PPI refunds and the self employed

A question about : PPI refunds and the self employed

Hi there,

I have made two PPI complaints relating to my husbands two credit cards he had back in the mid 2000's, one with MBNA and one with Egg.

The reason I believe he was misold PPI was that he was and still is self employed and ppi would not have paid out,so was unsuitable for his needs.

I think he either spoke to MBNA on the phone or filled in a form but can't remember the precise way he applied for the card. Surely stating that you are self employed either by telling the person on the phone or by writing on an application form should have been a red flag to any credit card company that ppi was not normally suitable?

Barclaycard who are dealing with the egg complaint have investigated and made a decision but we haven't heard from them as yet. I know this as I've tracked the complaint progress online. They didn't request any further information by phone from my husband other than the information listed on the complaints form.

I am assuming with the speed in which they investigated the complaint the outcome is likely to be a no.

Anyone have any experience with either of these two credit card providers and particularly if the mis selling complaint was based on being self employed and it not being suitable for your needs.

Many thanks

Best answers:

• It's a CMC / internet myth that PPI didn't cover the self-employed.
  If your complaint is solely based on that argument you should be checking the terms and conditions of the PPI to see if they didn't cover the self-employed or there were some particularly onerous conditions making it difficult to claim. Making a complaint saying it was worthless as it didn't cover him is doomed to failure if it did cover him and it destroys any credibility you might have had.
  Further to this, egg were an online bank, sales were largely done online so unless it was a pre-ticked box (which you would probably win), then he may have ticked the box himself
• I don't believe the ppi policy would have covered my husband had he simply had a period of not having any work/not being able to work and financially not been able to pay. I didn't think you can just close your business and sign on. The same as you can't claim statutory sick pay when you are self employed.
  Who knows if the egg card was a preticked box if he did apply on line, I thought he had seen one of their adverts and phoned up but I could be wrong.
  I know it's a long shot but worth the ten minutes of form filling.
• I was self employed and have claimed back a lot of money from rbs and Lloyds for the reasons you are stating.still waiting on an offer from hsbc. The ppi would not have covered me in the event of a claim.I also got business loan insurance back from Lloyds as this is ppi on business accounts and is front loaded so I received a refund on 3 business loans too.Might be worth checking if you had any on your account.
  I asked for advise on here and was told I had no case but continued on and won all my claims so by all means ask for advise but don't take it as gospel.If I had done ,we would have lost out on a lot of money we had paid needlessly.
• Thanks for your replies, I know that the chances of being successful are slim but it's worth a try.
  I also know that had my husband broke his leg and was unable to work for a period of six months the PPI policy's would not have paid out, I would stake my house on that being the case! I think they make the policies so onerous for self employed people that they are all but useless.
  I will let you know the outcome.
• Update on the egg claim, just received Ј2893 into our account today! It maybe an auto payout but who cares!
  I feel that our complaint was justified and that ppi insurance would have never paid out had my husband made a claim.
  MBNA to win now!
• That's the point though isn't it, PPI was never fully explained at the point of sale, or was added by preticked boxes and opt out boxes. If banks had explained fully to the customer that as in our case my husband would have to close his business down for it to pay out then he would never had taken it out or would have un ticked the box or challenged the pre ticked box.
  Back in the 90s and the early 2000's people still very much trusted the banking industry. If an advisor had said to my husband that PPI would cover him if he couldn't work, or due to lack of work couldn't pay his credit card or if the PPI box was ticked on an application form then he would have accepted that to be the case and in his best interest. I know that attitude seems very naive by today's standards but life was different back then.
• There are some policies out there where being self-employed has an impact on making use of the accident and sickness parts of cover.
• Congratulations for winning your complaint. I hope it encourages other people to stick with it if they think they have a complaint and not be put off by the idea that these policies where suitable for everyone, when clearly many were not
• Why do theY pay then? I don't really understand this autopay business. Anyone enlighten me?