Friends Provident Life PPI against mortgage

julie01886

My husband and I purchased a mortgage back in 1990 with Abbey National and were told that we would have to have some guarantee if anything happened to one of us, so we took out a life assurance policy with Friends Provident in conjunction with Abbey National. We paid this every month for years. What we didn't know was that the policy didn't cover self employment and when my husband became self employed in 1998 we carried on paying the monthly direct debit for several years. It wasn't until my husband found out that we wouldn't be covered if my husband had an illness because he was self employed that we stopped paying it. My husband started chasing PPI on 1st May last year 2013 and periodically he has been contacting them to find out what is going on. He was told that our claim was taking longer than normal because the mortgage was initially with Abbey National and not Santander. He was told in January that it was going to be another couple of months before he would hear anything. Let's just say we have heard nothing and it is now fourteen months since his initial communication. Sadly he passed away in February and I did nothing until last month. I wrote to them asking why we had not heard anything. After a month with no response, I contacted them again by letter and that was over two weeks ago and I am still waiting. Is this normal practice or are they giving me the run around? I think fourteen months to sort this out is long enough. I know people say that Friends Provident don't sell PPI but if that is the case why did Abbey National insist that we took this policy out with Friends Provident in order to get a mortgage, and, if there is no claim why haven't they told us this instead of prevaricating for fourteen months?

[Deleted User]

julie01886 wrote: »

we took out a life assurance policy with Friends Provident in conjunction with Abbey National. We paid this every month for years. What we didn't know was that the policy didn't cover self employment

Life assurance is not PPI and pays out on death regardless of employment status. Becoming self employed is irrelevant.

Unfortunately, your late husband tried to make a PPI mis-selling complaint about life insurance!

I've no explanation as to why this discourse has continued for so long, probably because of misunderstandings (possibly on both sides).

dunstonh

My husband and I purchased a mortgage back in 1990 with Abbey National and were told that we would have to have some guarantee if anything happened to one of us, so we took out a life assurance policy with Friends Provident in conjunction with Abbey National

That sounds about right. The requirement to have life assurance didnt go away until mid to late 90s with most with some even going into early 2000s. So, nothing unusual or wrong there.

We paid this every month for years.

Which is how a correctly set up policy should be.

What we didn't know was that the policy didn't cover self employment and when my husband became self employed in 1998 we carried on paying the monthly direct debit for several years.

What makes you think it doesnt cover the self employed? Life assurance is not affected by that. As it happens, most MPPI covers the self employed too.

My husband started chasing PPI on 1st May last year 2013 and periodically he has been contacting them to find out what is going on. He was told that our claim was taking longer than normal because the mortgage was initially with Abbey National and not Santander. He was told in January that it was going to be another couple of months before he would hear anything. Let's just say we have heard nothing and it is now fourteen months since his initial communication.

It is possible they cant find it as you are mixing up life assurance with PPI. They could be looking for something that doesnt exist.

I know people say that Friends Provident don't sell PPI but if that is the case why did Abbey National insist that we took this policy out with Friends Provident in order to get a mortgage, and, if there is no claim why haven't they told us this instead of prevaricating for fourteen months?

Abbey National insisted on life assurance for mortgage as most lenders did at that time. Quite normal and allowed. Ignoring the fact that it is also common sense to do so too.

Santander staff today (or the third part/contract workers they use) probably havent a clue what was offered in 1990. They are looking for something that doesnt exist. Sooner or later they will give up and say they cant find it or hopefully someone with a bit of knowledge will spot the problem and point out it is life assurance and not PPI.

If you still have the policy running, you should be able to claim on it now.

[Deleted User]

julie01886 wrote: »

we stopped paying it.

dunstonh wrote: »

If you still have the policy running, you should be able to claim on it now.

See above, policy is cancelled.

dunstonh wrote: »

They are looking for something that doesnt exist. Sooner or later they will give up and say they cant find it or hopefully someone with a bit of knowledge will spot the problem and point out it is life assurance and not PPI.

That does seem the most likely explanation.

dunstonh

see above, policy is cancelled.

I missed that bit (obviously!). Hopefully, it wasnt cancelled by mistake in thinking it was a PPI policy when it wasnt and it could now have been used to make a claim on it.

roonaldo

I dont undertstand this, you have already said

I know people say that Friends Provident don't sell PPI

and you answered your own question. Just as ASDA dont make cars, Friends Provident dont do PPI.

It's an awful shame you have misunderstood what this insurance is as its now cancelled.

haras_nosirrah

So if I am reading this correctly the op had a life policy sold with the mortgage to cover her and her husband (sensible)

For some reason they think ppi and life cover are the same thing and that ppi doesn't cover self employed (it does by the way) and so cancel the policy and put in a complaint about miss sale (although husband only went self employed after the mortgage was taken out so not sure how it is a miss sale rather the customers circumstances changed post sale)

Husband has now died and the life policy was cancelled as they complained about it a year ago.

If my reading of this is correct then anyone considering cancelling and claiming back their mortgage related insurances needs to read this and find out what they have before cancelling and trying to get their premiums back as this will probably have been a very expensive mistake the op and her husband made. Life insurance pays out if you die regardless of your job. It is not ppi. Friends life do not sell ppi. I know this as I sell friends life

haras_nosirrah

[QUOTE=julie01886;66151176_It_wasn't_until_my_husband_found_out_that_we_wouldn't_be_covered_if_my_husband_had_an_illness_because_he_was_self_employed_that_we_stopped_paying_it_[/QUOTE]

Who told you this? How did you find out he wouldn't be covered for illness because he was self employed? That is rubbish and if any advisor told you that then they need shooting. I am guessing he wasn't covered for illness because it was life insurance so only pays out on death.

[Deleted User]

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Husband has now died and the life policy was cancelled as they complained about it a year ago.

I'm not sure it's clear from the Op's post that they cancelled the insurance as recently as a year ago.
If that is indeed the case, however, that is unbelievably tragic given the Op's husband died earlier this year.

haras_nosirrah

I took that from he started chasing it in may 2013 but that could be to do with the miss sell claim rather than cancelling the insurance.

Either way it looks as though a policy was cancelled without asking the insurance company what they had and what it did and they have had a claimable event that they would have been covered for.

roonaldo

Probably cancelled it because certain websites (inc this) and CMC adverts try to make you feel that all insurance is mis-sold and insurance is pointless. Also people think that because they've never made a claim they'll cancel it.

Insurance is for unforeseen circumstances!