Right, it has been a while since I last posted, mainly due to FirstPlus taking a long time to get back to me. I complained about my insurance being mis sold on the following basis: - Your salesperson was very pushy in selling me the policy so that I felt I could not say no. - Your salesperson did not tell me that the policy was optional and I have since realised that I had alternative insurance cover. - Your salesperson stated / implied that taking out the policy was essential for me to get the associated credit - Your salesperson did not give me full information on what the policy would and would not cover for example that the loan only covered the first five years of my loan term. - I am concerned the sales assistant that sold me the policy has no financial background and the policy was not sold in my best interests. - Your sales person did not tell me that the loan would be added to the value of my loan and interest accrued accordingly, in fact your sales person told me that my loan would be invested on my behalf. The key point in my complaint is the last one, in as much as I actually have a recording of the sales conversation (Thanks FirstPlus) where their agent tells me that the £5000 Insurance premium will be invested for me. I can not see how adding £5000 to a loan that I then have to pay back on a monthly basis can ever be classed as investment. To my mind this is mis-selling? First question: Am I right to assume that this is blatant mis-selling and I can complain to the FOS on this basis? The rest of the points have been covered by what I assume is a standard response letter telling me that the policy was explained in the welcome booklet, credit agreement and the insurance can been seen being added to the total value of the loan. They also claim that the sales person was not pushy. Interestingly they did respond on the point about the sales person asking me if I have alternative cover. Second question: Can I push ahead with a complaint on the basis of insurance being invested and the sales person not asking if I had alternative cover? Cheers in advance NW_RED

Not sure if you have taken the car back yet or not but, if you have a warning light on the dash it will be stored in the computer, so even a random fault can be downloaded and identified by a dealer. Don't let them fob you off. I know because I have had an intermittent fault with my 04 golf and they gave me a print out of date and time of all the faults stroed in the computer

Finally found the time to get my letter sent off. How does this read? NW_RED ******************* ************** ******** ******** 16th June 2008 FirstPlus Financial Group PLC The Avenue Business Park Pentwyn Cardiff CF23 8FF Dear Sir or Madam, Re: Account number: *******, Account Name Mr NW_RED I purchased the above policy from you in 12th May 2004 but now believe that I was mis-sold this policy for the following reasons: §This is due to the fact that your member of staff did not ask me about any previous medical conditions when the policy was sold. §This is due to the fact that I paid a single premium for my policy but did not see it through to the end of its initial term after paying back my loan earlier than planned on the 24th January 2007. §This is due to the fact that I was not given the correct information when the policy was sold to me, as -Your salesperson was very pushy in selling me the policy so that I felt I could not say no. -Your salesperson did not tell me that the policy was optional and I have since realised that I had alternative insurance cover. -Your salesperson stated / implied that taking out the policy was essential for me to get the associated credit -Your salesperson did not give me full information on what the policy would and would not cover for example that the loan only covered the first five years of my loan term. -i am concerned the sales assistant that sold me the policy has no financial background and the policy was not sold in my best interests. -Your sales person did not tell me that the loan would be added to the value of my loan and interest accrued accordingly, in fact your sales person told me that my loan would be invested on my behalf. Unless you can satisfactorily justify to me that the policy was fair and reasonable I am requesting a full refund of all premiums, and subsequent interest on these payments, that I have paid to date. As I believe I have been deprived of this money I also expect 8% statutory interest, the amount a court would award, to be added to each payment made. I look forward to a full and prompt response to this letter and for the matter to be concluded within eight weeks or I shall be contacting the Financial Ombudsman to investigate my complaint. Yours faithfully, NW_RED

Bog, Thanks for your help and quick replies, I have entered the figures in to the spreadsheet and I come back with a huge figure which I am sure can't be right........ Can you have a look for me and tell me if there is something I have missed. The loan was over 25 years but I only had it for just over 2 and a half years before I settled. This figure would appear to be large given that timescale. Uncategorized - clip_image002

Cheers for that your spreadsheet is a great help. I have just a couple of questions: How have you got to you monthly intrest figure? If I divide the intrest by 12 then the figure is slightly out. Is there a formula you have used. The APR on my agreement is 9.9% but when I spoke to Firstplus on the phone they said the APR was 10.9% which should I base my calculations on? Or should I talk to them and find out when it changed? Cheers

