Black Horse Payment Protection
Black Horse Finance provides loans to around 25,000 customers per year. The lender has been established for more than 50 years and specialises in funding the purchase of vehicles. In the past a significant amount of the company’s income has been garnered from the sale of payment protection.
Black Horse payment protection covers the borrower in the event they are unable to work due to involuntary unemployment, sickness or accident. Like most forms of payment protection insurance it has been the subject of controversy in recent years. A complaint submitted by The Citizens Advice bureau in 2005 highlighted significant failings with payment protection. It found that the cover was expensive, often provided poor coverage and had been widely mis-sold.
The cost of PPI
The cost of PPI can vary considerably. Loan protection, like Black Horse payment protection, is usually applied at the start of the loan and is equivalent to between 13%-25% of the base loan value. On a loan of £15,000, therefore, you could pay between £1,950 and £3,740 for the cover. This could significantly increase your debt meaning you may have to make higher monthly repayments or it may take you longer to repay the debt. The cost of the PPI also usually incurs interest at the same rate as the loan.
The level of cover provided
A 2008 survey by The Competition Commission found that just 15% of customers who had tried to use their loan payment protection policy had been successful in doing so. This statistic is shocking and means that for every £1 spent on PPI a lender could be making £0.85 in profit. It also means that 85% of people paying for PPI may be paying for cover they could not use.
The cover has been mis-sold
Following the Citizens Advice Bureau’s complaint, The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and The Office of Fair Trading looked into the issue of mis-selling. They found significant issues with the way in which the cover was sold and, as a result, several lenders were fined. There were a number of different ways in which the cover was mis-sold, but, just generally, the FSA found widespread failures to put in place sufficient processes to protect customers from mis-sale.
Other specific ways in which policies were mis-sold include:
- Customers incorrectly told they had to have the cover or it would improve their chance of being given the loan.
- Policies added without the customer’s knowledge.
- Customers sold cover without the full terms and conditions or costs being explained.
- Customers sold a single-premium policy on a loan longer than five years in length and not warned they may not be covered for the life of the loan.
- Customers sold a policy unsuitable for them because they had a pre-existing medical condition.
- Customers sold a policy unsuitable for them because they were over the age of 65.
- Customers sold a policy unsuitable for them because they were unemployed, retired or in full time education.
If you were mis-sold a Black Horse payment protection policy and are interest in PPI reclaim call 0207 471 2000.
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