Thread: First Plus PPI reclaim for my friends **WON**

I have been working on this one for a while, but thought I would start a thread for it. I will post the proposed letter which explains the situation but I have just realised to my horror that had they not been missold the PPI in the first place they would have not been £2K in arrears as their monthly payments were £110 extra because of the PPI - a total of £4K overpaid. As they have a suspended possession order I am hoping to be able to go back to the court and get it revoked on the basis that if the PPI had never existed they would not have been in arrears. Does that sound like a plan? Assuming we succeed in the reclaim that is.

Anyway, proposed letter. Constructive criticism welcome - not done one of these before

26 January 2008


Firstplus Financial Group PLC
The Avenue Business Park
Pentwyn
Cardiff
CF23 8FF


Dear Sirs

Account Number:

I am writing on behalf of my clients to request that the Payment Protection Insurance sold at the time the above loan was taken out be refunded in full to the account, and that interest which has accrued to date be similarly refunded. The amount of the insurance amounts to £13K, the interest charged to date amounts to £4.5K

The reasons for reclaiming are:

At no time were my clients told that PPI could be purchased elsewhere to cover the loan

It was not made clear that the insurance was only valid for the first five years of the loan - in fact the first time this became apparent was on receipt of the information requested about the account under the Data Protection Act.

My clients were led to believe that Payment Protection Insurance was compulsory and indeed were misled into thinking that they would stand more chance of getting the loan if they took the Payment Protection Insurance

It was not explained to them that there were certain exclusions within the policy that could affect them. The Payment Protection Insurance was added to the loan balance at the outset and at no time was it explained that there were PPI policies where one could pay monthly for substantially lower premiums and which would cover my clients for the whole term of the loan.

The terms & conditions of the insurance were not fully explained - from the tapes received the insurance has been mentioned in passing but no detailed explanation of what was being taken on was given. Additionally the calls where the matter was mentioned were made while both parties were at work and unable to discuss such private matters in any detail.

As we do not have any further information about the insurance we are still unable to successfully review the policy, however it seems clear that the policy was not sold fairly, reasonably and within my clients’ best interests so we require you to cancel this policy with immediate effect and to ensure a full refund of the premium and associated interest is made to my clients’ account with yourselves as soon as possible.

Additionally, from the documents received it would appear that the loan in xx was mainly used to settle a previous loan with First Plus. However there is no further information regarding this earlier loan other than the outstanding balance of £47K shown on your letter dated xx. As this earlier loan is obviously connected with the current loan I would have expected to have received details of this with the information received under my clients' request for information. As it would seem highly probable that this loan also includes PPI I therefore require full information regarding the original date of the loan, full statements and details of any PPI sold at its inception.

If we do not receive a favourable response from you we will pursue this claim through the Financial Ombudsman and indeed through the courts.

I enclose a signed authority from my clients authorising me to deal with this matter on their behalf.

I look forward to your considered response.

Yours faithfully



Goldlady


I haven't mentioned the fact that they sent someone else's data with the SAR yet - still wondering what to do about that:o

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Hi Jonny - thanks for that. I am wondering whether I should ask for the information on the first loan before I start claiming as if you are right then I really need all the facts and figures first. My friends don't remember there being a first loan but the tapes and the loan agreement both indicate that there was.

Hi, have had the information about the earlier loan and the PPI charged and refunded on it. The first loan was only for 3 months. Have put it all into a spreadsheet and so far (need interest rate changes from 2005 onwards which will be in the SAR pile somewhere) the total to reclaim is over £19K. Well - to refund to their loan balance anyway

16 February 2008


Firstplus Financial Group PLC
The Avenue Business Park
Pentwyn
Cardiff
CF23 8FF


Dear Sirs

Account Number:

Thank you for forwarding details of the original loan as requested.

I now writing on behalf of my mates to request that the Payment Protection Insurance sold at the time the above loan was taken out be refunded in full to the account, and that interest which has accrued to date be similarly refunded. I have attached a spreadsheet which details the amounts of PPI involved, both with the initial loan and the subsequent one.

The amount of the insurance on the first loan amounts to £11250 plus interest added at an APR of 9.4% for the period December 2003 to March 2004 when the second loan was taken out, amounting to £270, less the refunded amount of £10500, leaving a total of £1020.

For the second loan the PPI amounts to £12750, the interest charged to 31 May 2007 amounts to £5300; we do not have information about the interest rate applied since 31 May however have calculated it at the rate of 9.4% until August 2005 and then at 11.5% APR for the remaining term, making the total amount of interest applicable to this second loan £6900

The total amount of the reclaim requested is therefore £20,660

The reasons for reclaiming are:

At no time were my clients told that PPI could be purchased elsewhere to cover the loan

It was not made clear that the insurance was only valid for the first five years of the loan - in fact the first time this became apparent was on receipt of the information requested about the account under the Data Protection Act.

