I put in a PPI claim against Grattan and have been notified that they have turned my claim down. The letter I have received states that my account was started in October 1993 and the Payment Protection Insurance was taken out on the 22nd March 1994. It also goes on to say.........

All of our policies are optional and have always been sold as such. The Payment protection insurance has shown on every monthly statement you have received where charges became applicable and has made reference to the policy and it has always been possible to cancel at any time by whatever means and without penalty.

Processes have always been in place to ensure that the conversation with one of our sales people complied with legal requirements that were in force at the time, including the obtaining of consent. As a consequence of that consent, the product was recorded as being active on your account.

They go on to say that this is their final response but I have the right to refer my complaint to the FOS. I did this and was told that because it was sold before 2005 they can't help, I expected this so no surprise.

As it was such a long time ago I honestly cannot remember any conversation and couldn't say 100% that it did or did not take place. Is it best just to forget about this with Grattan or should I ask for proof of said conversation, If it was a telephone call then they wouldn't have any proof would they?

I would suggest that you put in an SAR immediately. Accompanied by a cheque so that you can keep tabs on the process of the request to a certain extent.

Have you any basis for saying that the policy was mis-sold? Do you want to say that you never chose it, or that you were told that it was necessary, or whether it was not suitable to your needs?

Thanks for replying BankFodder. What information would the SAR get me? Would it include a copy of my agreement to the PPI? I have quite a lot of old statements still which show the PPI on it or Complete Care I think it was called but nothing from when the catalogue started. My account is still running although I haven't used it for years and years.

To be perfectly honest I didn't really question the charge and thought it was something that was necessary, I was young when I took the catalogue out, I believe through one of the leaflets that used to appear in magazines. I was just eager to be able to afford new clothes as I was on a YTS scheme at the time and not paid a lot. I don't recall anyone mentioning it to me or any call but as it was such a long time ago I can't be 100% sure. My job at the time was as an office junior on a scheme and my employer always paid sick pay at basic rate which wasn't much less than I was being paid if I remember correctly.

I'm guessing that my basis for mis-selling isn't a strong one and should probably just let it go.

It is not possible to tell what it would reveal so long after the PPI was taken out. Maybe they don't have any information at all but in that case it would be reasonable to ask why can they be so certain that they follow their rules and that the policy was properly sold.

Another point that you should be asking is whether you were ever told that commission was being paid to whoever sold it to you and what that commission was? This itself is a basis for saying that the policy was mis-sold.

An SAR for only £10 is a very good value way of rooting around in order to see what further information you can get. Maybe you should find out about Complete Care, who ran it and what has happened to it.

before 2005most if not all the industry was unregulated , what they state is sadly correct.

now you could find out who the underwriting insurers were, they might well have been.