Who to contact...

jbelash

Afternoon,
Hearing Martin Lewis mention 'ASU' the other day instantly got me thinking that this was something I had many years ago. I can see my online bank statements going back 7 years and in 2010 I was paying £58.13 per month to Santander Cards UK. I need to go into Natwest to see if they can provide me with statements going back to 2003 when I took out my first mortgage with Bradford and Bingly for 2 years and then with C&G from 2005. Unfortunately when we moved 2 years ago I threw out everything that was old, and I do remember ditching an envelope with 'ASU' written on it. I have found only a few scribbles from a meeting with C&G when we were first setting up our mortgage...one of those scribbles says "ASU must be in place by exchange of contracts". So we obviously took out ASU based on this advice, and I'm assuming with Santander in 2005 from a regular Direct Debit showing on my account.
My question is..who do I write too to try and claim this back? C&G were the ones who told me I needed it, but then I probably went online or on the phone to shop around for the best deal and picked Santander. Do I go direct to Santander, or to C&G?
Thanks for any advice (I'm really hoping NatWest can provide me with some statements back to when my mortgage started so I can see how many years we were paying it for).

dunstonh

My question is..who do I write too to try and claim this back?

You send your complaint, giving your reasons for complaint to the firm that sold it to you.

C&G were the ones who told me I needed it, but then I probably went online or on the phone to shop around for the best deal and picked Santander.

In which case, there appears to be no complaint to answer.

C&G have no liability for the products you buy elsewhere and Santander didnt mis-sell it if you went to them to buy it.

Nasqueron

You would normally go to whoever sold it you.

As Dunstonh said, if you picked the policy yourself you were not miss-sold - you are not claiming back but rather making a complaint it was miss-sold and if you chose the policy it cannot be miss-sold, only miss-bought

jbelash

Thank you for your reply. Its just the impression I got when taking out our mortgage was that we had to have ASU in place before exchange of contract. I always 'shop around' so wouldn't have taken what C&G had offered without looking for it at a better price! Guess I just didn't do enough research at the time to find out that I didn't 'have' to have this insurance in place at all.

dunstonh

Its just the impression I got when taking out our mortgage was that we had to have ASU in place before exchange of contract.

That is correct. If you had ASU then it is best to put it in force (along with life assurance or any other insurances linked to mortgages).

I always 'shop around' so wouldn't have taken what C&G had offered without looking for it at a better price!

That is the problem. Whilst I am surprised you picked Santander (as bank insurance products are generally poor value and high cost and easily beaten by IFAs and others offering whole of market option), the problem is that you picked them.

It should also be noted that there is nothing wrong with having MPPI. That product is one of two types of PPI that are still retailed today. Martin is going a bit over the top with his PPI by dragging mortgage PPI into it without adding any caveats.

jbelash

Thank you again. I used to have a bank account with Alliance and Leicester, so perhaps they offered me a cheaper quote than C&G were offering, which is what I just went for. I can't remember exactly what year A&L and Abbey became Santander, but I'm 99% sure when I took this out, it was not branded as being from Santander.