confusing HFC response to ppi claim

dragonfly02

Hi all,
We had a complaint about our ppi insurance on a hfc secured loan on the grounds that the salesman was pushy and basically told us that if we didn't agree to the ppi that we would be turned down for the loan. (and other things but thats the jist)

I read through the ppi threads and followed Martins steps and sent my questionaire and today I received a very confusing letter/pack and was hoping someone could offer me advice on our next steps if any.

firstly the ref on the letter gives 2 account numbers and our complaint was about 1, i've no idea what the other one was for.

The loan was taken out in oct 07 and this letter says we made a claim of £32.92 in nov 08 which we have no recollection of

the letter goes on to say the proposed offer will effectively return the pp premiums that have been paid to date including interest.

all the above is for an acc no I have no idea about.................

the claim I complained about they say they are unable to uphold as the documentation we were given said that the policy was "optional"

they go on to say that care was taken to insure that we were eligable for ppi but at the time both myself and my partner had life and illness cover as part of our mortgage agreement and my partner would have had sickness pay from work etc.

We were baffled with all the paperwork when we were in the offices (for hours with 2 young children in tow) presented with loads of sheets and asked to sign here, here, here and here advised to agree to the ppi cover so the underwriters would be happy and that we wouldn't get loan without ppi.
Now we are being baffled with the paperwork they have sent about our ppi claim.

What should we do now? Are these banks in the habit of writing waffle to us in the hope that we will just give up?

Really unsure now if we should take any further action as it sounds like they have a good argument on paper and all I have is the salesman pushing and pushing us for ppi.......
I have tried to keep this post short and sweet and have missed parts but don't want to over confuse the matter.

Any help gratefully received

[Deleted User]

dragonfly02 wrote: »

firstly the ref on the letter gives 2 account numbers and our complaint was about 1, i've no idea what the other one was for.

It's possible this account is simply an account you have no memory or record of. It's not unusual for Banks to consider all PPI you have held as part of their investigation.

dragonfly02 wrote: »

the claim I complained about they say they are unable to uphold as the documentation we were given said that the policy was "optional"

This is a rejection, unfortunately.
You can accept the offer from the "unknown" account and, if you remain dissatisfied, refer your complaint about the loan you knew about to the Ombudsman.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance#step4

Do be aware that your complaint reason is "hearsay" which cannot be proven. As you say yourself, it's a weak complaint.

dunstonh

It appears they are refunding the premiums as a goodwill gesture rather than upholding your complaint.

So, if you are getting your money back, why would you want to take it further?

[Deleted User]

dunstonh wrote: »

It appears they are refunding the premiums as a goodwill gesture rather than upholding your complaint.

No, it appears they are upholding one account (which the OP cannot remember) and rejecting the other.

dragonfly02

Thanks so much for your speedy response, This forum is fantastic as a sounding board, My opinion was that our claim did sound a little wishy washy seeing as it's kind of our word against their paperwork and whilst we obviously signed the paperwork accepting the ppi I remember refusing to begin with explaining that my working partner had sufficient cover with his life insurance and accidental sickness cover being very recent but after our refusal the salesman made his case that without ppi we wouldn't stand a chance.
To further prove our ability to pay through illness my partner has been off work with back problems for 5 months this year and we've never needed to claim in any shape or form so I really feel that the ppi cover was unnessecary.

There are other little things that bug me like all the paperwork being signed by us and the salesman and where there are spaces for a witness to sign the salesman has also signed this.
I just really don't know if they are trying to disuade people claiming miss selling by sending confusing letters with legal jargon throughout.

dragonfly02

dunstonh wrote: »

It appears they are refunding the premiums as a goodwill gesture rather than upholding your complaint.

So, if you are getting your money back, why would you want to take it further?

they are refunding us £1.64 from the account I have not complained about (confused)

[Deleted User]

dragonfly02 wrote: »

they are refunding us £1.64 from the account I have not complained about (confused)

As I said, this will be PPI you no longer have recollection or paperwork for. At some stage you must have made a claim (for £32.92) on this insurance and ,going by the overall size of the refund, it doesn't look as if you paid it for very long.

dragonfly02

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

As I said, this will be PPI you no longer have recollection or paperwork for. At some stage you must have made a claim (for £32.92) on this insurance and ,going by the overall size of the refund, it doesn't look as if you paid it for very long.

Having looked through my paperwork we had a previous loan with hfc/benificial that we used some of the new loan to cover so that's where the other account has come from
Now i'm happy that I know where the acc number has come from, I can't recall making a claim and can't fully understand how we made a claim on account A in 2007 and not on account B also account A would have been paid off with money from account B in oct 07??

will have to look further into this but am still lost with claim refusal on account B

-taff

WHat you need to do now is either present them with new evidence [such as single premium, which would probably apply to your loan], or send your complaint to the FOS.
They've rejected your complaint because you say that you were told to have it, but they've rejected saying it was optional i.e. it was not compulsory, so your complaint of it being compulsory [told ot have it] has been countered.
If you haven't identified any other reason why you were missold, that above sounds about right.

[Deleted User]

dragonfly02 wrote: »

Now i'm happy that I know where the acc number has come from, I can't recall making a claim and can't fully understand how we made a claim on account A in 2007 and not on account B also account A would have been paid off with money from account B in oct 07??

So when you consolidated your loan the original PPI would have been cancelled and a new PPI taken out with the new loan. This explains why your refund is so small, but I can't help you with you not remembering making a claim on the insurance.

dragonfly02 wrote: »

am still lost with claim refusal on account B

It's the weakness of your complaint (hearsay), which you acknowledge yourself, which is your problem. No amount of explaining the "legal jargon" used in your rejection will change the fact that it is a rejection.

dragonfly02

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

So when you consolidated your loan the original PPI would have been cancelled and a new PPI taken out with the new loan. This explains why your refund is so small, but I can't help you with you not remembering making a claim on the insurance.


It's the weakness of your complaint (hearsay), which you acknowledge yourself, which is your problem. No amount of explaining the "legal jargon" used in your rejection will change the fact that it is a rejection.

I'm aknowledging that my claim "sounds" weak, their letter basically sounds like "you signed it so there"

I have never done this before and have no idea if my case is alike other peoples who have completed sucessful claims.
I KNOW i personally feel that we were persuaded to take out ppi against our wishes, However if the strength of their paperwork i.e our signature means we should not persue then I would not persue it but still feel that they have been unfair to us.