GE Money response

[dwillow]

Can anyone help!!!! A few months ago I was looking through my card statements for Debenhams GE Money and noticed that there was a payment protection on the card. I rang GE money up to have this removed but they told me this is part of the card so couldn't be removed is this true.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Rooster-UK

[Guest wino]

Have you got a copy of the terms & conditions?

Edited June 2, 2009 by Rooster-UK

[steven4064]

No it's not true - if you want it removed, they should remove it.

[dwillow]

Yes and says nothing on this about it being on the card. I might have got a break through just spoken to someone and they said that it can be taken off the card this has been on the statements as account cover. I am just in the process to see if I can claim these carges back as they ammount to allot over the last 2 years.

[steven4064]

You can claim it back if you can demonstrate thatit was mis-sold. To do that you will have to come up with a reason why the PPI was of no use to you - eg because you were in a situation where you would not have been able to claim on it, such as you were unemployed, self-employed or a pensioner

[dwillow]

Yeah I am self employed and also have my own personal payment protection.

[Bookworm]

In that case, tally-ho and no quarters!!!

[dwillow]

I have just recived a respose from GE Money with regards to my claim and am a bit confused firstly they have told me I can not claim as I took out the policy in 1997. The letter then states that I would need to prove that I was unemployed at the time I took it out. At that present time I was a student so how can I prove I was unemployed. Do I still have a case????

[dwillow]

Hi,

 

Had a response to a claims letter I sent to GE Money. They basically said 'go to hell' but would investigate further if I could provide evidence that I was a student and unemployed when taking out the loan (even though I ticked the relevent boxes on the application form which they have also sent me).

Does anyone know what would be considered evidence to support the fact I was unemployed and a full time student??

Also they say I cannot claim as I took out the agreemnet before 2005, is this true, and where do I go from here??

[di0430]

Hi there dwillow.

 

Please don't worry.

 

They are just fobbing you off, the majority have these as a bog standard response, as they hope you will not go any further.

 

Will have to check if they were under jurisdiction prior to Jan 2005 because some were also covered by GISC, besides if your unable to go to the FOS about them and you do seem to have grounds for complaint you would highly possible win this case at a small claims court.

 

Write to them again, and if you have anything in paperwork about being a student, get it photocopied, or you could even contact the department where you studied for a copy of this with dates. I'm sure they will be able to provide this information for you.

 

And normally being a full time student you have no time for full time employment, so there's your answer to that, because even if you were part time working you would not have been fully eligible anyway.

 

I would write and tell them you are prepared to take "further action" with immediate affect with this complaint if they do not uphold and refund you what they owe you in being mis-sold, plus interest of what a court would award.

And give them 14 days.

 

If you still have the GE money paperwork/documents, there should be a reg company number, do you think you could add the company number here so I can check if they were regulated/covered by the FSA, if this is the case you CAN go to the financial ombudsman to complain.

Cheers.

 

If you require further help, give us a yell and good luck !

 

Di.

x

Edited August 30, 2008 by di0430

[steven4064]

Where are you in the case now? Personally, I would ignore the letter and just progress to the next stage.

[stroke a badger]

Hey DW,

 

Having just claimed almost £4.2k from GE Money for mis-sold PPI I can honestly say that GE money will say anything and admit no wrong doing if it means they keep hold of the green backs.

 

Take it all the way and don't be put off by anything they throw at you it can be done.

[lilal]

as di said , what they (ge) have said to you is ha ha you can,t use the fos cos they didn,t regulate us before 2005. however they will state that you can use the fla ,but as ge pay the fla to be a member i wouldn,t bother with this route. provide to them as much info that they demand along with a time scale your time not theirs ,stating that you will file at court if it is not settled to your satisfaction within your time. as you have provided all they have asked for ,this will then work in your favour when you file at court .keep at them they will try and fob you off ,what they want you to do is to go away and maintain that they have done nothing wrong.

[dwillow]

Thanks for all the information I just got in contact with my old college and university to get them to put a letter together for the years i attened. I hope this works don't fancy going to court stage but will do if I have to!!!

[Paintball]

Hi Willow

 

You shouldn't have to go to all that trouble ... you ticked the box in good faith, they have acted unfairly and against industry regulations and code of practice, I would like to see them stand up in a court of law and provide proof to the contrary.

 

Would you like some help preparing a stern letter to GE Cap? I'm happy to oblige

[chipbeck]

Hi Willow

 

You shouldn't have to go to all that trouble ... you ticked the box in good faith, they have acted unfairly and against industry regulations and code of practice, I would like to see them stand up in a court of law and provide proof to the contrary.

 

Would you like some help preparing a stern letter to GE Cap? I'm happy to oblige

 

Not hijacking the thread but same as me.

 

Wifes store card CCA clearly shows no PPI they say they had a phone call (no record let alone recording) so they applied PPI. I'm not hanging about and have told them I will be seeing them in court. This lot don't give a toss so I suggest you speed things up by hitting the court route.

