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My wife has bipolar disorder and is addicted to credit card spending when she is on a high!.We are now in considerable debt.Looking though her cards i noticed she is paying card protection on all of them,even though they know she has no income of her own through her illness.
Is it possible to at lease claim back this money ?

Hi Sloan

It is unlikely that she will be able to claim, as I assume that she has had this illness for some time and probably back to when the cards were first taken out? In these circumstances, you would save some money by cancelling the policies, and you should also take advice as to your financial position generally, which sounds as if it is worsening.

I have dealt with a lot of clients with bipolar disorder, who tell me that by taking away their credit cards and effecting a firm repayment plan to creditors this has actually helped them to address their overall illness better. If you are in the situation where you forsee that you will not be able to service the debt repayments, then I would seek advice now - and if nothing else cut up all of those cards.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

Hi sloan

I would agree with Melanie that you should probably cancel these payments as soon as possible, but I would be a bit more optimistic regarding your chances of success in a claim.

The selling of these policies has been described as being little short of a 'protection racket'.

Citizens Advice (CAB) has raised a 'super complaint' with the OFT concerning the mis-selling of these policies - couple of extracts appear relevant to your case:

A CAB in Surrey reported that a client had been sold a loan protection plan although he had long-term mental health problems. An additional £2,200 was added to his £8,900 loan for the PPI. At the time of signing the agreement the client was very unwell and was not aware of what he was signing. The bank was aware of the client’s situation and that the client might not be eligible for the insurance protection policy.

Also -

Policies sold by several well-known mainstream lenders exclude cover for common problems like bad backs and mental health problems that can stop people working. Many also have arbitrary age limits and ban the self-employed and those on fixed-term contracts from making a claim.

These policies are sold on a one-size-fits-all basis with scant regard for individual circumstances. However it seems to me that if any of the policies your wife holds has exclusion clauses for mental health problems it is a clear case of mis-selling. So although you would have little chance of claiming 'against the policies' this almost works in your favour because it is further evidence that they were inappropriate for your wife's situation.

So I would have thought you would have a very good case for claiming a refund of premiums based on mis-selling. However you will undoubtedly have to dig in for the long haul and probably at least threaten Court action. But, as in the 'bank charges' situation, the companies would be very likely to settle before it ever got that far, because to have a case go against them would be very bad news as it could open the floodgates for millions of potential claims.

-Best





'5 years sticking my head into the Lion's mouth of debt !'

Hi Sloan,

Was your wife sold Payment Protection Insurance that required her to be at work to be elibgible for the cover? Most policies of this type do require this. Insurance is designed to make good a loss - no income to lose - no loss iz possible - no eligibilty for the cover. If these facts were known to the Insurer when the policy was purchased (declared on the application form0, you may well have a case to take to the Ombudsman. The policy could be cancelled from inception and in that case all the premiums should be refunded.

Call me if you would like to discuss this.

John Tegg
Accident and Sickness cover that pays for up to 60 months for Clients within IVA's.
Tel: 0845 673 9999
e=-mail: quotemeplease@asu4iva.co.uk
www.asu4iva.co.uk