PPI reclaim help please

Katem

Hey there

First post - please be kind! might be long.......

My husband was made redundant in April 2013. As part of a "finances refurb" in the light of redundancy, I have realised we have two separate payment protection insurance policies (which I thought was a life insurance on our mortgage but it's not).

The first policy - I remember being sold this insurance and our mortgage provider said that it was a condition of the mortgage that we took out this PPI (which I thought was life insurance) and on the original documentation I have, it says "arranged through Northern Rock mortgage". We also had other income protection insurance in place through employers anyway.

Now my husband is self employed, we can't claim on the PPI.

The second PPI policy comes from years ago when we had a Lloyds loan. We consolidated the loan and Lloyds insisted we take out a policy to cover us in the event of not being able to work. Because we were in a financial hole at the time, we weren't particularly financially savvy then, we took on the PPI. Again, on looking at the policy now, it doesn't kick in until you've been off work 12 months and we can't claim now due to husband being self employed.

So - I now know that we were mis-sold, and have completed a questionnaire, with covering letter and sent it off.

What I can't understand (and I know I'm being a bit dim about it) is the timescales. All of these PPIs were taken around 2003 (give or take) - am I still able to claim?

Will the bank/L&G just send me a cheque or are they likely to query this? What do I do if they query it - go to the FOS?

thanks in advance

McKneff

Cancel all the PPI arrangements. If you cant claim, no point in paying it, but check first, some of them do cover for self employment.

I think you will get a yes or a no. I don't think they would query it.

Katem

Neither cover for self employment, we've had an IFA check it.

That's great, thanks. Hopefully they'll say yes. If they say no, where's my next step going to be?

And again, re timescales - how quickly do they have to reply to an application for repayment?

lots of questions, sorry!

antrobus

Katem wrote: »

Neither cover for self employment, we've had an IFA check it..

But that's not really an issue. As your OP states "My husband was made redundant in April 2013". So clearly, he was employed. The fact that you "can't claim on the PPI" now because your husband is self employed, would be because he's employed, the self bit is neither here nor there.

So if you do have a monthly PPI policy with the Northern Rock which doesn't cover self-employment then you would cancel the policy. But the fact that your husband is now self-employed would have no bearing on whether or not the policy was mis-sold.

Katem

antrobus wrote: »

But that's not really an issue. As your OP states "My husband was made redundant in April 2013". So clearly, he was employed. The fact that you "can't claim on the PPI" now because your husband is self employed, would be because he's employed, the self bit is neither here nor there.

So if you do have a monthly PPI policy with the Northern Rock which doesn't cover self-employment then you would cancel the policy. But the fact that your husband is now self-employed would have no bearing on whether or not the policy was mis-sold.

Apologies if I was a bit misleading - my DH being made redundant and the mis selling are two different things. I haven't tried to claim on them as I know we wouldn't be eligible.

dunstonh

Will the bank/L&G just send me a cheque or are they likely to query this? What do I do if they query it - go to the FOS?

Who sold the policies (as 2003 is pre-regulation and may not be able to complain)?

We also had other income protection insurance in place through employers anyway.

The FOS has been rejecting complaints on that basis for mortgage PPI.

Again, on looking at the policy now, it doesn't kick in until you've been off work 12 months and we can't claim now due to husband being self employed.

That doesnt sound like PPI. It sounds more like PHI. If it is PHI then it doesnt matter if you are self employed. Indeed, PHI is most commonly taken out by the self employed.

Katem

The policy was signed through Northern Rock, but were underwritten by Pinnacle Insurance. I also have something from L&G too about this.

I'm not sure what PHI is? We were employed at the time of taking out the policy.

We were categorically told that we HAD to have the insurance when applying for the mortgage - I remember querying this at the time and we were told it was a condition of the mortgage.

The Lloyds policy (the 12+ months one) was sold to us at a time when we were particularly vulnerable financially and in the midst of consolidating loans and fairly confused. I don't remember querying it, but we must have felt a bit pressured to take it, as we were so poor at that particular point in time, I can not imagine we'd have been taking on policies that were going to cost us more!

dunstonh

I'm not sure what PHI is? We were employed at the time of taking out the policy.

PHI is permanent health insurance. It is the best form of income protection. Unlike PPI that covers just 12 months, PHI pays out until retirement potentially. Typically it is designed to kick in when employer benefits end or when PPI benefits end. Hence the 12 month deferment. It does not suffer the same issues as PPI and does cover self employed (as does Northern Rock MPPI with Pinnacle).

We were categorically told that we HAD to have the insurance when applying for the mortgage - I remember querying this at the time and we were told it was a condition of the mortgage.

And when you make your complaint and provide evidence to support that allegation, they will have little choice to uphold the complaint. However, if you have no evidence, then it will be rejected on that point and they will look at suitability of the plan instead using the details at point of sale.

Katem

How am I able to provide evidence? It's one word against another I suppose (other than asking my DH, and he doesn't remember what happened this morning, let alone 10 years ago! )

dunstonh

Katem wrote: »

How am I able to provide evidence? It's one word against another I suppose (other than asking my DH, and he doesn't remember what happened this morning, let alone 10 years ago! )

You probably cant provide evidence. Which is why most complaints that rely on that point alone fail. They need another reason or auto payout decision to succeed.

The onus is on the one making the allegation to provide evidence. Firms have to look at their own records to see if it backs your allegation but its rare for a firm to have any such records that indicate that.

Katem

OK I see, thank you.

Feel a bit stupid really now, at the time I wasn't as financially savvy (or as bolshy!) and just tended to accept what I was told to have. It wouldn't have happened nowadays!

It's a huge shame as we've paid £34 a month since 2003 for this policy and only just realised when having our big financial overhaul, that we weren't compelled to do that.