First Plus PPP claim refused- Help needed

[michellecorlett2005]

Hi

after reading this section of the website, I decided to put in a claim to first plus for 7 1/2 thousand PPI insurance, paying over 25 years working out at 19.5 loads of money. I went to this company because their adverts sounded good and clear, yet what i experienced was anything but, however it was only supposed to be a temporary measure and get paid off within a year. Things didn't go quite as planned, job losses and the arrival of a new baby made everything go pear shaped and now in need of financial resurecting (sorry can't spell) started looking in to ways can raise some cash. Came across here and though well lets have a look.

 

Anyway letter sent stating that they account manager had not taken in to account that my own situation with work (i.e get full sick pay for year and have good redundancy package) and that we were not offered the loan without the ppp plan in place and wanted to reclaim the cash.

 

Response received today

 

Apology for us contacting them

They have reviewed the sales call and foudn that I had answered a demands and needs questionnaire and this ascertained that I did indeed have a requirement for this PPP ( I don't recall this being discussed) and I had received a copy of it with the loan agreement (never did)

Apparently, I was advised of the loan payment etc without the PPP plan, (definitely not) and that it would not affect our application if we chose not to take it.

Again, supposedly advised that it was optional (don't recall this either) or that if we settled the loan early we would not get back the full premium. I recall being told that if we paid it for 5 years then we would get all the insurance premium returned (but it wasn't our intention at the time to have the loan for 5 years)

And lastly, it states the the credit agreement we signed clearly states that we chose to insure our loan. There is no opt out on the form, the only thing I could see was a highlighted box that we could tick if you wanted single or joint cover (i didn't tick any, yet my photocopied return is ticked - wonder how that happened.)

 

My biggest annoyance is that I never ever take out insurance because I don't believe in them, they are not effective when you need them and are nothing short of a bloody rip off. I don't even protect my mortgate because I am so against them. I am positive that had i been offered the opportunity to take out this loan without this being added on then that would have been the case.

 

I have now written back to first plus saying that i do not recall much of the conversation and that if they have a copy of this then they should send me a transcript of it and highlight where it became apparent to them in the demands and needs questionnaire that i needed to have this policy. I feel that given my own employment situation and at the time that of my partner was secure and both positions offered good sick pay and excellent redundancy packages, I already had life cover in place that well exceeded my outstanding mortgage and I saw no reason at that time of any impending involuntary unemployment which is all we would be covered for.

If anyone has any suggestions on anything else I can add or should be doing to make this claim successful then that would be great, I am quite ignorant of the law and sometimes go off on a whirlwind but really want to make this stick

cheers in anticipatoin

Michelle

[Jonny Insider]

Hi Michelle. Not sure form the above when you took out your loan but I guess it was quite recently. FIRSTPLUS use an automated decision engine to determine whether or not to sell PPI. They ask a series of scripted questions, type in the answers and then the computer tells them whether or not PPI should be recommended. Ask for the call recordings together with copies of the responses that were typed into the decision engine and the result from the engine. If they have not input the correct information, you may have a claim. If they have typed in the answers you gave correctly you'll find it more difficult to argue it was missold. Did you tell FIRSTPLUS that you intended to pay off the loan after a short period? If you did, you definitely have a claim as these loans are not designed for short-term borrowing and so it should not have been sold to you.

[michellecorlett2005]

HI, we took out the loan January 2007. I am sure I mentioned that we only intented borrowing till approx November of same (which was when our building work should have been completed). I have asked for transpcripts of the conversation but will change letter to ask for copies of the call recordings. thanks for that is very helpful

Michelle

[alanalana]

If your written requests fail to get result then send a Subject Access Request (SAR) in writing asking for the information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 you have to send a statutory fee of £10 a postal order will do nicely. They then supposedly send you all the info you require. It doesn't always work as the delaying tactics come into play.

 

 

see the sticky posted by hellhasnofury for a comprehensive SAR letter template.

 

good luck

 

aa