Critical illness cover - scottish widows - miss - sold???

mootthedog

Hi I wonder if anyone can help

I am in the process of claiming back miss sold ppi and have looked into other insurance I am paying at present.

One of the insurance policies I have been paying was for critical health cover from Scottish Widows, that I have been paying since 2001.

This policy was sold to me on the same day that I took out a mortgage with C&G from lloyds. At the time they told me I needed it to cover the mortgage should i take ill, but I have also found that the mortgage policy included PPI, and can prove this was paid.

I think that this was therefore missold as I did not need to have the cover when it was sold to me.

I know I have read that in general this kind of policy is usually sold with many checks and are very rarely miss-sold but I am sure that this was not the case for me, and as I had sufficient cover form the ppi I sis nto require this cover for the reasons they sold it to me.

Any comments would be greatly received

ACG

PPI and CI are different.
They overlap to some extent but it shouldnt be a choice of one or the other.

PPI would have paid out for 2 years (Max) what would you do after those 2 years? Presume you had a stroke and were unable to work, 2 years your fine not worrying about bills, then it stops.

To me it actually sounds like the advisor has done a pretty decent job...i would maybe have sold income protection over PPI but without knowing your circumstances its difficult to say. But had you had a stroke you would be laughing (financialy), you would have 2 years of income and your house paid off.

mootthedog

Hi ACG

Thanks for your response

I fully understand that ppi and critical illness cover are different but i am sure this was mis-sold. If nothing else down to the fact I had cover in my employment as was working as an expat in china at the time

They also said I had to take it as Part of my mortgage and was never given the option of looking elsewhere for cover. I don't mind Paying for cover but along with other things lloyds sold me during my time away that we're mis sold including ppi and an isa that due to me not paying uk tax i was not able to get the tax saving i was told this I think was miss sold too!

ACG

But its your word against there as to you being told it had to be taken out. What does your paperwork say?

The fact you had cover elsewhere may help but its not a deciding factor i dont think. The reason being is that you can leave employment at any time, so atleast you are covered no matter what happens with your employer. If you were to have some medical issues that didnt result in a payout and then your company goes bump - you could find it hard to get cover elsewhere.

Thankfully i dont deal with many complaints but when it comes to you claiming anything back the only concrete evidence is your paperwork - so you need to say what that says.

dunstonh

They also said I had to take it as Part of my mortgage and was never given the option of looking elsewhere for cover

What evidence do you have to support that allegation?

Plus, they have no requirement to tell you that you can get it elsewhere. Lloyds offer Scot Wid products and that is all they are authorised to offer.

If nothing else down to the fact I had cover in my employment as was working as an expat in china at the time

irrelevant. No overlap exists with CI.

I know I have read that in general this kind of policy is usually sold with many checks and are very rarely miss-sold

That is correct. They will have a factfind, needs analysis and would have issued a report. It is underwritten at point of sale and it doesnt overlap with any employer benefits. So, all the issues that affect PPI do not apply to it.

Verbal allegations may be correct but you cant prove it. Hardly any complaints get upheld because of he said/she said complaints. There needs to be a technical fault that needs to be visible by fact or evidence.

magpiecottage

mootthedog wrote: »

I had cover in my employment as was working as an expat in china at the time

So how did you persuade them to give you a mortgage on a property in the UK if you lived in China?

an isa that due to me not paying uk tax i was not able to get the tax saving i was told this I think was miss sold too!

If the bank was led to believe you had sufficient UK income to meet the mortgage repayments then you it would seem reasonable to suppose that you were paying UK taxes.

mootthedog

Thanks for your response, It looks like I am on to a losing battle here, I do however have proof of my terms and conditioned of employment at the time

As for your question Magpiecottage, the bank had full copies of my contract when I applied for the mortgage and had been fully aware I was living in China for 2 years previously, due to the bank withdrawls made on my account. They threw money at me at the time, to try to get me to give them as much as possible, as I was young and not long out of college, I accepted most of what they sold me without Question. Proving income was not a problem as my pay ended up being returned into my UK bank monthly.

The problem with the ISA was they were aware I was not UK tax paying, and then failed to take that into account, meaning the TAX benefits they told me I would receive with my ISA were not applicable to me.

dunstonh

I do however have proof of my terms and conditioned of employment at the time

Unless your employment paid out around 4 to 10 times salary on a critical illness, there would be no overlap.

We don't discount what you are saying about the banks. Bank staff are generally lower skilled and are under extreme sales pressure. Put the two together and its obvious to see why banks have the complaints they do. In your case, the problem with the CI is that there appears to be nothing to suggest a mis-sale. (unless you were not UK resident at the time of application either).

jamesd

mootthedog wrote: »

The problem with the ISA was they were aware I was not UK tax paying, and then failed to take that into account, meaning the TAX benefits they told me I would receive with my ISA were not applicable to me.

Were you UK resident when you opened the ISA?

mootthedog

I wasn't uk resident at the time

That is my point exactly

I was expatriate living in china, holding chinese residency permit paying chinese tax.

This was all known by the bank at the time they gave it to me

jamesd

Then that's a clear mis-sale because it was unlawful for you to use the ISA, which is only available to UK residents (or certain classes of government employees).

It's also possible that what dustonh was effectively hinting at may apply: that the insurance wouldn't have covered you because you weren't UK resident. In which case that would also be a mis-sale.