Thread: Welcome Finance PPI - Help Please

This is a bit rambling, so apologies for that, but here goes: In October 2001 I bought a car from a small independent dealer. The dealership arranged finance for me via Welcome – extortionate interest rates, the usual stuff with Welcome, but I had no option at the time. At the time of taking out the loan & signing the agreement (at Welcomes local branch) I was told I had to take out the PPI - I was never told it was optional; quite the opposite in fact. All went well & I made my payments on time, every month without fail. It was a 48 month loan/agreement & I made 44 payments at which point I was made redundant. . I immediately contacted Welcome who put me in touch with the claims department of the insurer. I was repeatedly promised that a claim form was in the post. It never arrived. This went on for three months! By this time, Welcome had started sending demand letters, calling my home phone, etc. Eventually, I spoke to a supervisor at the insurance company (who was very helpful it has to be said) who explained that the reason they hadn’t sent a claim pack was because I wasn’t insured.. Welcomes policy with them covered only ‘the middle two years’ of the loan period. i.e. – the first & last years of a 4 year loan were uninsured. I tried speaking to my local branch of Welcome – nothing. I tried writing – nothing. They continued to send letters & eventually involved a DCA. I tried speaking to them about this insurance policy problem – nothing. I wrote – nothing. I didn’t know of this site then so didn’t know my rights (as I’m beginning to now, thanks). Wish I had. In desperation I looked up the head office of Welcome (Progressive Finance) at Ruddington & wrote a letter to their CEO explaining the situation. I received a reply a couple of weeks later that was quite aggressive in its tone saying that (1) I was insured for the full term; (2) That I had not attempted to make a claim & that the insurers had no record of any conversations & (3) That as an ‘act of goodwill’ they were willing to write off the rest of the ‘debt’ (£851). So, they denied not only the fact that I had attempted to make a claim, but also that I was uninsured.
Now, my questions are: (1) Can I still investigate this even though the debt has been written off? (2) Is there any way I can establish whether I was or was not covered (i.e. whether the insurance company or Welcome are being truthful, as one has to be telling lies)? (3) Can I still claim I was mis-sold the PPI & make a claim against Welcome? & (4) If it turns out that I was, as the insurer claimed, only covered for part of the loan period, what action can I take against Welcome (I have it in writing from them when they wrote of the ‘debt’ that I was fully covered).
I intend to send a SAR to Welcome i relation to the finance & also to the insurer to get details of the policy. But after that, onvce i have established thefacts, i'm stumped.
Sorry if I’ve rambled on a bit, but as far as I’m concerned I was sold PPI incorrectly as I was told it was a ‘must have’, not optional & then I find out that I was not even covered for 50% of the loan – despite them taking the premiums. All advice gratefully received.

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Soli

Read as many articles on PPI on this site as you can.

It'll take time, but a few issues will become clearer to you.

I'm no expert, but as I've done a bit of research for my own PPI claim, I'll gladly share my early findings.

Even to me, a number of issues stand out in your case.

1. The 'no PPI, loan deal' - not sure they can do that.
2. The lack of proper underwriting - Insurance policies have some onerous resposibilities on the issuing company or it's agent.
3. The company are clearly giving you the run around with what sounds like a classic genuine claim - 'it only covers certain years'???

Do a bit of sniffing for Welcome on Companies House.
Find out about their Data Protection Act registrations on ICO – Information Commissioner's Office.

Think seriously about an SAR, requesting dates and payments, and interest etc taken. Wordings for letters are on here, and can be easily tweaked for your own needs.

Think seriously about asking for your money back.

Above all, keep your chin up, and read as many articles on here as you can. Build your own case notes as you go - it is all a bit confusing, but it will get clearer.

And good luck!

Was I covered or wasn't I? Welcome say yes; the insurers say no. They can't both be right. Plus, as you say, I never wanted this in the first place. I'm goinf to send an SAR to Welcome & from that get full details of the insurers (as Welcome refuse to ever tell you full details). Once I have all of that info, I'll be doing the same with the insurers. That way I can find out the exact scope of the cover, etc. I intend to get every penny back, with interest. And if they did take money & then not even cover me, I shall take further advice as to what to do about that.

Cheers Reidnet. In a way I really hope that they were taking my money & not covering me. Be nice to make some mud stick with these people. I have it in writing from welcome that the insurers were wrong & that I was covered. What gets me is that Welcome NEVER back down, but as soon as i relayed to them what the insurers had said they magically agreed to write off the balance of the 'debt' as "an act of goodwill". Funny that.

soli2006 have you had a reply to your SAR- i ask as mine does not include any details on the PPI at all not even a policy number- although its great fun reading their computer notes about me

LancerQRL - have a look at this other Welcome thread - all the info is on there - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-dealings.html