Should I go straight to the Ombudsman?

stevedresden

I completed a PPI claim form against Nat West/RBS back in November for a Mortgage Repayment Protector policy that they duped me into taking with my first mortgage back in 1995. I had no idea I was paying this until I came to move house in 2006, at which point I cancelled the policy.

I couldn't find any paperwork for the policy but I knew the mortgage account number that it related to and I had a copy of the motgage paperwork that said in the small print that the mortgage included a repayment protection insurance. Let's call that original mortgage number 100001.

I thought I was being helpful in including as much info as possinle, so I also listed the two subsequent mortgage numbers that must have been issued when I changed rates/deals over that 11 year period. Let's call those mortgage numbers 100002 and 100003.

Today I received my response from RBS saying that they could find no record of any PPI policy being sold with mortgage number 100003 – no mention of the original mortgage 100001. Even though I had sent them a copy of the 100001 paperwork that included mention on the PPI being included.

I'm not surprised that they have no record of a PPI being sold with mortgage 100003 – because that is true. The PPI was "sold" with 100001 but they seem to have conveniently ignored that account number.

I'm being cynical I know but it feels like a very poor attempt at dealing with my claim. I have shown them 11 years of bank statements showing the Direct Debits and the original Mortgage 100001 paperwork that mentions the policy – how much more help do they need?

So my question is should I persevere with them and resubmit my claim making it 100% clear that the PPI policy was with mortgage 100001. To do this I have to resubmit my claim and potentially get messed around further – or should I just refer it straight to the ombudsman and let them sort it out?

[Deleted User]

stevedresden wrote: »

should I just refer it straight to the ombudsman and let them sort it out?

Since a referral takes around eighteen months (for the same result), I'd be contacting the Bank first.

dunstonh

I completed a PPI claim form against Nat West/RBS back in November for a Mortgage Repayment Protector policy that they duped me into taking with my first mortgage back in 1995

How were you duped?

I had no idea I was paying this until I came to move house in 2006, at which point I cancelled the policy.

So, the monthly payments did stand out to you? Or the confirmed illustration and policy details sent in the post after along with the cancellation rights?

So my question is should I persevere with them and resubmit my claim making it 100% clear that the PPI policy was with mortgage 100001. To do this I have to resubmit my claim and potentially get messed around further – or should I just refer it straight to the ombudsman and let them sort it out?

The FOS reject most MPPI complaints. Plus, you end up in a very long queue. Your complaint appears to be very weak and rejection was likely on the information you have given us. You would expect the FOS to think similar unless there is something else you havent mentioned. So, it may be better to keep on with the lender for the time being as they may decide in the end to auto payout as a cheaper option than a long drawn out investigation. You dont get that with the FOS.

roonaldo

How did you not notice you were paying for it for 11 years? Why didnt you complain 8 years ago when you realised? (be careful what you say in complaint as you may end up getting time barred)

Remember this is PPI to protect your home, whats wrong with that?

stevedresden

"Duped" is probably a strong term – my bad, but I don't recall the Bank Mortgage consultant ever advising me on the suitability of the policy – it was couched as "part of the deal" and the paperwork was all stuck under my nose to sign in one big pile. Had she asked me the right questions she'd have realised I had a good stable job in IT with decent long term sick scheme and redundancy terms that would have seen me OK in the unlikely event that I'd been laid off.

It was only around £10 a month and it was never clear on my bank statements – it always just said "MRP" as the description. I knew it was mortgage related, but as I had an endowment mortgage there was already more than one DD making up my mortgage (plus they somehow had managed to split my mortgage into 3 separate accounts by the end of the 11 years). Maybe I should have been more switched on and realised the situation but it was such a small monthly amount it was never top of my agenda of things to worry about"

Why didn't I claim 8 years ago when I closed the policy? Again I didn't really realise the significance and by the time the PPI compensation schemes started to make the news I already thought it was too late. It was only when the CPP scheme contacted me about their (completely different scheme) that I dug out my bank statements and realised that it added up to nearly £2k of payments. I then checked out the RBS site and they said there was no time limit so I decided to apply for compensation anyway.

I appreciate your questions and to be fair if the bank had come back with these challenges then I'd probably have been happier – but for them to come back and say they have no record of the policy (despite me providing them with evidence of it up front!) is just so poor it beggars belief[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

dunstonh

I don't recall the Bank Mortgage consultant ever advising me on the suitability of the policy – it was couched as "part of the deal" and the paperwork was all stuck under my nose to sign in one big pile.

In the mid 90s, many of the lenders did require the purchase of MPPI as part of the deal to get fixed rates etc. That was allowed then (it still is today).

