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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To advise you about PPI?

42 replies

mollycuddles · 15/08/2013 16:36

I know. I know
Boring adverts have been plaguing us for years
I contacted one of the organisations that do no win, no fee and check out your old loans
They came around and took all my info re an Egg loan I knew I'd had PPI for and as I'm self employed and have insurance I clearly had no need.
They rang me a couple of weeks later and said I'd not had PPI

But more recently I discovered I'd been right after all and have today received £1600

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 15/08/2013 17:09

How did you find out you'd had it? How do you think they didn't find that out? Please tell us you didn't pay them anything.

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 15/08/2013 17:18

Of course there was a fee - I believe these rip off companies keep between 25-30% of the PPI that they get for you as their fee.

You can do it easily yourself, no need for any outside company to 'help'.

I'm about to do it myself using the templates on MSE. Not sure I've ever had any PPI but for the price of a stamp it's worth trying. And if I have any to claim back, the only person I'll be paying is myself Grin.

PickleSarnie · 15/08/2013 17:19

I got just over 9 grand back from Egg loans. All for the price of a stamp - take that all you dodgy ppi claim agencies!

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 15/08/2013 17:20

Ah, just re-read and seen that the company didn't get the OP any PPI back, so hopefully she won't have had to pay them a penny.

Portofino · 15/08/2013 17:20

I need to have a look at this.

aliciaflorrick · 15/08/2013 17:20

Those of you with the Egg loans did you have the paperwork? I had an egg loan and credit card but don't have any paperwork now. I'd love to try and have a go at getting some PPI back.

Wonderstuff · 15/08/2013 17:23

A friend recently got loads, she did it on advice off Martin Lewis website, she didn't have paperwork.

thatstoast · 15/08/2013 17:25

As someone who used to work for a bank I'd advise anyone who thinks they might have had PPI to try and claim and to do it themselves. It's easy and people who DIY are treated no differently to those who use claim management companies. Don't pay potentially thousands of pounds just for someone to fill out a form for you.

theodorakisses · 15/08/2013 17:32

I didn't use a company but a free money saver website and got loads back from Egg icluding compensation for a call when I asked and the man lied and said i had signed the form altogether with interest was 5k

PickleSarnie · 15/08/2013 17:33

I had some of the paperwork. I had 4 loans in total. The subsequent three were sold as "top up" loans but they charged my full whack PPI each time, paid up front. I got every penny plus 8% interest back.

I only had the loan numbers of a couple of them but it didn't matter. I filled in the ombudsman form from moneysavingexpert. A couple of weeks later they sent me their offer. I accepted and a few weeks after that I got the check in the post.

Obviously Egg loans don't exist anymore. It's Citigroup and the address is here: Citibank/Egg Loan PPI claims

Pinkpinot · 15/08/2013 17:34

The ppi companies are not rip-offs
They just charge a fee
Years ago, you couldn't really do it by yourself
We got about 20k back using a co. about 5 years ago.
Then I got another 20k back myself, last year
Then randomly the co. got in touch because some law had changed and they just got £1500 back for something I had no idea about.
If you have all the details, it's easy to phone the company and register a complaint.
If you don't have the details, the company can investigate account numbers etc, but they don't always find them, especially if banks have been bought/ merged

PoppyWearer · 15/08/2013 17:35

Here's my problem with this. I/we (DH and I) knowingly had PPI twice, about 10-12 years ago.

The first time, I understood what it was, agreed to it, and then cancelled after a few months. It was either Egg or Lloyds TSB, a credit card, I can't completely remember, but I do remember knowing about it and agreeing to it.

The second time, DH took it out without me realising on a joint loan we took out. I realised after a month or two and we cancelled it.

Both times, we knew what we were doing. We worked in a volatile industry, and thought the protection was useful, but in the end couldn't afford it.

More recently we even had mortgage repayment protection insurance, and we claimed from that policy. Not very much, but even so. It was something we purchased knowingly.

So why should we get compensation? We knew what we were buying, did other people really not know? Really?

Original poster
mollycuddles · 15/08/2013 17:41

I did it myself this time
No idea why company said we didn't have it
I was desperate for the loan and was told it was a requirement for getting the money
I'm not so naive now

OP posts:
PickleSarnie · 15/08/2013 17:43

But they ARE ripoffs pinkpinot. Yes, they investigate for you but they can't get hold of any information that you couldn't get hold off yourself. It may cost you a tenner or something like that but you can demand all your account details and the company has to give it to you (all detailed in moneysavingexpert). All the companies do is save you a little bit of time and effort and take a lot of money for the privilege.

