Mortgage PPI - refund??

wrenlegs

Call me a bit slow on the uptake here. Been hearing about PPI for ages and never really listened as we have never had any loans ... it just dawned on me that I do have a mortgage and that we had a big gripe when we first took it out which DID concern the amount of insurance we were advised to take out. Back in 2004 both my husband and I had critical illness cover, life insurance, mortgage term assurance and mortgage payment insurance. It seemed a bit over the top at the time, but with the house 'at risk' we decided to play it safe. My hubby is self-employed but I was, until recently, in a good job with a contract and good wage. When the dust had settled from the move, I cancelled my personal life insurance and crit illness policy as I realised I was covered by my work at the council. We didnt need the PPI because of my job security but we were young and the guy basically suggested it was a very sensible thing to do. Im now frantically checking what we eventually cancelled and when. But my Q is this: how do we know if we are able to claim for missold PPI? If we can, what are we eligible to claim for? Thanks to anyone who can advise.

Thrugelmir

wrenlegs wrote: »

My hubby is self-employed but I was, until recently, in a good job with a contract and good wage. When the dust had settled from the move, I cancelled my personal life insurance and crit illness policy as I realised I was covered by my work at the council. We didnt need the PPI because of my job security but we were young and the guy basically suggested it was a very sensible thing to do.

The guy suggested....... you could have said no.

wrenlegs

Thanks - I see what you say. So, on what grounds can you claim - how forceful does it have to be? Is is that they refuse you a mortgage unless you take it out? But that's not misselling - we basically came away from the office thinking that not taking it out woudl be very dodgy and put our house at risk. Given the amount of insurance we took (and looking at the policies there is substantial overlap), he would have know we didnt need all of it and he never once asked about the level of cover with my job (and he knew what I did, that it was with council, contracted etc).

wrenlegs

My husband is self-employed and was at time of policy. He is not covered by the policy. MPPI

dunstonh

we had a big gripe when we first took it out which DID concern the amount of insurance we were advised to take out.

Which is quite normal. There are a number of insurance plans which are required to meet the various needs.

Back in 2004 both my husband and I had critical illness cover, life insurance, mortgage term assurance and mortgage payment insurance.

Which all sounds correct. They are typical products most borrowers will tend to have.

I cancelled my personal life insurance and crit illness policy as I realised I was covered by my work at the council. We didnt need the PPI because of my job security but we were young and the guy basically suggested it was a very sensible thing to do.

All the council workers being made redundant thought the same.

how do we know if we are able to claim for missold PPI? If we can, what are we eligible to claim for?

Nothing you have said indicates any mis-sale issue.

So, on what grounds can you claim - how forceful does it have to be?

You have to be told you had to have it to get the mortgage. The adviser has a regulatory requirement to make you are aware of your financial risks, needs and how to address them. That includes making you aware of the consequences of what could happen with those risks.

However, you have two potential issues with your "complaint":
1 - verbal allegations are the weakest form of complaint unless you have evidence to support your allegation. It would be an absolute doddle to reject your complaint if its just a verbal allegation as they can turn around and say no they didnt.
2 - its 2004. Regulation didnt start until 2005. That would allow most advisers to not even consider your complaint (not all but the majority).

we basically came away from the office thinking that not taking it out woudl be very dodgy and put our house at risk.

Nothing wrong with that. It indicates the correct job was done. What if you were not told the risks and a claimable event occurred? you would complain the adviser didnt advise you correctly.

he never once asked about the level of cover with my job (and he knew what I did, that it was with council, contracted etc).

Probably didnt need to. Death in service benefits are not required to be included in debt repayment as they effectively exist to replace lost income and pension income. Not to repay person debts. So, unless you had other life assurance on top of what he recommended, then not including death in service is easily justifiable.

opinions4u

wrenlegs wrote: »

My husband is self-employed and was at time of policy. He is not covered by the policy. MPPI

Are you saying the he isn't named on the policy?

Or are you saying he is named on it but it doesn't cover him?

Can he not be ill? Have an accident?

There is also a clause in many of these policies that does pay out to the self employed if their business is liquidated.

wrenlegs

Its his policy - he is named on it. It does not mention anything about being self-employed. Ive just read that very few are suitable for self-employed perons. Ill ring in the morning to check. The policy mentions nothing about liquidation - it relates to employed persons and not to the self employed. It was the same woman who sorted our mortgage and knew he was self-employed. Im sure we must have documents somewhere which state our employment status - mortgage application?? They were defo aware as we had 2 meetings to go through our earnings and with him it is ALWAYS a headache because he has to work out averages and numbers based on previous and predicted tax years.

dunstonh

Ive just read that very few are suitable for self-employed perons

That is quite often the case on loan and credit card but mortgage PPI tends to cover the self employed with no issue. i dont think I have ever seen one that hasnt.

Was it with lender or through a broker that you did this? This will likely be the key issue as it is pre-regulation and if it was with a broker then chances are they dont have to take your complaint.

wrenlegs

dunstonh wrote: »

That is quite often the case on loan and credit card but mortgage PPI tends to cover the self employed with no issue. i dont think I have ever seen one that hasnt.

Was it with lender or through a broker that you did this? This will likely be the key issue as it is pre-regulation and if it was with a broker then chances are they dont have to take your complaint.

Thanks for this info. Im flapping as I just read an article that said most mortgage PPI DOESNT include the self employed.We took the mortgage outwith the Woolwich and it was one of their staff, but the MPI is with Legal and General (so I guess a broker ). We took the MPI and mort with the same people (all under the same roof) so I guess in our eyes it was with the lender, but I guess its not.

wrenlegs

opinions4u wrote: »

Are you saying the he isn't named on the policy?

Or are you saying he is named on it but it doesn't cover him?

Can he not be ill? Have an accident?

There is also a clause in many of these policies that does pay out to the self employed if their business is liquidated.

But he doesnt own a limited company so that cant happen. He's a freelancer.

dunstonh

Im flapping as I just read an article that said most mortgage PPI DOESNT include the self employed.

I have been doing this over 20 years and I havent seen hardly any in the whole of market world that dont cover self employed. A minority of lender policies have had restrictions that were near impossible to meet and they are the bad ones but I have to say that the article is wrong if it says that. If it was saying it against loan and/or credit card PPI, then that would be a different issue.

Below is the link to L&G's MPPI as an example. If you search "self employed" you will see they do cover it.

http://www.legalandgeneral.com/library/general-insurance/product-details/MPPI%20PB%200211_Web.pdf

Self employed or Self employment
Working for profit for at least 16 hours per week, either alone or with others,
being liable to pay income tax and National Insurance contributions, or tax on the
basis applicable to the self employed in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
Or
Being an employee or director of a company or business in which you have a
shareholding of 25% or more.

---

Reading the document, it seems to have the same requirements as virtually every other MPPI I have seen. The business must case and you sign on as unemployed.