Hi dx100uk [and anyone else taking an interest in this thread]
Your input is appreciated. However, I remain to be convinced there's a great deal to be gained from putting in a SAR. I have a copy of the original agreement, which makes a cursory reference to the insurance policy, as well as copies of both the insurance policies and all my statements. In any case, I can't send a SAR to the original lender, who has long since gone out of business, and I can't see either of the underwriters sending me anything I haven't already got.
As regards why the policy was mis-sold, I think there are a number of reasons including [but not necessarily limited to]:
[1] The direct cash reserve application form referred to 'the special Cofidis Payment Protection Plan'. Use of the word special implied the plan was likely to be of more benefit than it actually was;
[2] My request for a direct cash reserve was made via a postal application form. While this form may have included some basic information about the aforementioned payment protection plan, it did not include full terms & conditions. More to the point, I was not subsequently sent any terms & conditions by the insurers, less still advised that there was a cooling-off period during which I could cancel the insurance;
[3] Notwithstanding the fact, that I didn't have sight of the full terms & conditions of the insurance policy until after I'd paid off the account in full, nowhere in the policy does it detail the cost of the insurance;
[4] Similarly, the original policy states: 'You are eligible for cover if, on the starting date, the following applies: You are working and have been continuously for the immediately preceding 6 months.' In actual fact, after a short break, I had started a new job a little more than five months before making an application for a direct cash reserve;
[5] My direct cash reserve account was opened in 1998. However, I was not made aware that in 2002 the original insurer was replaced by another one as a result of which the terms & conditions differed;
[6] At one stage, I was paying circa £40 a month, or £500 a year, for the insurance. Given the minimum payment from which I would have benefitted from – even if, mindful of [4] it had paid out – was just £100 a month and, at the time, I was in pretty secure employment you have to question its value to me;
[7] In addition, I would have been well looked after by my employer had I been absent from work through illness, or made redundant. Essentially, any benefit I might have derived from the insurance was unlikely to justify the considerable cost. However, having not had sight of the terms & conditions, nor the APR, it was only some considerable time later I became cognizant of this.
As ever, any thoughts anyone has with regard to the above – mindful that, as mentioned previously, this complaint dates back to the late 1990s, ie pre 2005, and the original lender no longer exists and so I'm going to have to go after the insurer – would be extremely welcome.
Thanks in anticipation
Jack Sparkes