PPI Firstplus and freedom finance

DeanMoody

Hi

We took out a 15 year £47k loan in 2005, Trough freedom finance who used Firstplus as the lender. Talked into taking out PPI, didnt want it but the loan wasnt agreed and was given hard sell, made to feel like i had to, but they gdangle a fat juicy worm,told me i would get back my premiums of £10k after 5 years shoudl i not claim. I asked if i would be able to change my mind if i found the extra payment s a bit much, was told YES. Got agreement, but loan was not £47k now but £57k, was told not to worry about this as would get this back as only the PPI...What a mug I was!!!

Two years on interest rate rises, thing were tight, called Firstplus, to cancel PPI to reduce monthly payments. Told that if i canclled now i would still have to pay the £10k PPI , my monthly payents would be more or less the same and I wouldnot get it back after the remaining 3 years! My wife and I decided to downgrade our house move to another part of the country to pay of the loan, First plus advisor in March 2007 told us, to pay of £40k keep £5k going and also the the £10k on top, paying this 15 loan loan over the next three years would be about £180, afte the three years the £5k would be paid off and we would get the £10 k back in form of a cheque..all well and good but not to be from a company that keeps changing the rules and its goalposts. We now have a buyer, clled to implement this new payment, told no longer availble, doesnt pay of the toatal anymorejust shortens the 'term', which means we pay £600 pm for the next three years to get the £10k we are already paying back. We cant do thios, will be too mcuh outgoings and will force us back into debt, when we are trying to do the right thing and be debt free! We are biting the bullet, i.e. paying off the £47k plus the £10k PPI we have not borrow or claimed against, on top of this we are being charged two months interest on the whole debt. Then we get three final estimates, the highest £2.5 k dearer then the cheapest, we call told they are all wrong, advisore just plucks a figure, quick a syou like which is still higher that we were told before, when questioned how he got thise, he mumbled and ummed his way through a monlogue of how it is up to Firstplus how much they would charge us to complete the whole payment. he then said oh just ffor the cheapest but it would only last a month. Tony Soprano is alive and well running Fristplus and freedom finance. Suffice to say we are totally stressed, will not pursue this til we have paid them off , then will see what we can do, can't even watch countdown anymore or infact anything that has Carol Vordiamn in it.
Dean

PJY3206

Hi Dean,

I posted this on another thread, but it's not been bumped so here goes. I hope people reading this think twice about ever dealing with First Plus. They are modern day Highwaymen, pure and simple!


I took out a loan with these 12 months ago, a secured loan of £48,000 to clear debts. Changing my unsecure debts to secure was the single biggest mistake of my life. On top of this, I was sold PPI which I am about to contest.This added a wopping £11,000 on to the debt. Total £59,000

Now, I have recently contacted 1st plus to ask them to cancel the PPI. They sent me a letter to offer me a rebate on my PPI in the region of £2,500 to be credited to the balance.

Now, this "rebate" is off the total balance, including PPI, so if I go ahead I will still be paying off the PPI (£8-9000) even though I have no actual insurance. My monthly payment will also only be reduced by £25, even though I am paying nearly £100 a month for PPI at the moment.

When I spoke to first plus about this, they smugly said it was all there in the terms and conditions and that I had signed for it.

Personally, I think the PPI was mis-sold and I have written to first plus outlining my case and requested the transcripts of all telephone conversations during the application process. I don't really know what more to do at present!

Anyway, I draw your attention to my advice at the top of the post and wish you good luck.

JayCbee_2

Hi All

Help!

Same situation. Cancelled PPI after a few months after taking out 34k. Had a rebate of just over 2k. Still have outstanding PPI fee of 6-7k.

Looking at selling the house and this 6-7k is restricting what I can accept as an offer on the house. On debt management and want to down size to help pay the other debts and ease my outgoings. Because of this extra amount I cannot accept a reasonable offer as I will be in negative equity.

Has anybody contested this yet and won?

Thanks

Jas

cocker100

Hi all,

I too have been drawn into First Plus's web. Took a loan out in August 2005 for £57000 with £11360 ppi insurance on top! Nearly 2 and a half years later we still owe £68000!!!! even though we have paid back over £15000 in payments. My advice is to try and claim back the ppi. This is what we are doing. Read through the ppi reclaiming thread on this website and see if you were mis-sold the ppi. Check everything with a fine tooth comb as our loan agreement fails to include some vital information. If you think you have grounds for a claim, write a letter to First Plus stating that you want the ppi policy refunding. Be patient though, you will probably receive a letter back saying that they are not at fault and wont rapay. Send another letter stating you are prepared to take them to court to get your money back. You could also send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. I am currently waiting for a response from my third and final letter to them. If they decide not to refund me,then I am starting court proceedings against them. Dont be afriad of doing this, it is not is daunting as it sounds. Read through the posts on the ppi reclaiming thread to get some inportant information.

Good luck to you all.

juliedawn_2

We're in the process of cancelling our PPI.This is because the repayments have gone up so much we have to cut back on everything...or sell up and go into rented ,which is the very last resort if i can help it.our money back after the 5 years is 13,000.They are sending me figures and no-one told me on the phone that it would be used to reduce the loan.I don't want them to do this.Our rebate is about £1,800.I want this to myself as i have a few small debts (eg catalogues) which i want to pay of so it will reduce my monthly outgoings even more.It is MY money so i should be entitled to it if i want it back.I read the t & c's and it says they MAY use the refund to pay off some of the loan.........but nothing about the remainder of the balance of the PPI and having to still pay for it.I've never heard of anything like this...normally when you cancel insurance its just cancelled and thats that ...you owe nothing.Why pay for an insurance and not be able to claim? If they try this on with me I will make a complaint and if i get nowhere i will take it further.Good luck to everyone else on this.We should all stick together!!

tatoodav

i too got a loan through freedom finance of 30 thousand and made me take out a ppi at 7thousand ,and a payed the loan off but they made me pay a extra 6thousand pound on top of the loan they said a had to so they got 6thousand pound out me for nothing like theft and you had to pay it so a had to pay 36thousand back for a 30thousand loan could some one tell me if they have had eny luck clameing back the ppi from fredum finance thanks

halifax71

If any Firstplus customer would like to join over 1500 like minded souls there is a consumer action group at www.firstpluscomplaints.co.uk

In addition to PPI the major issue is the Interest Rates, which have been maximised by the lender over the last 5-6 years. They have made an additional £300m in the last 2 years due to base rates reducing - £200m of this is evidenced in their accounts upto Dec 09 (now we have 9 months of 2010).

Now the gap between base rates (or FHBR if you have the FHBR clause) is 8% to 12% (in my case 8.2% over FHBR as opposed to 3.4% at loan inception) they have to keep that gap as they have lost all the PPI income and are having to repay £m's on missold claims.

There is only one way our rates can go now.