PPI on Life Assurance Charges on mortgage

sue_lea

Following a mention on mis-selling of ppi on a MSE newssheet last year, I put together a claim on Nationwide for a refund of life assurance charges incurred on our mortgage. Guardian was the insurer and Nationwide the beneficiary for the duration of the mortgage. Nationwide passed my request to Guardian (now ReAssure) but both turned down the claim. I have tried to contact the Financial Ombudsman on three occasions without success to find out whether life assurance was covered by the ppi legislation. Can any member of the MSE forum advise whether or not I have a valid claim please?

The_squirrell

Life Assurance is completely different. Why do you feel it was mis-sold? Its possible that it may have been a condition of the mortgage that Life Insurance was in place, but that's only to make sure that the mortgage would have been paid in the worst case scenario.

dunstonh

 I put together a claim on Nationwide for a refund of life assurance charges incurred on our mortgage.

That is quite an unusual thing to do.  The vast majority take out life assurance to cover their mortgage.  So, why do you think you are different?

Guardian was the insurer and Nationwide the beneficiary for the duration of the mortgage.

I don't recall any time that Nationwide retailed Guardian policies.   The fact Nationwide passed it to Guardian suggests they did not sell it.    So, complaining to a company that didn't sell it to you is pointless.

but both turned down the claim. 

Which you would expect as its such a strange thing to complain about.

 I have tried to contact the Financial Ombudsman on three occasions without success to find out whether life assurance was covered by the ppi legislation.

Life assurance is not PPI. Only PPI is PPI.   your house insurance, car insurance, pet insurance etc is not PPI either.   There is no PPI legislation either.

Can any member of the MSE forum advise whether or not I have a valid claim please?

You haven't actually told us what your reason for complaint is.

It seems you think you can claim back other insurances because of what happened to PPI.   You cannot.   

sue_lea

Thanks for the replies.  I'd obviously completely misunderstood the criteria for claiming ppi on mortgages so the advice I received from Forum members was appreciated.

dunstonh

sue_lea said:

Thanks for the replies.  I'd obviously completely misunderstood the criteria for claiming ppi on mortgages so the advice I received from Forum members was appreciated.

The criteria for complaining about mortgage PPI (MPPI) is exactly the same as loan and credit card PPI.  Although where most loan and credit card PPI complaints won.  Most MPPI complaints failed.
However, the key thing here is that life assurance is not MPPI.     So, you cannot use PPI complaint reasons in your complaint.  Such as ineligibility (as that would be like claiming your are immortal) or that you didnt have a financial need (you did as you had a mortgage) or that you had a pre-existing condition (as life assurance asks about your medical history).   

[Deleted User]

sue_lea said:

  I'd obviously completely misunderstood the criteria for claiming ppi on mortgages 

You were not attempting to complain about a PPI policy though , but an entirely different insurance.

 You were and are still within your rights to complain about Life Assurance, but it's difficult  to see a circumstance in which you could correctly show that such a policy was mis-sold to you.

 This would be  why Guardian and Nationwide rebuked your complaint.

 Did you not read what their rejection letters said before attempting to contact the Ombudsman?

Do also note that there is no PPI "legislation". The PPI debacle was a regulatory one, not a legal issue.