Barclays Income Protection insurance

[simonjones70]

Hi

 

I took out a Barclays Income Protection insurance around 2008. http://www.barclays.co.uk/Insurance/Incomeinsurance/IncomeInsurance/P1242614107744

 

 

Barclays stopped selling this policy years ago.

 

This was a policy that covered me for sickness and unemployment.

I paid around a £100 a month and would get around £2000 a month in the event of making a claim for up to 2 years.

I have been paying this policy for the last six 7 years.

 

I was recently made unemployed due to a disagreement with my employer (over 7 years working there)

- without going into details I was being asked to act immorally.

 

 

I sought legal advice.

It was clear the relationship had broken down.

I did not resign, I was not fired - but a settlement agreement was put in place, which i decided to accept rather than going down the long and painful road of employment tribunals.

 

 

Even if i had gone down a employment triberinal route

- as I have read it, the polciy still would not have covered me as this would have been considered me resigning.

The law around this was updated around this in 2010 in the Equality Act and further changes were recommended in 2013.

 

 

Since I took out the policy i have never been contacted by Barclays with any statements or policy changes etc.

I pay my money and they have been silent.

 

 

When I signed up to the agreement I specifically asked about “Compromise Agreements” and was told that these were covered, as this is what had happened to me at a previous company.

These are now called "settlement agreements" and widly used by employers for senior managers to deal with someone leaving.

 

I feel I was mis-sold this policy and that I want to claim back my premiums i have paid to date.

 

 

it would have been impossible for me to make a claim.

If settlement agreements are now the norm and the policy does not cover it - it is worthless.

 

I am wondering what the best course of action is - would this type of policy fall under PPI or is it something else ?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Simon

[fkofilee]

HI SJ

 

Yes this is PPI in its most obvious form.

Welcome to CAG BTW. Have a search in the top right hand corner - PPI etc.

 

Learn from others

[slick132]

Moving this to the PPI forum where it should get appropriate input.

 

That's a huge outlay - over £7,500 paid in premiums.

 

[simonjones70]

Sorry to question both of you - but are you sure its standard PPI?

 

I understood PPI should be linked to a loan, credit card, bank account etc. This policy is NOT linked to another product.

 

This is a separate insurance policy which covers generally against sickness or unemployment.

 

http://www.barclays.co.uk/Insurance/Incomeinsurance/IncomeInsurance/P1242614107744

 

There are other income protection insurance out there which is LONG term which means you pay like £100 a month, but if you say had a stroke it would pay you until death. The above policy was limited to 2 years payouts for £100 a month.

 

If this is PPI - my claim should be quite straight forward and could argue a number of points about suitability, lack of updates etc?

 

Simon

[martin2006]

Have a read of the following link

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?330996-Latest-Spreadsheets-PPI-Claims-and-Charges-Claims-Dec-2011&p=4273920#post4273920

[slick132]

Hi SJ,

 

Please see my PM to you about your username.

 

[dx100uk]

it is PPI and you can reclaim it as its obviously was not suitable to your needs

 

 

good windfall coming

if you do this properly.

 

 

dx

[mightymouse_69]

This is clearly not PPI. It's income protection.

 

PPI is a policy which is linked to a specific line of credit. It will pay out a specific benefit in the event of a claim - normally the monthly repayments to the debt the policy covers (or a percentage of the amount in some cases).

 

Note that this means the policy holder probably won't see any of the money paid out in a claim. It will go straight to paying off the protected debt. This is a defining feature of PPI.

 

Income Protection is different. It pays out a previously agreed sum of money. In this case, that figure could be as high as 50% of the OP's monthly income. The OP would see this money - it would be paid to them to do with as s/he wishes.

 

A successful mis-sale complaint would be tricky. You'd have a hard time proving that you were told that entering into a compromise agreement wouldn't be a bar to claiming.

[simonjones70]

I have submitted a claim and will see what happens. Doing a bit more googling, it seems these types of policy were stopped a while back due to concerns from banks of people claiming back on them like PPI.

 

As I understand it there are two types of income protection, the type I have which is limited to a period of time in my case 2 years. The other type is policy that pays out till death, these are very different and much harder to get and go through a clear screening process e.g. Medical reports, etc. I did not have to do any of that for my short term policy. I think its a gray area, and i would agree i dont think its PPI but wonder how many people are trying to claim back. In my case it is both a compromise agreement issue, but also I had pre-existing conditions which were never raised when I signed up. I feel its an unsuitable policy, and was not sold with clear understanding - its basically very very hard to claim on it.

[fkofilee]

My thoughts on this are that while PPI and BIP are not the same things they do offer the same thing in the long run... Both allow payments to be made the event of something happening towards the loan.

So... My view is that you should be able to claim, however whether you can or not will be interesting.

[martin2006]

Bottom line whatever its called is that if it was mis sold it can be reclaimed

[mightymouse_69]

I have submitted a claim and will see what happens. Doing a bit more googling, it seems these types of policy were stopped a while back due to concerns from banks of people claiming back on them like PPI.

 

You can still buy them.

 

A few high street banks (like HSBC) provide long term income protection. However most are provided by insurers themselves. Short term protection - such as the policy you had, is also still available.

 

You do get a few complaints about compromise agreements. But from what I've seen, they're rarely successful.