Halifax rejection

tidsy

Hi,
I have just recieved a letter from Halifax refusing my PPI complaint.

My reasons for the complaint were that I was not aware of the optionality of the insurance, that I was led to believe I needed it to get the loan approved and I was not aware that PPI could be purchased elsewhere.

They have thrown out all of those reasons.

Now one point I did not make in my questionnaire to them was that it was a single premium PPI, they have brought this up in their rejection letter however and claimed that they looked at the likelihood of us refinancing the loan and decided that a single premium was valid in our case.

They also state that we cancelled the PPI policy.

Now I have checked old bank statements and can prove that the payments I made on the loan were of the same value as stated on the loan agreement with the Insurance added.

I am going to call on Monday with this information but was wondering if anyone can advise how I should raise these points and how I should proceed. I know I can go to the FOS but we need the money and would rather not go that route if it can be avoided.

cash loan- 20,000
charge for loan-4,673
total for loan-24,673
insurance loan-3,755
charge for credit for insurance-877
total for insurance loan-4,632
monthly payments-£488

I've listed all details of agreement above so this may help.

Thanks in advance.

sorry, just to add the loan was taken out in 2002 and paid off Oct 2005.

[Deleted User]

tidsy wrote: »

I was not aware of the optionality of the insurance, that I was led to believe I needed it to get the loan approved

This is a "hearsay" complaint which is impossible to prove and so an easy rejection.

tidsy wrote: »

I was not aware that PPI could be purchased elsewhere.

Lenders are not obligated to point out that this kind of insurance is available elsewhere. In other words, this was never a valid complaint reason.

tidsy wrote: »

They have thrown out all of those reasons.

"All"? You mean both don't you? One is very weak, the other totally invalid.

tidsy wrote: »

Now one point I did not make in my questionnaire to them was that it was a single premium PPI, they have brought this up in their rejection letter however and claimed that they looked at the likelihood of us refinancing the loan and decided that a single premium was valid in our case.

So this is what you have to emphasise in the referral of your complaint to the Ombudsman. FOS don't like single premium and it's the most upheld complaint reason. Expect a wait of as long as a year for the adjudication, however.

tidsy wrote: »

I know I can go to the FOS but we need the money and would rather not go that route if it can be avoided.

I think you'll have to go the FOS route with this, although you could try writing to the Bank asking them to reconsider based on the single premium. However, since the Bank have mentioned this in their rejection, it's likely to just extend the period you'll wait before the Ombudsman arbiters your case.

tidsy

Just want to quote their reasons why in their opinion single premium was suitable.

"In order to assess whether a single premium policy was suitable for you we have considered all of your circumstances, including the likelihood at the time of sale that you would refinance your loan, whether you did actually refinance (and the overall financial impact to you of that refinancing). We have concluded that it was not inappropriate to have recommended a single premium to you."

The letter claims we applied for our PPI policy in 1999, 2000 and 2002.
We did refinance twice although not in the branches they claim we did, but I do not see why this means single PPI is acceptable when everything i've read suggests otherwise.
The loan we are questionning is the one in 2002 as this is the only one we have the documentation for. I guess I could have tried for all three but to be honest though it would be too complicated and they are obviously even longer ago and have an even smaller chance of success, perhaps I should say that I wish to get information for all three loans when I call on Monday?

I know the other points I made on my questionnaire are hearsay but i'vr read may success stories won on similar claims so I didn't see any harm in putting them down. I guess the banks are getting a bit tougher.

[Deleted User]

tidsy wrote: »

I know the other points I made on my questionnaire are hearsay but i'vr read may success stories won on similar claims so I didn't see any harm in putting them down.

Complaints are never upheld on the basis of "hearsay". There has to have been additional mis-selling identified either by the complainant or the bank.
It's either that or the instances you have read will have occurred back when some Banks were auto-upholding complaints in order to clear the backlog.

Forget ringing the Bank on Monday and refer your complaint to FOS.

tidsy

I would welcome comments from other forum members on their experiences.

Money ineptitude you've made it perfectly clear what you think of my comments on this thread and the other one I've posted on. If I choose to call Halifax then that is precisely what I will do regardless of what you're opinions are.

[Deleted User]

tidsy wrote: »

They also state that we cancelled the PPI policy.

Now I have checked old bank statements and can prove that the payments I made on the loan were of the same value as stated on the loan agreement with the Insurance added.

This is the reason it's never a good idea to cancel the PPI on a loan (unlike credit card PPI which can be cancelled anytime).

The problem is NOT that the Bank are incorrect about you cancelling.
The problem is that you obviously did cancel and then continued to pay the interest which the PPI had accrued because it was front-loaded onto the loan!
Do you now see why the single premium should have been the main focus of your complaint?

Your mention of other loans which were themselves re-financed by the one in question leads me to believe that you had a consolidation chain of loans which the Bank should have considered as part of your overall complaint.
You do realise that this loan will have also repaid interest from previous PPI loan policies you had on the other two loans?
Not mentioning them at all because you deemed it "too complicated" just made it easy for the Bank to reject your complaint based on the reasons you gave rather than the monumental mis-selling that was done to you.

You are, of course, free to do as you please with this information; but trying to convince the Bank after they have issued a rejection in these circumstances will just lead to a further delay in your complaint reaching FOS.
As the Ombudsman can take a year or more to adjudicate, I'd waste no time in referring your concerns to them.

roonaldo

tidsy wrote: »

I would welcome comments from other forum members on their experiences.

Money ineptitude you've made it perfectly clear what you think of my comments on this thread and the other one I've posted on. If I choose to call Halifax then that is precisely what I will do regardless of what you're opinions are.

i think money ineptitude was just telling you they are weak reasons, you wont get a complaint held based on a allegation you cannot prove.

the single premium will be your best bet, as they probably never disclosed the interest up front and total cost.

tidsy

Ok, I see where I've gone wrong now. I've misread the letter totally. I was only claiming on one loan, however they have listed four different loans I have held with them.

The one they claim I cancelled I may actually have done cos it was so long ago i could have.
they then go on to list three other loan accounts.
They go on to mention single premium was justified in the case of the other three loans.
My question is when I send my info to the FOS can I list the three loans as Halifax have drawn them to my attention, even though my original questionnaire did not?

Lastly, does the FOS really take a year???

[Deleted User]

tidsy wrote: »

My question is when I send my info to the FOS can I list the three loans as Halifax have drawn them to my attention, even though my original questionnaire did not?

Not only can you list them, you MUST list them. However, as always, it's your decision what you do next;)

tidsy

Well after my last post I called Halifax to query their rejection, they claimed they would investigate further, I must admit I did not hold out much hope but we have now been paid out in full for all three loans.
£11,212.00
Offer letter and cheque received on the same day.
So phone calls do work, don't listen to bossy forum members telling you otherwise.

roonaldo

tidsy wrote: »

Well after my last post I called Halifax to query their rejection, they claimed they would investigate further, I must admit I did not hold out much hope but we have now been paid out in full for all three loans.
£11,212.00
Offer letter and cheque received on the same day.
So phone calls do work, don't listen to bossy forum members telling you otherwise.

nice one, but they didnt pay out for the reasons you intially gave. it was single premium ppi, for that reason alone they paid out. thats some pay out. glad you didnt use a cmc too.