PLP=PPI at A&L? Self-employed query

[rothko59]

Hi, wonder if anyone can clear up a question I have. I took out a loan with Alliance & Leicester in 2005, paying it off early in 2007. I agreed to take out Personal loan protection, which they said would cover me as I was self-employed. Having looked into this I now see that a lot of PPI policies (which this seems to be just under another name) wouldn't have paid out anyway to self-employed people and I'd like to know if I can pursue them to reclaim the cost - which was a hefty £54.14 a month! I don't have the original policy details, just the copy of the agreement. Any advice gratefully received!

[alanalana]

hello rothko,

 

welcome and please see this from my post to another newcomer to get them started on reclaim of mis-sold ppi.

 

I would start with this Subject Access Request from the stickies at top of forum courtesy hellhasnofury....

Full S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) for ppi

 

You will need to be specific in all the data you ask for in fine detail and whatever format data comes in....see this massive link for S.A.R - (Subject Access Request), complaints and the rest:shock:.....alanalana PPI claim against RBS (looking for some help) please long post with usefull info for letters etc.

The Financial Services Authority ruling on the sale of PPI came into force on 14 January 1995 any loans after this with PPI attached were then subject to the new rulings. However prior to this date there were still regulations in place see this for information....

 

For claims before 2005 and the FSA ruling from which campaign

Payment protection | Were you mis-sold PPI? | PPI - rules before 2005

Payment protection | Were you mis-sold PPI? | PPI - the rules

 

You cans still make a valid claim but check up with the FOS/Information Commissioners Office before submitting.

 

aa

 

keep posting and someone will come along and help this PPI is new territory so it may take a while but the fight for mis-selling of ppi is now on

[rothko59]

Hi, thanks for the information. I'll start with the SAR and see what the T&Cs of the Personal Loan Protection say about self-employment and we'll take it from there. Will return to this very helpful forum!

[rothko59]

Right. As I said before A&L knew I was self-employed and it appears on my credit agreement.

 

They've sent me a copy of the terms and conditions of the personal loan protection and it says, under 'Benefits':

If you are self-employed and wish to make an unemployment claim, your business must:

Have stopped trading and/or be in the process of being wound up; or

Be put into the hand of an insolvency practitioner; or

Be a partnership which has been or is in the process of being dissolved.

 

What are the chances that I would ever have been able to claim had I been unable to find work. I was a sole trader, working freelance for magazines?

 

I did see a similar thread on this forum but can't find if it was resolved.

 

Any advice welcomed!

[tiger33]

hi,i,ve just sent a letter to a&l asking for ppi back,i was self employed and had a loan with them at the same time as you,what made me request a refund was an article i seen on the fso web site regarding this issue the site address is Financial Ombudsman Service then news & events then ombudmens news issue 71 then next article it says

71/03

consumer says he was not told his payment protection policy offered only limited benefits to the self-employed

Mr D had a small shop specialising in interior design. His complaint concerned the single-premium payment protection policy he had been sold when he took out a personal loan. He thought the business concerned should have realised the policy was unsuitable for him, as he was self-employed and therefore entitled to only a limited number of benefits under the policy.

When the business refused to refund all the premiums he had paid, plus interest, Mr D brought his complaint to us.

complaint upheld

We noted that the benefits available to self-employed policyholders were more limited than those available to employees. In particular, the redundancy benefit was only available to policyholders if their employer had ceased trading or had been declared insolvent. We accepted Mr D’s view that these terms were likely to make the policy less attractive to someone who was self-employed.

In this particular case, although the business clearly knew that Mr D was self-employed, it had not mentioned that this would limit the benefits he could get under the policy. The business had given him a written summary of the policy benefits. However, we did not consider that this leaflet adequately highlighted the limited cover he would get from the policy.

We concluded that the business had not given Mr D sufficient information to enable him to make an informed choice.

We upheld the complaint. We told the business to put the loan back where it would have been if he had not taken the policy, and to refund all of his payments for the policy, with interest.

Edited September 2, 2008 by tiger33
wrong web address

[rothko59]

That's really interesting. I quite agree that the benefits for the self-employed are limited. If I go for it I'll certainly quote the website, which should add some weight. Thanks for the link!

[tiger33]

this is the letter i sent I purchased the above policy from you but now believe that I was mis-sold this policy for the following

(1)This is due to the fact that I was self employed when I took out the policy and I made this aware to your member of staff / your member of staff did not ask me about my employment status when the policy was sold.

(2) This is due to the fact that I was not given the correct information when the policy was sold to me,

• (3)your salesperson stated / implied that taking out the policy would assist my credit application.
  
• (4)your salesperson did not tell me that the policy was optional
  

• (5)your salesperson did not give me full information on what the policy would and would not cover
  

• (6) the policy was not sold in my best interests.
  

Unless you can satisfactorily justify to me that the policy was fair and reasonable I am requesting a full refund of all premiums, and subsequent interest on these payments, that I have paid to date. As I believe I have been deprived of this money I also expect 8% statutory interest, the amount a court would award, to be added to each payment made.

I look forward to a full and prompt response to this letter and for the matter to be concluded within eight weeks or I shall be contacting the Financial Ombudsman or relivent financial body to investigate my complaint.

[rothko59]

Thanks for the example letter - it's so helpful to have some idea of how to word these things.