Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

[Suzyhall9024]

Hi all and thanks to you all for reading my post, I would be really grateful for some advice on our secured loan with first plus which we took out in 2003 , its quite a long story so I will try to be as brief as possible as there are several aspects I need help with,

1) Mis sold PPI - we took out a loan via loans.co.uk in aug 03 for £20 k they added on PPI of £4500 ( we have since had sucessful claim against them for mis sold PPI and had refund even though only had loan for a few months. In December 2003 we recieved a phone call from who we belived to be first plus asking if as a valued customer etc would like an advance on our current loan, we stupidly asked for quote for another 10K within an hour they had faxed us and kept pestering us to agree to this loan, at the time we had financial pressure and stupidly agreed to it, all we had to do was fax back form which had nothing to indicate it wasnt first plus, they told us we had to have PPI etc and so new loan was set up for £30k plus £7500 PPI and they old loan settled.

In 2007 when we started hearing about how the PPI was mis old and realsied what we had signed up to, I contacted FP and asked if we could cancel the policy , we were told we would only get a couple of hundred quid back so left it, then in may 07 I sent an official complaint regarding the mis sale of PPI it was then we discovered that first plus had given our info to CENTRAL TRUST as a broker and they had infact called us and arranged the loan without us knowing who they were, FP must have given all the loan info and our personal info which we hadnt agreed to and we were fuming, FP told us we had to contact Central trust as they were the broker which we did, Central trust wrote back saying that all phone calls had been corrupted so couldnt be provided but that they would do nothing as at the time they were not regulated etc,

In July 2007 I became really ill and have since become disabled we both had to give up work and hubbie is my carer, we managed after a fight to claim on the PPI and recived approx 3K, after that we have struggled to keep up with payments and first plus passed our account to and fro various debt collectors who kept telling us to make reduced payments and never really discussed how and when we could pay it back and as a consequence we got into arrears of approx £7k

[Suzyhall9024]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

sorry folks having problems posting rest of message will add more later

[Suzyhall9024]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

From 2011 we started to get some help on our main mortgage (also with barclays) from the DWP and so then started paying back some of the arrears as well as our monthly amount, we had no contact with FP , no statements or calls about arrears etc so just carried on paying what we could off arrears, we also decided to try again with reclaiming PPI so sent another complaint to central trust and a SAR request, then sent us back a notepad of the calls made between us that they had said earlier had been corrupted which indicated that they had all our personal and loan info from first plus, they also forgot to delete the commission made by them which was £6500 for one phone call deceiving us into beleiving we were dealing with FP , they still wouldnt uphold our claim due to not being regulated so we contacted the FOS who have had our claim since sept 2011, we heard nothing from them until June this year when they agreed to fast track our case due to our hardship and the pressure being put upon us by first plus, I spoke to them at length on friday and they are not hopeful they can help as they have no jurisdiction but are awaiting further guidance as there are many claims pre 2005 they have been asked to deal with but no to hold any much hope !

In June out of the blue we received a default notice from first plus and when I called them to find out why they told me it was because of the arrears even though we were still paying them and extra off arrears and had no previous contact with them asking to pay more, we agreed a proper arrangement to pay £130 extra each month towards arrears plus our normal payment this would repay the arrears within 2 years the maximum time they would offer despite our loan having another 15 years to run !! This is more than we can afford but we are sticking to it to avoid legal action so we have very little money for food etc !!

This month the payment was due so I called them and paid £230, I explained to them I had to get all 3 children school uniform to allow them back to school and was it ok to pay the remaining £300 by end of week, yes they told me thats fine so I called 4 days later and paid rest so all up to date, imagine our horror a few days later to get a default notice , I assumed it was a mistake and called them straight away, the lady I spoke to was awful and just siad tough you broke the arrangement so we are sending to solicitors to gain suspended possession order, she wouldnt accept my explanation even though she confirmed there were notes on my account that I had phoned in, she refused to put me through to a manager or complaints dept and when I really got upset transferred me to the complaints team who have raised a complaint, so I still dont know whats happening there and am worried sick as you can imagine, this was the same day I spoke to ombudsman and got a negative response from them !!

