GE Money Consumer Lending

DeborahM_2

I purchased a water softener from Culligan Water Softeners in 2003 where the finance for the softener was provided by GE Money Home Lending. The policy was sold to me by a Culligan representative and unbeknown to me it included PPI insurance. At no time was I told this was being added, I signed the paperwork really without taking too much notice, which may sound irresponsible, and now realise it has PPI insurance on it. I didn't ever need this as I was self employed at the time.

I wrote to GE and they came back to me saying "From my initial investigation I note that whilst GE Money provided the finance to you for the PPI, GE Money did not sell it to you. Because your complaint is specifically about the advice you were given, and because GE Money neither sold this PPI to you, nor were they present at the point of sale, I do not feel we can investigate your complaint fully or fairly. You will need to contact Culligan International UK Ltd directly and ask them to investigate your complaint as they are clearly in a much better position to do so."

"As for GE Money's involvement, I need to inform you that this is our final response letter."

Surely this isn't correct? GE processes all the paperwork, it's a GE loan with GE PPI and it was taken out over a staggering 10 years. If a finance company allows a third party to sell their loans and insurance, surely they can't wash their hands of things when they are being questioned about the PPI part of the policy?

I've not written to Culligan yet as I'm not sure they are in a position to give me money back or offer me compensation as the loan is with GE Money.

Can anyone advise me?

amersall

Hi,they are correct,you put the mis sell into Culligan,they sold you this loan with ppi,Ge were the ones who lent you the money.
If this ppi payment is included in the loan and you pay one payment that covers both,this is front loaded ppi and this is a reason for mis sell.

magpiecottage

Sadly, they are correct. Culligan Water Softeners are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service so you cannot pursue them either.

However, I think it is a fair bet that they did not subscribe to the General Insurance Council's Code of Practice either. If the insurer did subscribe to that Code at the time, then you may have a valid complaint against the it. This is because the code prohibited insurers that subscribed to it from accepting business from intermediaries that did not.

Your complaint against the insurer would then be that you were missold the policy and, but for their acceptance of the business from Culligan in breach of the Code, you would not have been.

DeborahM_2

Hi - thank you both for your response to my post. Given GE have said "As for GE Money's involvement, I need to inform you that this is our final response letter." - how can I get them to respond to another letter if I write to them. From what you are both saying I have no case against Culligan, it would seem GE are trying to pass the buck, and trying to wash their hands of the situation.

Any further suggestions on how to proceed would really be appreciated. The PPI was loaded onto the loan at the beginning which I've been paying for the past 8 or so years.

My situation with GE doesn't seem straight forward and I think they will get away with it particularly as they are saying they effectively won't respond to any other letters from me.

thank you again in advance of your help.

Deborah

roonaldo

Forget about GE, if you are claiming a ppi mis-sell, then GE didnt sell you anything. Try contacting the insurer as magpie cottage said.