RIght I have finally found the time to talk to FirstPlus and I am even more confused now. They have told me that when I took out the loan all of the insurance was added to the loan so I asked to borrow 25,000 but with the mis-sold insurance the total I borrowed was 29,982.50 (4982.50 insurance) When I settled the account they refunded me £167.83 so the total I have paid for the insurance was 4,814.67 They could not tell me how much I paid each month towards the inurance as it was all combined but they could tell me that of the 285.16 a month I was paying at the end of the agreement £260 went to intrest on the loan. The intrest rate for the loan was 10.9% So how can I work out how much I can try to claim back? Should I just try and claim the £4814.67 that I paid in insurance and ignore the intrest?

Hi Hellhasnofury, Thanks for your prompt response. I have already sent my S.A.R letter. Unfortunatly the documents are in the UK and I am in Germany with work. What I can remember in relation to your questions are: The loan was due to run for 25 years or 300 months. The monthly payments were: Initial payment of £317.01 in June 2004 18 payments of 272.87 monthly between July 04 and Dec 05 There was then a 2 month payment break after which I made 9 payment of 272.87 between March 06 and November 06 The payment then increased to £285.16 for the final 2 payment in Dec 06 & Jan 07. The Jan 07 payment was the last payment as the loan was settled after this. As for the settlement figures I do not believe that I was given a breakdown of the settlement figure. I will have to double check the paper work, when I am back in the Uk on Friday. The only figure I can remeber is the one total settlement of £31,490.89 NW_Red

Hi Guys I am hoping someone can help me out here. I am looking to reclaim mis-sold insurance off First Plus. I took out a loan in May of 2004 to consolidate a number of credit cards and when I took out the loan I was told that my chances of being accepted would be improved if I accepted the insurance. I was never asked if I had any other insurance policies etc. The loan has since been paid off as I sold my property in Jan 2006 and moved in with my girlfriend. What I am not sure of is how I work out how much I can claim back off them. Below are all of the figures relating to my loan: Initial loan: £25,000 Insurance: £4982.50 Total Loan: £29,982.50 Interest as per the agreement 9.9% Total Re-payment before settlement: £ 8254.82 Settlement paid in Jan 07 £31,490.89 So in total I have paid a small fortune and ended up still owing more than I borrowed at the point of settlement. How much can I reasonably ask them for in terms of mis-sold insurance and how do I work out the interest I can add to the figure? Any help is greatly appreciated. Cheers NW_Red

Right here is my question....... The letter from Natwest that makes the offer contains the following paragraph: "Any charges that properly accrue in the future will be applied to your account in line with our published tariff and in accordance with your agreement with the bank. SHould you be unwilling to accept such charges, then we may need to consider if we are prepared to continue to provide you with existing banking facilities. Instead we may offer you a simple bank account that does not offer borrowing facilities or other services which can result in a charge." I have had another charge against my account which having spoken to the bank they are unwilling to refund because of my claim. Does anybody know the full position on this? I am happy to start the process again to claim back subsequent charges but do not want myaccount closed (Although I do have a parachute account open). it is just paying off the over draft that will cause a problem. What is the FSO's position on this. I have had a scan through the forum but have been unable to find anything to help.

Can't believe it, they have only gone and paid out!!!! 1418quid all I have to do is send in a form. Does anybody know how thei is normally paid???? By cheque or into my bank???? They have put a paragraph in the letter which I have a question about tomorrow but that's all for now :D Donation will be on it's way very soon!!!! Now could be the time to take on MBNA!

Cheers Nattie, I figured as much I just thought it was worth asking the question.

Right well my two week deadline passed last Friday, Gave them until Yesterday to respond but there was nothing in the post last night so I guess it is time for my LBA. The question I have is with judges now striking Defense out is there any wording I can put in my LBA to highlight this to Natwest to try and persuade them into paying up? If so what kind of wording should I use, I am not very good with making it sound professional.

I am made up for you, well done!

I guess we will have to see then, I hope they pay up quickly but I am ready for the long haul

Cheers Guys, I am fully prepared for this to go to court, my last comment was just me being sarcastic as the Natwest seem to be one of the worse for refunding bank charges.