person in branch that they enquired to about the PPI several months back had never heard of them, and swore blind 'the Halifax only sell their own products'. Shows how long ago it was! My parents have said for years, and years that they were mis-sold this insurance(due to many things not qualifying) long before any PPI complaints were highlighted publically. As soon as it was clear in recent news reports, they decided to give it a go, as they didn't have the confidence to do it in the past.....or the money for a solicitor, as they'd been advised to use in the past if they wanted to complain!

Although I can't give you advice as to what to do, I can say, it is possible to claim back even the most complicated of cases.

magpiecottage

I agree with src007 - there is little chance of getting anywhere with this. Not only was it considered good practice to recommend PPI for a mortgage in 2000 but it predates the GISC code of practice so FOS would probably not have jurisdiction even if the broker still existed.

The only possible source of redress would be Halifax in respect of the later sales but if it took ½ hour to organise a further advance suitability is probably well documented.