Wednesday 30 January 2019

And now I've made another PPI claim!

Having decided that this PPI business needed better personal investigation, I went up into the attic this morning to take a further look at my old financial records. And Dad's too. And not just mortgage loans: it was worth looking at such things as insurances paid in instalments, and whether there might be hidden PPI on my credit card account.

I was diligent. And blow me, I found another loan on which PPI had been paid. It was another mortgage, this time on my London house, owned from 1983 to 1989. The lender had been NatWest.

The circumstances were essentially the same as the Girobank-Alliance & Leicester-Santander PPI claim covered in my last post. That is, buying a house to a tight deadline, and having to accept the PPI just to get the mortgage fixed up without delay; yet at the same time earning a good salary as a middling-senior employee in an ultra-safe Government department job - for all practical purposes immune from redundancy and any bad consequences of extended sickness. I was never going to claim on the PPI policy, and NatWest knew it. But I still got saddled with the premiums.

They weren't large. £9.13 per month for 67 months, then £9.40 for the final 4 months: £649.31 altogether. Still, with simple interest at 8% running from 1983, that could easily result in a surprisingly large compensation payment.

Back to Resolver. I've now made a second claim through them.

With that job of mine, I was always (by a big margin) the main breadwinner in my relationships, and I paid the mortgage repayments, and with them all the PPI premiums. From my own bank account too. My long-divorced ex paid nothing at all. But even so, the houses were in our joint names, and it would be no surprise to find that I'm entitled to only 50% of any payout. If that were - say - £3,000, then I'd get only £1,500. Well, I'd be content. It would still be useful money that I never thought I'd get. And very nice to have something back after all this time.

What if Santander and NatWest say no? Well, I think I've got a reasonable case, and I'll escalate it to the Ombudsman. I don't see why not.

After I get a result on these two claims, would it be worth swallowing my distaste and asking a claims management company to chase up any odd bits and pieces of PPI that I may have missed? Especially in Dad's case? Would there be time?

I don't know. I'd have to think about it. Today's researches were mentally tiring, and I've certainly no stomach for any further personal effort. I think I could rely on a claims company to go after the guilty lenders with all guns blazing. If refundable PPI were there, they'd find it. And even if I could have only 60% of any yield after the claims company's fee, it would still be a decent 'win'. So, possibly.

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