Reclaim PPI on old Evans store card?

fuzzgun19

Out of the blue, I received a letter from Santander about an Evans store card I took out in the 1990's. It said they were looking to re-investigate a rejected PPI claim I made in 2007 (I don't remember doing this). It contained a form I had to fill in and send back.
I was pretty sure I paid PPI until the account was passed to a debt management company in 2001.
I do have some statements for this account, but only from 2004-2006, and only one of them shows 'account cover premium' at £2.15, the others only show 'interest'.


So I sent off a SAR. Shortly after I received a letter from Santander saying as I hadn't filled in their form and sent it back, they were closing their re-investigation file (I did send them a letter stating I was awaiting a SAR).
I have since received the SAR and there is not a lot of info, there's an application form, and some lists of transactions. It has the PPI section ticked on the application when the assistant filled it in instore.

I don't understand the transactions lists (see below photo), and the other only seems to list payments and interest from 2005-2006 in which case the PPI would have been cancelled by the debt management company by that time anyway.
As I feel I was mis-sold, I would still like to go ahead and try to claim for the PPI (that is not showing on the SAR) on the Evans card.

Is this still possible with no charges info?

Nasqueron

Depending how the debt management process was setup, successful PPI complaint may be used against any unpaid money (including funds written off as part of the debt management)

DSAR is just all the info they hold on you, it does not have to be in user friendly format.

If Santander wrote to you about the PPI and didn't reject it as "no PPI" then the DSAR was somewhat moot as they already know you paid it and confirmed that already so not sure why you did the DSAR. Just send the form back and call them and tell them you are doing this, you don't need copies of records to make the complaint

fuzzgun19

I stopped using the debt management company in 2004 and paid the rest without them.

The store card was paid off and closed in 2007.

I have no idea if the claim was rejected as "No PPI" as like I said, I don't even recollect making a claim in 2007.

I must have paid some PPI as it was ticked on the application form - only I can't get and early statements.

As Santander have said that as I hadn't returned the questionnaire they sent to me, they are unable to review my complaint and have closed their investigation - If I send back the questionnaire back now they will disregard it wont they?

Nasqueron

You stated in your first post:

I received a letter from Santander about an Evans store card I took out in the 1990's. It said they were looking to re-investigate a rejected PPI claim I made in 2007 (I don't remember doing this)

This would logically suggest PPI was in place otherwise they wouldn't have bothered writing to you to say they were reviewing it (reviewing a case with no PPI would take approx. 1 second )

The debt / offset issue doesn't matter about the management company - if they wrote off money / interest as part of the process or allowed a partial settlement they can, in some cases, offset any PPI refund.

I would just ring their team up and advise you had sent off the DSAR and were confused about this previous complaint hence the delay in returning the form and ask them nicely to look into it and check you can send the form in now.

fuzzgun19

Thank you. I've called Santander, and the lady said I could still send the questionnaire back now and they will re-open the claim.

fuzzgun19

Can I ask some advice about questions on the quesionnaire please?

What is the policy number of the PPI?
I don't know this at all.

Did anyone give you any advice or recommend that you take out this policy?
The only advice I was given was when the store assistant was trying to push me into taking the PPI. Does it mean at the point of sale, or advice before hand, like a friend?

Approximately how much on average did you spend on your card each month?
I don't know the answer to this, but would guess at less than £50 per month. should I just write that?

At the time you took out this insurance, what was your employment status?
Now, I was young, and think I was in my first job, but on the store card application form the employment section is completely blank?

Nasqueron

1 - you don't necessarily need this as they know you have it, it's just a generic template - as they accepted you had PPI you shouldn't need this - does your documentation from them not make any reference to this number?
2 - the in-store bit only. Just be honest as you can't prove it (hearsay he said/she said type complaint), just explained what happened in store at point of sale e.g. if assistant ticked the box without explaining or said it was mandatory or whatever - they accept years later you cannot 100% recall conversations
3 - just best recollection, they may well have records already
4 - be honest and say what you can remember - any old CVs, diary or relatives you can ask?

fuzzgun19

Thank you. Questionnaire posted yesterday.

fuzzgun19

A letter has now arrived rejecting my claim, basically rubbishing my reasons.

Is there anything more I can do now, or is it over? I read on a different forum that multiple reasons is a bad idea and I should have just put that the assistant did everything and told me where to sign.

I gave multiple reasons to why I believed I'd been mis-sold, as I thought this would be more effective. My reasons were:
Basically the assistant pushed me into it.
They said I was more likely to get the card.
I was not made aware I could have got insurance elsewhere.

Nearlyold

If the reasons are all true recollections of events, then multiple reasons are not a problem.


If the reasons are made up and just copied from a template letter then that will tend to lessen the credibility of the complaint.


I don't think the fact that you have used three reasons will have made any difference to the outcome, the problem is with your first two reasons is that you have no evidence and the problem with your third reason is, putting it bluntly, that its nonsense - There was absolutely no requirement whatsoever for the assistant to tell you that you could have got insurance elsewhere.


Far better reasons are those of unsuitability (again they have to be true) because you would be able to provide evidence


If you are not happy with the complaint rejection you can normally forward your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman service within 6 months and wait for their adjudication however as you apparently complained previously and were rejected this may not be possible