Have I come to a dead end with mis-sold PPI complaint?

CP42

After several years of correspondence with Halifax about mis-sold PPI, we then submitted the complaint to the ombudsman. The ombudsman has made her decision that 'assumes' myself & husband would have taken out the PPI even if we had known it was optional. We've been told the decision is final even though I asked her to review it again given that we know we wouldn't have bought this PPI given the option but we were told we had to have it to get the mortgage. Is there nothing else we can do other than go to court, which we cannot afford to do? We have very little paperwork & we had the mortgage in1987. 

kaMelo

If this is an Ombudsman decision, rather than the initial investigator, then yes it is final as far as the ombudsman is concerned. 

It's important to note that mortgage PPI has the lowest uphold rate of complaints as it's a product designed to protect against a secured long term loan unlike credit card PPI for example. Also it was perfectly acceptable to offer a mortgage with conditions attached such as, to get the mortgage rate offered you had to buy their PPI policy. The only thing that was not acceptable was to say it was compulsory when it wasn't.

Other than legal proceedings it would appear it's time to put this one to bed and move on.

Thrugelmir

After 34 years your recollections of events at the time are likely to be hazy. With the lack of paperwork. Heresay alone is no grounds for complaint in court. If you didn't like the mortgage offer made at the time , you had the choice to go elsewhere. No one forced you to accept. 

dunstonh

We've been told the decision is final even though I asked her to review it again given that we know we wouldn't have bought this PPI given the option but we were told we had to have it to get the mortgage.

These are your main issues 
1 - it's mortgage PPI.  MPPI was not heavily missold.   Single premium MPPI was but most MPPI was monthly premium standalone and that is the way PPI should have been.   Most MPPI complaints fail.  Indeed, the FCA did consider excluding MPPI from the PPI complaints requirements during the consultation but decided against it to avoid confusing consumers.   Basically, if you have a monthly payment MPPI then the expectation statistically is that your complaint will fail
2 - Your complaint reason is very weak.   You are making an allegation of something that was said verbally without any evidence to back it up.    That is the weakest type of complaint.  It is really reliant on another failure being identified.  And in this case, it appears there hasn't been.   Very few complaints get upheld on that basis.
3 - It was 34 years ago.   It is highly unlikely that you have any recollection of what was actually said 34 years ago.  Most people cannot recall details of a relatively quick meeting 3 months later.  Let alone 34 years.   
4 - 1987 was before the misselling of PPI began.  In 1987 the banks and building societies didn't have selling targets on staff.  So, statistically, its unlikely you were missold.

CP42

Thanks for your answers even though I was hoping there was something else that could be done. Seems I'm never the lucky one where money is concerned!    A little extra in the bank would have been very welcome after the last couple of years.

brettcta

CP42 said:

Thanks for your answers even though I was hoping there was something else that could be done. Seems I'm never the lucky one where money is concerned!    A little extra in the bank would have been very welcome after the last couple of years.

You were lucky - you were lucky that you were able to afford a mortgage and had a protection product there to support you if you were unable to pay your mortgage. Lots didn’t take PPI and ended up being repossessed because they were unfortunate enough to lose their job or become so unwell they couldn’t work and keep up with repayments.