PoppyWearer, yes I could have and should have checked all the small print but it's sold to you in such a positive way that you just agree to signing anything when you are in a state where you desperately need the cash (or at least I did). I never had it explained to me that my PPI would be front-loaded (which is now illegal) and paid for upfront by the first few monthly payments before the actual loan starts getting paid off. I paid off all my first three loans well before the loan period (that my PPI presumably would have covered me for) with "top up" loans from the same company. They charged me full whack PPI each time, even though I'd already paid PPI on the original loans. I don't have the slightest bit of guilt about claiming it back. Although I have plenty of regret about being so crap with money in the first place.

ImperialBlether · 15/08/2013 17:43

I didn't know. I had loans from Lloyds where I'd tell them what I wanted to borrow and they'd say, "OK that'll be £X per month. Is that OK?"

It would always be done on the phone. They'd say, "I'm going to send you the form by first class post, sign it and put it in the next post back to me so that I can release the funds."

My mistake was trusting them. It was like being slapped in the face when I realised what they'd been doing.

HorryIsUpduffed · 15/08/2013 17:46

Some of them are ripoffs though. The ones that charge a flat fee, or an hourly rate.

You can end up owing them more than the claim is worth, so you're worse off than if you'd never bothered.

I'm a bit Envy though because I've never had ppi - was warned it was worthless and explicitly opted out every time.

GhostsInSnow · 15/08/2013 17:49

Don't use the companies. Download the forms, send the letters. That is all my DH did. With no argument whatsoever I've had just over £7,000 back over the last month.

2 of those claims I had no paperwork for whatsoever.

MrBlondesFries · 15/08/2013 17:52

Can someone post a link to a template I could use please? I contacted Gladstone Brooke and they sent me a pack to sign but I haven't yet....you ladies are tempting me to try to claim myself but no sure where to start.

pettyprudence · 15/08/2013 17:55

We have just a had a successful PPI claim WITHOUT using a company

Bank contacted us after we paid off a loan early, which apparently we were supposed to have a cashback for if we paid it in the time frame. By paying early we had forfitted that. Turns out it was PPI. We had no idea the bank had lumped PPI on to our loan. They contacted US to say that they "might have missold PPI"

BettyandDon · 15/08/2013 18:04

Does anyone have a method of applying if you don't have account details or know the address you were at at the time.

I know I had PPI on my first ever credit card, but I just can't recall the exact dates and moved a lot around that time. I wrote to Lloyds with my name and date of birth but nothing came back...

smokinaces · 15/08/2013 18:06

what if I have no information at all? I took out two loans years ago with egg, and vaguely remember ppi at the time, and a credit card. No idea of any information on them though - how do I claim?

ASmidgeofMidge · 15/08/2013 18:08

Poppywearer It's not always about not knowing about the PPI. It can be that it was missold in other ways, eg being told that taking a policy was compulsory to obtain the loan, and/or selling a policy in the knowledge that a Liam couldn't be made (pre-existing health issue, for example). We've made 3 x successful claims over last 5 years, and have done them all for the price of a stamp.

ASmidgeofMidge · 15/08/2013 18:09

*claim

Pinkpinot · 15/08/2013 18:12

No, I wouldn't use a company now, the process is v transparent and it's easy to claim. It wasn't 5 years ago, the banks didn't have designated ppi teams and they hadn't set aside any funds for it, so they weren't as keen to give you the money bank.
But I'm just saying they're not a rip-off. They charge a fee for doing it for you
And they did just find £1500 for me that I had no clue about. I'd already had the ppi back from Debenhams card, they found some extra policy.
Admittedly, I've only had contact with one company, but they were v good.

BMW6 · 15/08/2013 18:43

My DH has had a letter from his bank a couple of days ago INVITING him to reclaim PPI on 3 loans he took out with them nearly 10 years ago!
He didn't know PPI was included in the first 2 loans, and was told on applying for the third loan that PPI was obligatory. All loans paid off years ago, so any money he gets back will be a bonus!
(And the claim form was attached to their letter and was simple to complete - they had all the details, just wanted him tom state why he thought his PPI was mis-sold))