Halifax Mortgage....Years Ago

Jack_Itin wrote: »

1. I was always told that there was no PPI on endowment mortgages, but am now being told differently, is that true ?......

No. There is no PPI on Endowments.

Jack_Itin wrote: »

2. Do PPI claims go back to the late eighties ?....

Claims don't. They would ask why you hadn't claimed at the time.

Complaints can, but it's unlikely.

Jack_Itin wrote: »

3. The company that I am looking at using, if at all, has a "no win, no fee" policy, if, and it is a big if, they are successful then they take 24 percent of any money reclaimed, is this a good deal ?...….I have no interest in pursuing things myself......Thanks, Jack.

It's an awful deal. All they do is sell you a stamp. You need to provide them with your complaint reasons and follow up with the lender.

If you have no interest in trying yourself, you definitely wouldn't fancy using a claims company.

I have no interest in pursuing things myself

If you use a claims company, you complain using the form they provide, they then post the envelope containing your complaint and charge you for the privilege.
If you complain directly yourself, you complete an almost identical form, and it's free. You can normally do it on-line so you don't even have to buy a very expensive stamp like the one provided by the claims co.

Whichever way you do it, your complaint is looked at by the same claim handlers and if you can be bothered to do it yourself, you stand a better chance of your claim being accepted.
The choice is yours, but if you had no ppi . .

Hi Jack,

I would just like to correct one or two things here, firstly WE have recently enquired with the Halifax as to whether we were paying any PPI for a mortgage/s a while back. We had no evidence or believed at the time that we were paying PPI but they came back and confirmed that we were (Since 1988, for a number of years, when we moved and took out a new mortgage).
The mortgage was interest only, with endowments in place to, in theory, pay the mortgage off at the end, though that didn't work out like that, but that's another story.
Anyway, as I said, the Halifax have confirmed they did charge PPI, though I can't see how much or how it was applied. They also readily admit that they neglected to tell us that it was "Commission based".
Despite the fact that we didn't even know about the PPI at the time of taking out the mortgage, they have refused to uphold our "Complaint" which was that we were not informed and/or given the option at the time and our belief that it would have been unnecessary because we were on a firm financial footing - work wise and the fact that we had collateral in the new house etc. I have even submitted documentation to prove our situation at that time to no avail.
So we have now taken the case to the ombudsman and await their findings.
So, despite our negative response so far and the fact we also had an interest only mortgage, it is worth looking into as you may be surprised as we were. You should also go direct to them, it's straight forward, they are all geared up for "Complaints/Enquiries" so I imagine no more arduous than going through a third party, who would surely still require the same information that you will need to give to the Halifax directly, in this case?

All the best what ever you decide to do.

John G

Thanks dunstonh,

We were asked by the ombudsman if we were just complaining about the commission part but we stated, no it was the fact they applied PPI itself, the fact they admit it was Commission based only strengthened our resolve to pursue the matter.

It seems odd that being in full and secure employment strengthens their case as, although it might suggest we have means to cover the additional cost, it does not mean that our monthly budget was any less tight, bearing in mind the much higher interest rates at that time. Our argument is, we would have benefited from paying less each month simply for basic living costs and potential for saving for the future. Also, if we were given the choice we would have undoubtedly declined the option as we did with one or two loans over the years.

I had no illusion that Endowments would have included PPI, they were provided by Sun Alliance or some other, so a seperate thing. The House insurance part is interesting though, we did have that through the Halifax for a time so that would make sense - thanks for that!

John G

JohnG wrote: »

Thanks dunstonh,

We were asked by the ombudsman if we were just complaining about the commission part but we stated, no it was the fact they applied PPI itself, the fact they admit it was Commission based only strengthened our resolve to pursue the matter.

It seems odd that being in full and secure employment strengthens their case as, although it might suggest we have means to cover the additional cost, it does not mean that our monthly budget was any less tight, bearing in mind the much higher interest rates at that time. Our argument is, we would have benefited from paying less each month simply for basic living costs and potential for saving for the future. Also, if we were given the choice we would have undoubtedly declined the option as we did with one or two loans over the years.

I had no illusion that Endowments would have included PPI, they were provided by Sun Alliance or some other, so a seperate thing. The House insurance part is interesting though, we did have that through the Halifax for a time so that would make sense - thanks for that!

John G

Commission based sales are perfectly fine, particularly for brokers / IFAs who earn their living that way. The latter issues with Plevin only cover a small period of time due to changes in the rules.


Only the police have secure employment (cannot be made redundant), everyone else thinks they have secure jobs until they lose them or the firm goes under. What dunstonh means is that being in a stable and full time job helps a PPI defence for the firm as it shows it was sold to someone who would be covered and eligible to claim on the policy if needed.


No savings will ever be as much as a properly implemented insurance plan like MPPI, you're talking about having savings equivalent to 12 months+ salary for one person (to replace income if one of you lost your job and/or was unable to work for 12 months), MPPI would usually pay out in addition to savings so you could cover your mortgage and use savings or one salary for bills until the person could work again.