However, you have just contradicted yourself. You said you had no idea you were paying it but now you are explaining how it was sold to you as part of the deal. Things like this can trip up complaints.

Had she asked me the right questions she'd have realised I had a good stable job in IT with decent long term sick scheme and redundancy terms that would have seen me OK in the unlikely event that I'd been laid off.

None of which makes it a mis-sale. Plenty of people who have said that about their jobs have gone on to lose them. This is why that reason rarely works with MPPI. The FOS have rejected complaints for people with 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay. Yet on loan and credit card PPI, they are stronger reasons.

Why didn't I claim 8 years ago when I closed the policy? Again I didn't really realise the significance and by the time the PPI compensation schemes started to make the news I already thought it was too late. It was only when the CPP scheme contacted me about their (completely different scheme) that I dug out my bank statements and realised that it added up to nearly £2k of payments. I then checked out the RBS site and they said there was no time limit so I decided to apply for compensation anyway.

There is a possible time bar they could apply. If you complain 6 years after the sale or more than 3 years after being reasonably aware of an issue then they can timebar it. This is why roonaldo said you need to be careful as you could position yourself into a timebar situation if you say the wrong thing.

sun73

A subject access request might produce additional proof of the mortgage protection policy, if it was stopped in 2006 there maybe some data still held by the bank which the ppi team have not found yet?


Also, did you have any other income protection policies at the time besides your endowment?

stevedresden

dunstonh wrote: »

In the mid 90s, many of the lenders did require the purchase of MPPI as part of the deal to get fixed rates etc. That was allowed then (it still is today).

However, you have just contradicted yourself. You said you had no idea you were paying it but now you are explaining how it was sold to you as part of the deal. Things like this can trip up complaints.

Sorry - didn't mean to contradict myself, I was not consciously aware of it by the time I came to move house after 11 years. It came as a surprise to me that I was paying it. When I dug out my original mortgage docs it rang a few bells and pieced together some long forgotten memories

dunstonh wrote: »

There is a possible time bar they could apply. If you complain 6 years after the sale or more than 3 years after being reasonably aware of an issue then they can timebar it. This is why roonaldo said you need to be careful as you could position yourself into a timebar situation if you say the wrong thing.

If they timebar me then I'd have to accept that - I thought I'd missed the boat anyway, it was only the RBS webpage statement that you could claim regardless of when the policy was that made me bother. I just want them to consider the case rather than act useless in the hope I give up (which is how it comes across)

stevedresden

An update in the tale – I had been planning to call the RBS PPI Helpline to see if they could help identify the original Mortgage Repayment Protector policy number, but at their phone line closes at 5pm I was not able to find time to do so from work.

Then today out of the blue, their adviser rang me unprompted to discuss my claim. I expressed my surprise given that they wrote to me on the 9th to say they were rejecting my claim because they couldn't find any record of the original policy. He checked my records and could see that the letter had gone out but said that he hadn't sent it and that he could clearly see my MRP policy on the system. Needless to say I got him to tell me the policy number!

He then asked a load of questions based on my questionnaire and said they would respond to me with a decision by the end of the month! Very odd.

I still have no idea whether they'll pay out, but levels of competency so far haven't been too promising.

Incidentally one thing I forgot to mention on this post here, but I picked up on in my questionnaire was that I never received a policy document for the MRP, and that the (very) small print of my mortgage agreement said that a specimen policy was available upon request. No idea if that will help the case, but I'm glad I spotted it.

I'll be sure to post my outcome – place your bets!

dunstonh

He then asked a load of questions based on my questionnaire and said they would respond to me with a decision by the end of the month! Very odd.

That would indicate they have found something.

I still have no idea whether they'll pay out, but levels of competency so far haven't been too promising.

Banks are scattergun with complaints. They pay out on those that you think they shouldnt and they reject those that you think they should uphold.

I'll be sure to post my outcome – place your bets!

Statistically, the product type you are complaining about sees most complaints rejected. So, that is a negative. But its a bank and that just increases the randomness of what the outcome will be. The phone call is a positive. Dont get your hopes up but dont be surprised if you succeed

stevedresden

Jackpot!


Letter just came today with my offer. It's about £80 short of what I calculated, but in the scheme of things that hardly seems worrying about. I was adding up 11 years of DDs from bank statements manually so it's possible I made some mistakes.


Claim upheld! £3k (including interest)


Thanks for all your help and advice everyone.


As it seems MRP outcomes aren't often positive I should clarify that this was RBS and the MRP was taken with Nat West ion my first mortgage in 1995 - and then cancelled when I moved in 2006 - so also a very old claim.


Don't give up hope folks, even if the local experts on here are not hopeful you have a chance, you have nothing to lose by filling in the form..