Where to start PPI?

yimpster

This may be slightly unusual. I'm really not sure where to start.

In November 2001 I took out a mortgage. I'm not 100% sure who with. Most likely Barclays or Northern Rock. I would have been 26 at the time. From my recollection the mortgage came with a compulsory accident, sickness and unemployment insurance. I was sceptical at the time and don't remember signing it.

My father in law is a chartered accountant and his company took care of the mortgage and told me it was compulsory. 99% i still didn't sign anything relating to insurance. I had assumed that i had got away without.

In 2003 i had a road traffic accident and was off work for 6 months with a back injury. I was on statutory sick pay and it was very tight.

We struggled through and when i got back to work took a closer look at my finances.

When i traced back a monthly Direct Debit for just over £50/pm it seemed to be for mortgage insurance with Norwich Union. They told me i was eligible to make a claim due to my injury and period off work. I did. And shortly after they paid out. I was pleasantly surprised.

I carried on making payments until 2012 with Aviva(not sure why Aviva). When i challenged if i actually needed the policy and if it was compulsory.

My father in law has since stopped working for his company due to ill health and we are somewhat disengaged due to some personal matters that aren't really relevant for this forum. Which means I can't really turn to him or the company he was a Partner in.

I guess the question is was i mis sold? And would I be eligible to make a claim? If so who to?

I feel somewhat guilty for being financially ignorant to what i was paying for each month and naive to continue payments when they were not needed. Not to mention that I have received a half decent pay out which seems goodish value compared to over 10 years of payments.

Your thoughts and opinions greatly appreciated.

roonaldo

Just to be clear, you took out a PPI you didnt sign for, successfully used the policy, now you feel you shouldn't have been sold the policy and want your money back?

-taff

You can certainly complain about it, but since you used it, if you were successful, any redress would have your claim taken off it.
And it depends if he was acting as a broker.

yimpster

yes - which is where the feeling of guilt comes in.

I can't tell you how many times i've put the paperwork in the shredding pile.

However, if there is a chance that the policy is invalid then my current cirumstances push me to exploring the options.

yimpster

-taff wrote: »

You can certainly complain about it, but since you used it, if you were successful, any redress would have your claim taken off it.
And it depends if he was acting as a broker.

i did wonder if that was the case. If that is so then i doubt it is worth my time persuing.

Thanks for the feedback

[Deleted User]

yimpster wrote: »

if there is a chance that the policy is invalid

It's hardly "invalid" if you successfully claimed upon it.
Any redress, should it be awarded, would obviously have the amount you claimed deducted from it.

roonaldo

yimpster wrote: »

However, if there is a chance that the policy is invalid then my current cirumstances push me to exploring the options.

You have certainly proved the policy is not invalid. You proved you were eligible for it and it was suitable for your needs. It's a monthly PPI so you cant complain about single premium PPI. Plus this is a mortgage and there is nothing wrong with having PPI to protect your mortgage.

Mis-selling is about the sale of PPI, if your circumstances change ten years down the line then indeed cancel it.

The banks arent dishing out free money you know.

Annisele

yimpster wrote: »

However, if there is a chance that the policy is invalid then my current cirumstances push me to exploring the options.

There's absolutely no chance that the policy was invalid.

Invalid means that you couldn't ever have claimed on it - eg if you were self-employed but the policy didn't cover self-employed people, or if you were 67 and it didn't cover anyone over the age of 65. Since you successfully claimed, the policy can't have been invalid.

If you were told it was compulsory when it wasn't, then - if you can prove that - then the policy might have been mis-sold. Even then, to get a complaint upheld you'd have to show that it's likely you wouldn't have taken it out if you'd known it wasn't compulsory. Since you suffered the kind of accident that it was designed to cover, and that made money very tight, it sounds like it was exactly the policy you should have been taking.

Even if you can get over all of those hurdles, you'd still need to show that the money you paid in to the policy was more than the money you got out (with an adjustment for interest).

Overall, this doesn't sound like a mis-sale to me - it sounds like a broker doing his job properly, and selling his client protection that the client needed.

dunstonh

People who have claimed on a policy can complain that it was mis-sold. However, their reasons for complaint are diminished. For example, you cant claim you didnt know about it or that it was invalid (as it paid out) and that you didnt need it (as you clearly did). So, what exactly would your complaint be?

And would I be eligible to make a claim? If so who to?

You seem to have been correctly advised to have the policy and it did its job for you when needed. So, what exactly is your complaint?

if you did have a complaint, you would send it to the person/company that sold you the policy. So, you would send the complaint to your father-in-laws company. However, it is unlikely they were regulated in 2001. So, ignoring the fact you dont appear to have any grounds for complaint, they could reject it as being pre-regulation. They would also likely contact your father-in-law to let him know of the complaint you have made and ask him for his recollections.

yimpster

Thanks for all the feedback. I figured as much. But thought I would check here before dismissing it totally.