My clients were led to believe that Payment Protection Insurance was compulsory and indeed were misled into thinking that they would stand more chance of getting the loan if they took the Payment Protection Insurance

It was not explained to them that there were certain exclusions within the policy that could affect them. The Payment Protection Insurance was added to the loan balance at the outset and at no time was it explained that there were PPI policies where one could pay monthly for substantially lower premiums and which would cover my clients for the whole term of the loan.

The terms & conditions of the insurance were not fully explained - from the tapes received the insurance has been mentioned in passing but no detailed explanation of what was being taken on was given. Additionally the calls where the matter was mentioned were made while both parties were at work and unable to discuss such private matters in any detail.

As we do not have any further information about the insurance we are still unable to successfully review the policy, however it seems clear that the policy was not sold fairly, reasonably and within my clients’ best interests so we require you to cancel this policy with immediate effect and to ensure a full refund of the premium and associated interest is made to my clients’ account with yourselves as soon as possible.

If we do not receive a favourable response from you we will pursue this claim through the Financial Ombudsman and indeed through the courts.

I look forward to your considered response.

Yours faithfully



Goldlady, LLB (Hons) (Open)

Will this do for a start?

Aaaargh

I have had a reply from the broker who set up the PPI in the first place. It is truly amazing.

They have gone out of their way to tell us that they were not covered by any regulations at the time the PPI was mis-sold (2003) and then openly admitted that they did not tell my friends there were other options, did not discuss the features/benefits of the PPI with them, and indeed that they could have done anything they bloody well liked and my friends have no comeback whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!

I suspect they are wrong

They have said that if we approach the fos they will not consider it as it was before PPI was regulated.

I have a strong suspicion that whilst they may not have been regulated that the UTCCR has some bearing here. Help!!!

Thanks

Goldlady

Can anyone help me on this one?

Thanks

Goldlady

Originally Posted by Goldlady

Aaaargh

I have had a reply from the broker who set up the PPI in the first place. It is truly amazing.

They have gone out of their way to tell us that they were not covered by any regulations at the time the PPI was mis-sold (2003) and then openly admitted that they did not tell my friends there were other options, did not discuss the features/benefits of the PPI with them, and indeed that they could have done anything they bloody well liked and my friends have no comeback whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!

I suspect they are wrong

They have said that if we approach the fos they will not consider it as it was before PPI was regulated.

I have a strong suspicion that whilst they may not have been regulated that the UTCCR has some bearing here. Help!!!

Thanks

Goldlady

Hello Goldlady,

When they state they were unregulated, what do they mean, were they loan sharks, they surely had to be regulated by someone What about the financial leasing association.

Do they just mean that the loan was taken out before the FSA came to power and that is why the fos will not look at it. This is a ploy that some companies use to appear untouchable and to put people off, but there is always court. This sale would have been commission based so therefore a financial incentive to sell it.

Sorry to be unhelpful, but maybe ring the Oft, Fsa and trading standards to see if they can shed any light on the regulated matter.

Good luck

RESULT RESULT RESULT

My friends have just rung me to say that First Plus have agreed to refund all the premiums charged on both loans, plus all the interest and the payments made towards the PPI.

Now I think it might be time to go back to the court and get the suspended possession order removed

Originally Posted by Goldlady

RESULT RESULT RESULT

My friends have just rung me to say that First Plus have agreed to refund all the premiums charged on both loans, plus all the interest and the payments made towards the PPI.

Now I think it might be time to go back to the court and get the suspended possession order removed

:grin: :grin: :grin:

Excellent, Goldlady, well done!

Thread title changed.

Els

Just bumping this thread up as there seem to be a lot of people on First Plus's case and hopefully this will give some help

Update - my friends got a letter yesterday saying their monthly payment had reduced by £300 following the recalculation and tonight my friend rang me in a state of panic demanding that I go to her house! I thought there was something dreadful going on and when I got there she put a glass of wine in my hand and then showed me the refund cheque. I don't think she will sleep tonight. Party tomorrow.....

Originally Posted by Goldlady

Update - my friends got a letter yesterday saying their monthly payment had reduced by £300 following the recalculation and tonight my friend rang me in a state of panic demanding that I go to her house! I thought there was something dreadful going on and when I got there she put a glass of wine in my hand and then showed me the refund cheque. I don't think she will sleep tonight. Party tomorrow.....

Hello Goldlady,

This thread is a great inspiration for other, especially anybody dealing with firstplus, could not have happened to a better company

You should feel very proud of yourself:grin:

Again congradulations in order and I do hope your friend has a clear head this morning to go and spend some dosh