GAP Insurance - Feeling Robbed

jintymcfee

Hi Guys,

I'm Really lost and confused, I took out Finance in 2006. Everything was fine for a couple of years but due to the financial Climate Changing I was unfortunatly made Redundant. I then asked Welcome Finance to Reduce my Payments while i was out of work which they did and everything was fine. They told me they had extend the loan period to 10 years to reduce the payments. Time passed and I started working again so i contacted Welcome finance and raised my payments. when I Initially took out the Finance I Purchased GAP Insurance.
However in July 2011 my Vehicle was involved in an RTA and has been written off.
I have contacted Welcome Finance and they are saying allthough i Originally took out GAP Insurance, when i extended the policy the original policy ended and they drew up a new policy which meant my GAP Insurance was no longer Valid.

I was never explained to that the GAP Insurance was Cancelled I was only told that the policy had been extended and the payments had been Reduced!!

They are saying that I Signed a Box to say i didn't want any Insurances when I reduced the Payments but I was Led to believe I was Just signing to agree the Reduced Payments.

If I originally took out GAP Insurance and never asked for it to be removed/Canceled and all my payments have been up to date, Could I still be covered on the GAP insurance???

Would be Very Gratefull For Any Help......I'm not all that clued up when it comes to these things.

Thanks

robbedofmymoney

jintymcfee wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I'm Really lost and confused, I took out Finance in 2006. Everything was fine for a couple of years but due to the financial Climate Changing I was unfortunatly made Redundant. I then asked Welcome Finance to Reduce my Payments while i was out of work which they did and everything was fine. They told me they had extend the loan period to 10 years to reduce the payments. Time passed and I started working again so i contacted Welcome finance and raised my payments. when I Initially took out the Finance I Purchased GAP Insurance.
However in July 2011 my Vehicle was involved in an RTA and has been written off.
I have contacted Welcome Finance and they are saying allthough i Originally took out GAP Insurance, when i extended the policy the original policy ended and they drew up a new policy which meant my GAP Insurance was no longer Valid.

I was never explained to that the GAP Insurance was Cancelled I was only told that the policy had been extended and the payments had been Reduced!!

They are saying that I Signed a Box to say i didn't want any Insurances when I reduced the Payments but I was Led to believe I was Just signing to agree the Reduced Payments.

If I originally took out GAP Insurance and never asked for it to be removed/Canceled and all my payments have been up to date, Could I still be covered on the GAP insurance???

Would be Very Gratefull For Any Help......I'm not all that clued up when it comes to these things.

Thanks

i dont think you will get very far if the re-scheduled agreement shows no gap insurance.

your only possible angle is if the enquiry and details were discussed over the phone they should have a recording of this call or a transcript of this call. you should request this through a SAR.

if it is there you will be able to see/hear what was discussed, and if the GAP insurance was not mentioned at all, and the the discussion is only about reducing the payments on the existing loan amount you may have a chance.

you could also look at the amount that was re-financed, and if this was the same as the outstanding amount you could argue that the GAP insurance was still included. however, you will probably have to go through the FOS for a decision as Welcome will just say no.

jintymcfee

Thanks for that, I will send a SAR and await a response and check back on what was said. Im positive nothing has ever been mentioned about the GAP Insurance being cancelled.

To my mind if I'm right it's the same as the mis-sold PPI, only where as with PPI they don't tell you that youve got it on this occasion they haven't told me that I've not got it anymore or that they had changed it.

I will keep you posted with what happens.

Thanks again.....Fingers Crossed

BJV

Totally agree with what has already been said.

It is going to be very very difficult to prove anything unless the conversation was recorded asYour signature in a box is very hard to disprove. As already mentioned you need to contact them and ask fro a copy.

It is such a shame esp when you had done the sensible thing and reduced your payments before you got into trouble.

Good luck

jintymcfee

Have received the SAR and read through everything and in conversations recorded it doesn't state anywhere anything about my insurance changing or being terminated. It's clearly listed in the original contract and in the list of financial transfers shows it has been included in the price.it then shows a 2nd loan which is the reduced payments which paid the first. Surely my insurance payment is incorporated in my reduced payment plan.?

I'm now waiting to hear if the solicitor will take the case and if they think I stand a chance

amersall

You dont need a solicitor,put the claim in yourself,send copies of what you have and wait for the response,save yourself some money,all the solicitor will do is what i have told you to do.

jintymcfee

I'm not the brightest spark, and wouldn't know what to do or where to start :embarass. So a solicitor would make it better for me apart from the fees. Thanks

magpiecottage

jintymcfee wrote: »

I'm not the brightest spark, and wouldn't know what to do or where to start :embarass. So a solicitor would make it better for me apart from the fees. Thanks

I disagree.

All you need to do is write to Welcome and say "I wish to complain that when you sold me the loan you told me it included GAP insurance. You did not tell me that it did not run for the entire length of the loan and so I was unaware that it had been removed.

I therefore want you to pay me the full amount that you led me to believe I was covered for".

If you want to pay a solicitor a few hundred pounds to do the same thing then go ahead.

jintymcfee

But looking through the paperwork when I asked for them to reduce my payments, they have started a new agreement and cancelled the first. I wasn't aware that it was a new agreement I was only told that they had reduced the payments by extending the repayment period from 5yrs to 10yrs, I then went into there office and they asked me to sign to confirm the reduced payments. No-one explained that the original was terminated and that I would no longer have GAP insurance.
I will write to them explaining this, similar to how you have said and see what response I get back.

Thanks again.

BJV

The advice you have been given is 100 % correct you really do not did a solicitor.

I think that the extention of the loan and the gap insurance to some extent are different issues.In that even if they had carried the gap insurance over it may have expired.

Do you know how long and what type of gap insurance you had. The reason is most sold by dealerships and finance houses (return to invoice ) are just for 3 years. There are other types of gap insurance that can be up to 5 years but you need to know what type and how long the policy was for.

That said Before you get a solicitor and I would re-read the advice that the other members have given as it is very good. There are bodies in place already to make it quicker and easier for members of the public to complain.

Good luck.

~Brock~

Finance GAP runs for the original term of the finance agreement and no longer.

If you took the agreement our in 2006 how long was it for, because if your RTA in 2011 was after the oroginal intended term of the finance agreement (before it was changed to the new agreement) then your GAP would have expited anyway.