PPI miss-sold: Can I claim it back

[pc23]

I was told that taking out PPI would increase my chances of getting the loan. Is this mis-selling?? Can I claim it back?

[enaid]

If you click on PPI at the side of your thread you will go to ppi threads I'd have a read of them for more info.

[pc23]

Having read guidance etc, etc I'm feeling I have a case here - because they told me that I would have more chance of getting the loan if I agreed to PPI. Basically I am up for this and want to take them on to get back both the money the PPI cost (£2k + interest since) and late payment charges from GE Money. Should I do this in the same claim (it would be under £5k) or two different ones... also is there a standard letter for this anywhere??

[reidnet]

GE Money...I would go for them, Not that I have anything against GE Money But I have them in Court re Mis-Selling me PPI.

You will find that they are not the fastest to respond to complaints etc, But if you need Contact name and Numbers to start off your Complaint , just let me know and I will pass them onto you .

Ian

[pc23]

Thanks Ian - that would be gr8 if you could. Cheers.

[reidnet]

Mr Rupert Peacock
Customer Relations Manager
GE Money Consumer Lending Ltd
53-61 College Road
Harrow
Middlesex
HA1 1FB

Direct Phone 0845 610 6532
Direct Fax 01923 426770

You will find that any response from the above , will be at the last minute or more than usual late and outwith any timescale you set, Best way is to keep at Him, I always sent copies of letters etc to Him by Fax and also by recorded Delivery mail, Not that it made any difference to the way he responded but at least if you have to go to court you will have evidence regarding contact with Him.

An I think they have run a course of Cutting and Pasting in Microsoft word as they like to repeat themselves and never get straight to the point..lol

Having said that I did once get a prompt reply from Him, That was when My court summons arrived on His desk..

You may also find this report from the FSA interesting, Tut Tut Ge Fined for Mis-Selling Products and breaking the FSA Principles of Business.

FSA fines GE Capital Bank

Good luck and if you need further help Just ask..

Ian

[pc23]

Thanks Ian that's really helpful!

[pc23]

Have had a letter from GE saying they're investigating my claim... and will be back to me within four weeks.

[reidnet]

You will probably get your response from them on the last day of the 4 weeks, if not later.

And remember it is your Timescale that you are working to NOT THEIRS..

Ian

[pc23]

Cheers Ian, going by my timescale it's now time for an LBA and also the Times article on the 8th I feel I have a strong case - but am expecting to have to file a claim at court!! Not sure on wording for LBA (or N1 if it comes to that) as my claim with include PPI, charges and interest - any advice or is there a template anywhere? Can't find one... Cheers. PC

[hellhasnofury]

Originally Posted by pc23

Cheers Ian, going by my timescale it's now time for an LBA and also the Times article on the 8th I feel I have a strong case - but am expecting to have to file a claim at court!! Not sure on wording for LBA (or N1 if it comes to that) as my claim with include PPI, charges and interest - any advice or is there a template anywhere? Can't find one... Cheers. PC

Hello, This is the lba I sent to the company.

Your address

Their address

Date
LETTER BEFORE ACTION


Dear XXXXXXXXXX
Loan Account no: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Thank you for your letter of 15th March 2007 and your standard letter of acknowledgement of my unhappiness of the Personal loan protector that your company applied to the above loan.
I am extremely disappointed that your Company has failed to respond to my letter of 9th March 2007 requesting the refund of monies that your company has taken fraudulently from me.
In my previous letter dated 9th March 2007 I stated:-
I write in response to my recent Subject Access Request dated 14th January 2007. I thank you for your information. After reading the information it has now come to my attention, that the loan account no xxxxxxxxxxxxxxwhich I took out on the 4th April 2001 had payment protection insurance applied to it. the loan was for £xxxxxx plus £xxxxxcharge for credit/ interest. The payment protection insurance was calculated by yourselves at £xxxx. Total amount of money payable £xxxxxx ten years and I would assume unless otherwise directed by yourselves that 8,9% interest on the ppi of £xxxxwas included into the interest applied to this loan. The insurance policy no of the payment protection insurance is xxxxx. I have never received any policy or terms and conditions regarding this policy. I have received this information from the Subject Access Request you have recently sent to me
I am extremely disappointed that your company have conveniently failed to locate any copies of Contracts regarding the loan. I feel this statement hard to believe that you cannot locate these documents and by law under the data Protection Act 1998 and the Limitation Act of 1980 you must supply me with this information. There was another loan running prior to the above loan which I have also request information about. I shall be reporting this matter to the Information Commissioners Office.
When I took the loan with your company, I was not given offered a full and detailed explanation of payment protection insurance and was lead to believe by your company/representative that it was part of the conditions of the loan. I have thought that for the last five years and more. It has only become apparent to me after the recent coverage by the media, and following the recent OFT and FSA investigations regarding the mis-selling of ppi by finance companies.. This is when I requested the Subject Access Request. Regarding the loan with the ppi applied, I believe I that I have been gravely mis-led and have been mis-sold this expensive insurance that I did not need or want.. At the time of this application I was enduring financial difficulties and being my main bank account of this you were well aware. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my loan account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.


Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.


