Be careful if you have payment protection...

[johnz]

Hi guys. Thought I would share this with you so you can watch out for it too.

A couple of years ago one of my credit cards transferred my balance into a lower interest repayment account. At the time this was a good thing as it reduced my credit limit on the card to £100, and reduced the amount of interest I was paying.

However!!! Ever since they did this, I have been battling with them to stop the payment protection charge that I neither wanted or asked for. This was costing more than my monthly payments, so my balance was going up instead of down.

In the last month, this company have agreed to my DMP. Which is very good. However!! To do this they transferred the balance of the lower interest account back onto the credit card and then still charged me for the payment protection I have been asking them to stop for months!!!! I got a statement through for the repayment account the other day with the charge on it.

So I phoned them, explained how ridiculous it was that they were still charging me, please can they cancel it as requested time and time again and refund the money.

No problems, they said. We'll do that today. So all's good you might think. Oh no!!! Last night I got home to a letter saying that they needed 30 days notice of cancellation of the Payment Protection and that they would be charging me one more months worth to cover that time.

OMG!!!! How thick are these people!!!!!!

Tried calling them last night, but, as usual, their lines were busy and I was going to be on hold for about 30 minutes. Like I can afford that kind of phone bill. [}:)]

So anyway, the point of this is that if you have PPI's set up on accounts you are including in your IVA, DMP, etc, cancel the PPI NOW!!! Don't wait. And do it in writing via recorded delivery, etc, so they can't claim you never told them to do it.



Johnz

[emma_t]

Hi johnz

It is a stupid system I agree, so easy to get them to give you PPI but a different thing when you want to cancel it.
I tried on one of my credit cards as the monthly charge was a fortune and I had to put in writing and it took 30 days also [:(]
I suppose they think lots of people will just not bother and they can continue to get this revenue
Emma

[johnt]

Hi johnz

It is a stupid system I agree, so easy to get them to give you PPI but a different thing when you want to cancel it.
I tried on one of my credit cards as the monthly charge was a fortune and I had to put in writing and it took 30 days also [:(]
I suppose they think lots of people will just not bother and they can continue to get this revenue
Emma

There head offices are based in York I think. At any rate, they are a pain. I wrote to them asking for it to be cancelled. I then got a full refund from the lender for not having used the service. There's some sharp practice with these people. You don't necceserily understand the significance of the scheme when you take out your first credit card, and generally forget, when the service is no longer required.

[marsha1]

Once in an iva would the IP not sort this? The interest is frozen so would the ppi not be?

[johnt]

Once in an iva would the IP not sort this? The interest is frozen so would the ppi not be?

no I don't think so. They work independantly, unless anyone knows any diferently?

[PoorbutHappy]

Dont forget to do it in writing. Having written a complaint, give em 3 weeks (to be generous), then complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Its free and costs the bank! They also useful if you got any complaints about the way your bank has acted etc etc. Again complain to the bank first, then pass onto FOS if you not satisfied. I got £4K back from Lloyds over selling loans I couldnt afford!

Then read all them WWW sites about reclaiming missold PPI payments. Aint gone down this route yet, thats the project for next year

PBH

[CoverItAll]

I have never seen a PPI option on credit cards that offers anything near value for money. they normally charge around £0.79 per month per £100.00 of your outstanding balance, and pay out 5-10% of that figure if you claim.

On a balance of £4,000 you would typically be charged £31.60 per month, to receive a benefit of £200 to £400 if you claim. We could provide a monthly benefit of £200 to £400 for a premium of £9.90 to £19.80.

Remember too, if you have a card on which you clear the balance each month, you Direct Debit would pay this before you could claim, so no point at all in have PPI on your credit card.

John Tegg
www.protectiva.co.uk
0845 673 9999
We will make all your IVA payments for you if Accident or Sickness stops you paying them yourself.

[mum of 4]

As far as I know PPI is regulated by the FSA, should you have a complaint the best course of action is to write to the lending institution (send recorded delivery). They then have a finite amount of time in which to investigate and respond to your complaint. (I think this is approx 8 weeks)

The FSA will only generally get involved after you have given the company involved the time to resolve your complaint but if you are not happy with the response given by the company and especially if you are certain you were missold the product then they will get involved and I believe they have issued heavy fines to companies for misselling of PPI.