 

Perhaps we can go together and ask the judge if he thinks our signed evidence holds more water than some so called unrecorded happenings.

 

Good Luck.

[Paintball]

I would always advise following timescales for provision of relevant information and allowing the lender sufficient time and opportunity to provide proof that they have not mis-sold PPI ...

 

... then let 'em have it with both barrels in court

[dwillow]

HI paintball,

 

Would appreciate some help if thats ok in producing a letter to GE Money. I just unsure of were to go with it now. Many Thanks

Edited September 13, 2008 by dwillow

[ukaviator]

I have merged your threads to keep everything in one place.

[Paintball]

Hi Willow

 

Here's what you could say to them. Have a look and see if you're happy with what I've put and that it covers the reasons why you think PPI has been mis-sold.

 

It's important to clearly state your case for mis-selling against the lender, so you might want to tweak the letter a bit :

 

 

Date

 

 

Your Ref xxx

Re: Credit Card Account xxxx

 

Dear X

Thank you for your letter of X 2008.

 

I write to inform you that I am not satisfied with the response you have provided to my initial complaint. I assert that I have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) taken out on the above named credit card account on date.

 

At the time of taking out the credit card I made it clear to your salesperson that I was a student and with no fixed income, which status would therefore have excluded me from benefiting from or being able to make any claim within the Payment Protection Insurance Policy. The application form that you have provided me a true copy of as signed by myself on date clearly demonstrates the fact that I declared my status as a student. Inspite of this fact, a PPI product which was clearly unsuitable to meet my needs and circumstances has been added to my credit card account without either my knowledge or consent. As such, your organisation is acting in a clear breach of guidelines provided to GE Money as a lender by the Financial Services Authority, and against the Banking Code of conduct, which your organisation will have been well aware of.

 

In addition to this breach, GE Money had an obligation as a lender to provide information that would enable me to make an informed decision as to the suitability of the PPI product on offer to meet my needs and financial circumstances. I should also have been made aware of alternative options available, or comparative costs of similar PPI products from other suppliers, which information as a well known financial institution, you would most certainly have had access to.

 

At no point did I receive any such information, either by letter, document or telephone call which followed the above guideline. The documents that you have provided copies of do not contain any of the information that I have outlined above and cannot, therefore, be deemed as meeting the standard of care which you should have provided.

 

I reposed absolute trust in your ability as a financial institution to provide a reasonable level of care and skill in ensuring that my best interests were met when taking out a credit card with your organisation. This has not been the case and I am extremely shocked and disappointed. I feel that GE Money has taken advantage of my lack of knowledge and position as a student and am shocked that you continue to assert that PPI was fairly added to my credit card account as this is clearly not the case.

 

I request the return of (insert amount here plus interest) within 14 days of receipt of this letter by you. If you do not comply with my request, I will have no option but to escalate my complaint to the courts. I should remind you that the FOS take the issue of mis-selling of PPI extremely seriously and in many cases, have imposed large fines on financial institutions who are in breach of regulations.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Your name here

[jdods]

DWillow

Keep going!!!!

Don't know if this helps you but similar situation happened with my wifes store card (GE Money Topman). She discovered she had PPI she tried to claim it only to be told her policy didn't cover her illness so she cancelled. Anyway when all this stuff about PPI mis-selling came out GE was named as one of the main culprits. I think the FSA fined them £750K for it. I wrote and asked them to send me a copy of the credit agreement and low & behold the box you tick if you want PPI was blank. Apparently it was common practice for them to add it on in the store after you'd signed the agreement. After making initial request for return of charges, final request LBA all of which was ignored so rather than go down the court route I chose the ombudsman for help, because the claim went all the way back to 1990 i had to go the Finance and Leasing Association for help.

Long and the short of it was they came with an initial offer of £2k for all ppi payments, interest & 8% loss of cash (as they call it). Obviously I knocked this back and demanded that also pay back every single late payment charge and interest applied to the account since 1990 as the had managed the account in a fraudulent manner. They sent us another £2.4k.

[steven4064]

Hi jods

 

Welcome to CAG. So you got them to repay you £4.4k - good result

[dwillow]

Thanks for that its been really useful. This sounds a better route to go down and I am looking into it.

I just had to take a step back problem with some of the statements I missed noticing a whole year missing so waiting for them to come, hopefully within deadline I gave them, so I can re-callculate the figure. In the mean time waiting for letter from uni at mo. I just gonna give them as much evidance as possiable stating my situation.

[Paintball]

DW, Good luck with whatever route you decide to go down. Keep us posted

[dwillow]

Thanks for the letter. Just read the copy of the agrement they sent me and the box was ticked for PPI but clearly wasn't my tick infact no where near the same. I am also a bit more positive about my claim as a quote from Martin Lewis "Those who were unemployed at the start of the policy (including students and stay at home parents), were almost definitely mis-sold the insurance as, obviously, you wouldn’t be covered for losing your job."

It clearly states and box ticked on my agrement i was a STUDENT at that present time.

Thanks everyone for thier help and encouragment so far.