1st Plus admits mis-selling a policy

[mrsfoot]

My friends Claire and Joe (C&J) had a loan with 1st plus, and were told they had to take the PPI alongside the loan, which they did.

However approx 12 months after the loan was completed C&J went bankrupt. This has since been discharged. C&J wrote to 1st plus a number of months ago asking for them to consider the PPI being mis sold. They have received a letter back confirming they were mis sold the policy as follows:

Dear C&J I have completed my investigation into your concerns and the conclusion of my review is that I am upholding your complaint as I am not satified that you were made fully aware the policy was optional. For this reason I am upholding your complaint and propose to make the necessary adjustments to your loan account to put it into the position as if the PPI policy had not been taken.

 

However it goes on to say 1st plus wont be making the payment of the refund, only that they will use the PPI refund to against the amount still owed on the loan.

C&J have sent a further letter explaining that they were made bankrupt and therefore the loan was wiped clear as this was part of the bankruptcy proceedings.

1st plus replied saying they would have to refer the case to senior management and then about 2 weeks later they received a further letter from 1st plus stating that 1st plus cannot recover any further money from C&J as they are bankrupt but that as there was a sum left over from the loan being cleared that the refund would be used against this. The following is the letter:

 

Dear C&J Having referred your comments back to snr mamagement, they have agreed that the amounts offered in the letter will be used to offset part of the amount still owing to FP under the secured loan.

While we received a surplas amount from the first mortgagee after they had taken repossession and sold the property, this still left us with a substantial shortfall.

As you have been discharged from bankruptcy, you are correct that FP cannot recoved any further monies under your promise to pay. However as they refund is a secured loan this can be used to parly offset the shortfall

I hope this explains our position

 

I am trying to help this couple as they have been dealt a real bad hand over the last 3 yrs. They took this FP loan out in order to sort themselves financially. However due to the high level of interest rate on both mortgage and 2nd mortgage they were repossessed. It is my beleif that had the PPI not been added in the first place they may have been in a better position to make the repayments and not been repossessed.

 

Is there anything we can do for them? I have in my possession the letter from FP stating they had mis sold the policy. They really need this money...they are living in my lounge for the time being.

 

I know u caggers will have some ideas

 

MrsFoot xx

[amdmlivingstone]

Hi MrsFoot

 

I am in a slightly similar position as your friends - FirstPlus took £17K from me when I sold my home and because of this I ended up in a Trust Deed.

 

I have recently sent them a CCA and an SAR in hope that I will get both my PPI and £17K back from them. I have my own post however, if/when I receive any further info from FirstPlus, I will certainly offer any advice I can for your friends.

 

I am by no way an expert and I am using advise that I have received from this website.

 

Also, because of firstplus I had to move my family into homeless accommodation. Had they not taken the £17K it would have been different.

 

Give your friends my warmest hugs, wipe their tears away and commence the fight. I am 3 years into my Trust Deed (due to end next month) and I am starting to fight my battle.

 

Take care.

[mrsfoot]

What a lovely post, thatnk you. I will pass your thoughts on to C&J. Take care, and dont let them get to you. Its been proved many times (my cases included) that you can bet these companies with the right information.

 

Good luck

[amdmlivingstone]

Thank you - you will find my post at Help With Challenging FirstPlus (They Took £17K From Us)

 

I will keep everyone posted as and when the responses come in.

[mrsfoot]

Can anyone help with this situation?? Should C&J take 1st plus to court for the PPI? What arguments can be used? Can they officially not refund the money even tho they have admitted it was mis-sold?

[slick132]

Hi Mrs Foot,

 

I know very little about BR and, if you want better advice on this, I'd suggest I move the thread into here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/formal-solutions-bankruptcy-administration/

 

If I had to guess, I'd have thought a refund would have to have been made known to the Insolvency administrator, who would make a pro-rata distribution to all creditors.

 

Let me know if you want this moved.

[mrsfoot]

Hi Slick

That would be great if you did move it...thanks

[slick132]

Thread moved as requested.

 

Hope you get the answers you need.

 

[mrsfoot]

Unashamedly bumped up a little!!!

[palomino]

Any refund that might be due to you should be notified to the Official Receiver. It might be taken to pay a proportion to all your creditors but at least 1st Plus won't get it all.

 

Best talk to the OR. A lot depends on dates (BR/discharge/PPI refund) etc.

[mrsfoot]

Thanks Palomino

 

The date C&J were made BR was 27th October 2005

 

Discharge date 26th October 2006

[palomino]

On re-reading your first post - properly - the debt to 1st Plus was a shortfall on a mortgage (which is a secured loan) when the mortgaged property was sold after repossession. 1st Plus may be correct in that the secured loan was not included in the bankruptcy and therefore survives it.

However, dates are important. Was the property owned right through the bankruptcy up to (and after) the discharge? If so then it's bad news I'm afraid.

If the property was sold prior to or during the bankruptcy then the shortfall becomes part of the bankruptcy however please note I'm not a lawyer and I suggest you talk to the CAB about the finer legal points in this situation.

 

Sometimes life sucks.

Edited December 3, 2008 by palomino

[mrsfoot]

Hi..thanks for your advice to date

 

The house was sold during the BR.

 

There are very little charges applied to the mortgage account but it is the PPI is the one C&J are pursuing.

 

Would there be any fight to let them know we are going to the press with the letter saying they admit to mis-selling the PPI??

[palomino]

 

The house was sold during the BR.

 

 

You need to talk to the OR about this. Any shortfall may be included in your bankruptcy but, depending on exact circumstances, may not.

[mrsfoot]

Hi all.

Well i thought i wud update this thread as it has had some advancements

 

FOS agreed the PPI had been missold and sent a form to C&J to sign in full and final settlement. No offer was shown on this form and so we contacted FOS and asked them. They told us FP had agreed to a settlement, but they did not have figures. Those would come after C&J signed agreement.

 

I now know they should not have signed it...but you learn!

 

However 8 weeks after the signing FP sent C&J a letter stating they were not getting any money as the PPI mney was being used to pay off the shortfall left after the bankruptcy.

They contacted FOS who told them they agreed with FP!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Now we spoke to their OR and he has said if C&J pay a fee then the OR will release the money to C&J. So a letter was written back to FOS and a phone call was made to them too. I sent a complaint on behalf og C&J to FOS stating FP were getting away with misselling PPI again!

 

FOS are now investigating and the case has been sent to their technical team who will make a decision based on law (apparently) This team are specialist in bankruptcy and refunds.

 

I will keep the thread updated as more news comes though.....any suggestions in the mean time are welcome!!

[mrsfoot]

Palomino..thanks for the advice till now.

 

The house was sold during the bankruptcy and was not in C&J's possession when the order was discharged.

 

We have spoken to OR..thanks!