Firstly, I understand that at the time I entered into the loan contract with you your bank was running an incentive scheme to encourage your employees to sell PPI schemes, as were several other High Street banks. This information was posted on a public website in September last year:


SECRET documents leaked from two major banks show how bosses get their staff to sell big loans and the profitable insurance policies that go with them Commission tables for the RBOS and NatWest reveal a score system in which bank workers amass disproportionally more points for selling larger loans and for those sold with insurance - sparking fears that inappropriate products are being pushed
.
In-branch customer service advisers are able to earn a quarterly bonus of £1,200 if they consistently reach a weekly target of about 2,700 points over three months and if their branch also reaches its three-monthly target. Staff earn 30 points if they sell a customer a personal loan of between £3,000 and £4,999, but they earn 90 points if the loan is sold with payment protection insurance - the controversial cover that is supposed to pay out if a borrower loses their income.

I was not aware of this and even if it is untrue, I consider that there was a clear conflict of interest between your fiduciary responsibilities to me and the direct selling by your employees of PPI schemes, given the very large profit margins they generate.

When I took the loan/loans with your company, I was not offered a full and detailed explanation of payment protection insurance and was led to believe by your company/representative that it was part of the conditions of the loan. I have thought that for the last five years and more. It has only become apparent to me after the recent coverage by the media, and following the recent OFT and FSA investigations regarding the mis-selling of ppi by finance companies.. This is when I requested the Subject Access Request of the 14th January 2007.
Regarding the loans with the ppi applied, I believe I that I have been gravely mis-led by your company at a time when I was facing financial difficulties and have been mis-sold this expensive insurances that I did not need or want.. At the time of this application I was in full-time employment with no risk of redundancy ,a fully paid salary for 6months of sickness, had a generous life insurance and critical illness insurance policies.

No attempt was made to ascertain if the product provided was fit for purpose, suitable for my needs or if indeed it at all. No inquiry was made as whether I had pre-existing insurance for accident, illness or unemployment. I was not given a copy of the insurance policy nor were any rights to cancel explained. I believe you manifestly failed in your fiduciary responsibilities, your duty of care.

Secondly, I understand under the Consumer Credit Acts and following a House of Lords judgment, that you are not allowed to make a loan conditional on taking PPI unless you include the costs of PPI as part of the charge for credit and not the credit itself.

You did not do this. You added it to the total for credit and then charged me further interest on the premium on top of the interest for the loan. This is unacceptable.

Finally I believe insurance contracts are contracts uberrimae fidei (contracts of the utmost good faith) which imposes on you a “duty of disclosure of all material facts because one party is in a strong position to know the truth.” Inter alia, I believe that you should have disclosed to me that the type of policy you sold me, a single payment premium, did not give a pro-rata refund in event of early settlement. I believe you should have made it clear to me that the policy generated large profits for you. You failed to do this. I believe that you have also therefore failed in your duty of disclosure. Your failure to disclose is misrepresentation at common law.

What I require

Your concealment of the act of mis-selling has prevented me from asserting my right until now. I believe that there are strong grounds for action against you under common law, statute and consumer regulations.

The original premium was £xxxx added to the loan amount on the 4th April 2001. I presume that interest at 8.9% was added to this amount.(unless you can inform me otherwise). Interest £xxxx Total amount £xxxxx. The Statutory 8% interest (S69 of the County Court Act) allowed by the Courts will amount to £xxxxx Making the total amount payable at the Court Stage £xxxxxx

My targets to resolve this matter
I previously wrote to you on the 9th of March to ask you to refund the premium paid together with interest equal to your APR at the time under the accepted principle of mutuality and reciprocity. You have not responded positively to this request.
I have also requested information to the previous loan I had with your Company and have not received any information about this loan to date. I have sent a CCA request to Ms xxxxx dated the 6th March 2007. Again I have not received any credit agreement documents pertaining to this/those loans. You have therefore not complied with my requests and have now breached the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I will deal with this serious breaches of the above Statutory Acts by means of another complain.

I did hope that you would enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I wrote the previous letter to you on the assumption that you would prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets. To this date I have received your standard letter and a leaflet. I also gave you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive this payment.

I am now sending you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that this time frame is sufficient for a large company such as yours with its dedicated staff and departments. After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of this second deadline.

Yours sincerely





Unfortunatly everyones claim is a bit different with ppi so you have to amend bits to get your own letter which pertains to your circumstances.
I hope this helps

[pc23]

Cheers for that - have amended to suit my needs. Should I copy in the banking ombudsmen and/or FSA?

[hellhasnofury]

Originally Posted by pc23

Cheers for that - have amended to suit my needs. Should I copy in the banking ombudsmen and/or FSA?

It would do no harm to mention that your will consider or are going to complain to the Financial Ombudsment Service and the Financial Advisory Service

[pc23]

GE have responded to my letter saying that I signed an agreement and therefore they cannot refund my PPI. I maintain they told me on the telephone I had no chance of getting the loan without it. They also claim the form I signed says it was optional - it doesn't make this clear. They also point out they cannot refund the PPI - my understanding is this is misadvice as the FSA have recently announced all banks must now offer refunds on such policies (even if they previously didn't).

They also claim their charges are fair and reflect what it costs them if payments are returned. However, they haven't provided a breakdown of them!

I want to proceed to court, but have two queries:

1. Have I got a case?

2. If I have should I put the PPI and charges claim together? Or launch two separate claims?

[pc23]

Also can anyone help with wording for the N1 Money Claim form?