Is my PPI too old to claim

AmyShields

Hello all,

My husband and I have been on a roller-coaster regarding our finances over the last few years. We've been struggling to pay off credit cards and loans, and have been making slow but steady progress.

Last year we had some success in that we were able to claim back nearly £6000 for incorrectly sold PPI :beer: although most of that went to pay off outstanding debt . Thats OK, though, as we know that if we keep going we'll get there eventually!

Anyhow we were looking through some old paperwork over Christmas and found some letters about PPI payments that we were making to our mortgage account when it was Abbey National. We took out our first mortgage with Abbey back in 1994 and we had it with them until 2002 when we switched mortgage providers to Halifax as they were offering a better deal.

We're now obviously thinking about claiming back the PPI from Abbey - but is it too late.

I'll be totally honest with you, I'm not even sure that we were mis-sold but if we are able to claim something back, it would help us tremendously.

Any thoughts? Is it too late? If its not too late, then we'll have to look into whether or not we really were missold.

Amy.

dunstonh

We're now obviously thinking about claiming back the PPI from Abbey - but is it too late.

Its possible that there is no longer any documentation. Although with MPPI, its more a case that most complaints fail because you have a financial need. This typically means you need a much more solid complaint reason than loan or credit card PPI.

antrobus

AmyShields wrote: »

.... We took out our first mortgage with Abbey back in 1994 and we had it with them until 2002 when we switched mortgage providers to Halifax as they were offering a better deal.

We're now obviously thinking about claiming back the PPI from Abbey - but is it too late.

....

I think it's too late.

S14b of the Limitation Act 1980 has an 'Overriding time limit for negligence actions not involving personal injuries' of 15 years i.e. it's too late to complain about anything that happened before January 1999.

Now, I've not heard any mention of the 15 year long stop in relation to PPI claims, but I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't apply.

As always, consult a proper lawyer for a proper answer.:)

roonaldo

I've adjudicated at FOS, I dealt with a few complaints about sales as early as mid 80's. crazy.

magpiecottage

antrobus wrote: »

I think it's too late.

S14b of the Limitation Act 1980 has an 'Overriding time limit for negligence actions not involving personal injuries' of 15 years i.e. it's too late to complain about anything that happened before January 1999.

Now, I've not heard any mention of the 15 year long stop in relation to PPI claims, but I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't apply.

As always, consult a proper lawyer for a proper answer.:)

The purpose of the long stop was to recognise that, after all that time, a person facing a negligence claim could not get a fair hearing.

The reason it does not apply is because Walter Merricks, the former Chief Ombudsman decided stick two fingers up to the Law because it was inconvenient to his personal agenda.

He justified this by saying the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 does not make reference to the 15 year long stop.

The Financial Services and Markets Act does not outlaw child abuse either - so maybe there is a defence for some celebrities there.

dunstonh

Limitation act doesnt apply in financial services. Its a thing that often comes up as IFAs, in particular, continue to complain that they carry liability to the grave. We can suffer a complaint 30 years after we retire and still have to deal with it.

AmyShields

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. I won't lie, a lot of that went over my head!

I've spoken to my other half this evening, and we're going to try to make a claim. We have nothing to loose, after all.
I don't want to sound desperate, but we're getting desperate at this point, so why not?

Strangely, the payments stopped coming out of our account some time in 2009. At the moment we can't remember why, but we're going to try to track down any paperwork that might help us.

There is something else that hopefully someone can help with:

Our original mortgage was with Abbey National as I've said.
The various documentation that we have about the PPI says the 'Scheme' is called 'Abbey Paymentcare', however the letters are all on Aviva headed paper.

Who should we direct our claim to? Should it be Santander as they have taken over Abbey? Or should it be Aviva?

Again, thank you all ever so much,

Amy

dunstonh

Who should we direct our claim to?

You complain to Santander. Aviva didnt sell it to you. Remember that you are not complaining about the product. You are making a complaint about how it was sold to you.

magpiecottage

dunstonh wrote: »

You complain to Santander. Aviva didnt sell it to you. Remember that you are not complaining about the product. You are making a complaint about how it was sold to you.

Even then, unless Santander decide to roll over, you need to show not only that it was missold but that this led to you taking out a policy that you would not otherwise have taken.

This is difficult with mortgages because the consequences of losing your income could have been homelessness.

This always assumes that there is any record of the policy.

If not then your complaint will go nowhere.

AmyShields

Thanks both, again - your input has been invaluable.

Like I said, we have nothing to lose. We'll take your comments on-board and I'll post back up here to let you know what happened.

Have a good day,

A.

dunstonh

Like I said, we have nothing to lose. We'll take your comments on-board and I'll post back up here to let you know what happened.

i hope the staff member you are complaining about has nothing to lose as well then. If it was an individually unregulated staff member that is fine. It wont be held against them. However, if it was a regulated individual then it could be. It certainly would be if it was a financial adviser or mortgage broker.