Countrywide Assured - PPI ?

allyjones

Hi, i'm not sure if this is PPI or not and hoping someone could advise.

Back in 2001 we took out a mortgage with Santander and this was organised through a person at our local estate agents.

At the time of getting the mortgage we were told we had to take out "home protection plan" for myself and my husband, we also had to sign for a "lifetime protection plan" for myself and my husband. There is also another policy we had to take out but i dont have that paperwork to hand.

All in all there have been 5 payments each month taken out of our bank for the last 14 years, totally approx £80 each month.

We are now in the process of switching mortgages for the first time to another bank with a lower interest rate and when we have mentioned we pay these policies each month they have said we shouldnt be paying this out.

Is this a case of PPI being missold to us ?

We've calculated with paid out around £14,000 over 14 years but never enquired if we've been missold them.

Has anyone got any advice ?

When we took out the mortgage at the estate agents, they told us we had to take out these policies in order to get the mortgage that we desperately wanted at the time as a few banks had refused us but they was the only ones who said yes.

Thank you

Nearlyold

Before thinking of complaining about these policies I would suggest you find out exactly what they cover you for. It wont be missold PPI if its not actually PPI. Have a read through the policy documents.


Not clear how the bank will know "you shouldn't be paying this out" based just on you "mentioning" the policies to them

Josie_Josie

I wondered what the outcome was regarding this as we have almost exactly the same situation. We don't know what to do, any advice would be appreciated

Nearlyold

What is your concern with your policies - there is nothing intrinsically wrong in having insurance.

McKneff

And just because you paid it, doesnt mean you can automatically claim it back,

If you think anything is miss sold and you want to make a complaint, you have to have documentation to back your complaint up

[Deleted User]

To be honest, the original post (made almost a year ago) probably refers to Life or Critical Illness Insurance rather than PPI.

The threadstarter never returned to elaborate, so best if Josie Josie explains exactly what insurance she has attached to her mortgage and what her concerns are.

Thumbelina1812

I'm looking into complaining about Protection Payment Plan sold to us in 2002 through Countrywide Assurance too. Not worth anything as husband was self-employed and there was no cover for him being off long term sick and we were led to believe we had to have this. How has anyone got on with this??

[Deleted User]

Thumbelina1812 wrote: »

I'm looking into complaining about Protection Payment Plan sold to us in 2002 through Countrywide Assurance too.

As above, check the details of this insurance. Are you sure it isn't Life and Critical Illness cover?

dunstonh

I'm looking into complaining about Protection Payment Plan sold to us in 2002 through Countrywide Assurance too.

Countrywide Assured was a life assurance company. Not a general insurance company.

Are you sure it is MPPI and not life assurance or income protection?

Nearlyold

Thumbelina1812 wrote: »

I'm looking into complaining about Protection Payment Plan sold to us in 2002 through Countrywide Assurance too. Not worth anything as husband was self-employed and there was no cover for him being off long term sick and we were led to believe we had to have this. How has anyone got on with this??

Assuming you are not mistaken and it is MPPI - Are you sure it doesn't cover the self employed for sickness, that would be very unusual, the issue with PPI and the self employed is usually more related to onerous conditions making it difficult to claim for unemployment - even then its by no means all policies with that issue.

magpiecottage

In 2002, an estate agent could sell life assurance as an Appointed Representative of Countrywide (or anybody else then authorised by the Financial Services Authority but neither mortgages nor general insurance (which includes) were regulated.

The estate agent would have needed to subscribe to the Mortgage Code but for it to need to respond to a complaint, it would need to have subsequently been regulated by the FSA/FCA. It would also still need to be in existence, which means either it is a limited company that is still in existence or, if it is not incorporated, at least one of the owners of the business at the time is still alive and not bankrupt.

Even if you overcome those hurdles, FOS will only assess the complaint against the Mortgage Code, not the rules of the FSA or FCA. These were far less strict and it is therefore considerably more difficult to have an ombudsman uphold the complaint.