Has anyone got any ideas of what I can with:
1) the PPI , can I contact FP or central trust again asking them to reconsider, have they broken any data protection laws by passing our confidential info to central trust without our permission, is there any comeback on central trust for misleading us into a sale and not disclosing the high commission etc ? Is it worth trying the underwriter Cassidy Davis if all else fails ??
2) any advice on what to do should FP decide to try legal action against us ??
We cant sell our home as it has been specially adapted for my needs and we just dont know where to turn.

Sorry this post is so long and in parts and thank you for reading, I hope I have made sense !! I hope someone can help xxx

[di30]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

Hi there
So sorry to hear what you and your family been through.

Well basically whoever set up and sold your loan are the ones liable, so if you received useful further info since, you could try making one more complaint to them, or even address it to the Manager/Chief Executive officer (CEO) and raise this matter up with him, enclose copies of useful info you have and ask him to consider taking into account your reasons despite the fact they were not regulated at the time it was sold to you, because you do believe you have a strong case and a genuine one, were any respectable company would consider, never mind the fact if they were regulated or not.

If this does fail, let me know, we can work out a letter to send to the underwriter/insurer, the wording of the letter to these should be worded carefully, but let me know how you get on with the other first and we can take it from there.

I am not sure on these commission matters, but maybe someone will know more of that side of things and be along soon.

Now with the fact that your having issues with FP, is it actually them trying to take legal action against you or a collections company?

[Suzyhall9024]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

Hi Di thank you so much for your reply I am going have one last go and with Central Trust to see if they will reconsider, doubtful I know bu I thought that about loans.co.uk and they suddenly paid up !
As far as legal action at the moment it is first plus issuing a default notice because we "broke the agreement" even though I phoned them and they said it was ok to pay by end of week ( I know they have no morals whatsover which is why I want to pre empt any moves they might make !!) they are apparently now sending our file to their solicitors who are Eversheds who are just as awful and it is them that will seek legal action , I have however kicked up a right old stink and put in a official complaint saying that it is totally unfair if they gave us permission and we paid by agreed date etc and that we have infact paid them over £1700 off arrears since June this year plus or usual monthly payments so we are proving we are doing our best, so any reasonable company would understand that but sadly First Plus have no scruples and dont care about how ill I am etc or how hard we are trying they just want their money back !!

I would be so grateful for your help , this is making me so much worse health wise, all in the same week I had back op done and the next day this all kicked off !! As many others on here worse thing we ever did getting involved with company but hindsights a great things isnt it lol !!

Thanks Suzy xx

[di30]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

Your very welcome x

That is all you need now on top of everything else, they are so tactless.

When you asked to pay at the end of the week, was this on the telephone? If so they must record these calls by law. It maybe worth asking for a copy of the telephone calls, although they may suggest a Subject Access Request (SAR) in order to receive this, but give it a go anyway.

Do think about writing to the CEO of the business though.

I do believe in an hardship situation and as the issue was raised about further action that it may be the case that your able to take it to the FOS.
You may possibly be entitled to legal aid. Another suggestion as well (I know its a lot of work which you clearly do not need) if you a good local MP, get them involved in writing to them for you and he or she could perhaps request for a copy of the telephone calls. Your local MP should be more than willing to help you, and write to them on your behalf, worth thinking about.

Di
xx

[Suzyhall9024]

Re: Hi all would appreciate some help with First PLus loan and PPI

Still going round and round in circles here, have contacted MP - not heard anything yet, Central Trust being right idiots and immediately sent me a letter saying final response we werent regulated so clear off, first plus will not accept any responsibility whatsoever even though they passed on our details as an existing customer to an unregulated company who then phoned us up and lied to get a our business, a large commission paid to both parties, FP say that as loan was for 30k it wasnt regulated buy CCA but the loan we already had was only for 20k and it was from this loan our details were passed on! I just dont know enough about law to know if they have breached any regulations, I cant believe they can get away with treating people this way especially as they have admitted the PPI was mis sold and actually writing to customers and offering refunds so why can t we get it back , we are a customer !! Sorry rant over but if anyone can offer any advice on if we could take legal action and what would be involved, I am disabled and only on benefits so dont know if we could get any legal aid, although at the moment they havent started any legal action (they still havent answered my complaint about issuing default notice when I phoned them and asked them if I could pay late and they agreed !!) I am bracing myself for the fact that they dont care and will do what ever they like !!