Diane from Cardiff had an existing loan with Nemo Personal Finance, including Payment Protection Insurance and required a further advance. She was provided with a new loan to settle the old one and at this point was mis-sold a new PPI policy.

The financial ombudsman, within his final determination stated "I am not satisfied that a policy that lasted for 5 years of a 25 year loan was a suitable product to sell to Mr and Mrs (Diane), especially as it was not made absolutely clear to them that they would be paying for it over 25 years."

Diane recalls:

"During the Loan advance application, we requested a quote from the Nemo adviser without the PPI, this was refused. We made the advisor aware that we had identified that we did not have to accept their policy and could opt for a cheaper standalone option. We were informed by the advisor that we could not do this or we would have to borrow further funds that we would not be eligible for. He stated if we did not accept the PPI we would have to borrow further funds to settle the existing PPI policy, as we wouldnt get a preferential settlement figure on the original PPI, so we were basically tied - or that's what we thought."

Luckily, Diane received some help online and was advised that she could cancel the policy and obtain a refund as the policy had been mis-sold.

She decided to pursue the matter for a full refund of the PPI premium she had paid.

"In September 2006, we wrote a letter to Nemo to complain that we felt the policy was mis-sold during the loan advance stage and requested them to cancel and to refund full premiums of the PPI.

Nemo, responded within 28 days. They had cancelled the PPI, but refunded less than £2,000 in rebate against a premium of over £10,000. This only reduced our monthly payments by £14 a month.

We again wrote back to complain on the unfair rebate and requested all PPI Premiums to be repaid to us in full as we still felt the policy was mis-sold.

We received a final response a few weeks within the timescale to inform us the PPI policy had not been mis-sold and they included a Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) leaflet and some further information, such as copies of loan agreements, conversation recordings etc."

Clearly dissatisfied and with support from the online community, Diane decided to file a complaint with the FOS.

"In November 2006 we filled in a complaint form for the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), sent all the evidence, and the information provided by Nemo, such as the paperwork and compact disc recordings.

By February/March 07, we received the first letter from the FOS to inform us that our case has been passed on for investigation and we would hear in due course, where further information may be required.

We received a further letter in April 2007 from the FOS Caseworker to inform us our complaint had been Upheld, but further information was needed from Nemo, and they would write back in due course.

In August 2007, our case was forwarded to the Main Ombudsman to investigate further, and this provided a final opportunity for both parties to forward any further information.

We received the Final Decision from the Ombudsman in October 2007, where our complaint that the policy had been mis-sold was upheld."

As the loan with Nemo had been settled, the company were ordered to refund the policy premium, interest of 8% on the premiums and pay £250 compensation for stress and inconvenience.

However, Diane still had to actually get the refund.

"Although the FOS kept in touch with the company to pay out, it came to the point where in late December, after Christmas 2007 we had not received our refund, so we sent a Letter before action (LBA) to Nemo, who were given 14 days to comply and pay in full or the FOS said further steps could be taken through the FSA.

Around January 2008, Nemo sent one cheque where only a partial refund was given so we again contacted the FOS who made Nemo aware of this and in February 2008 a further cheque arrived for the remaining balance."

If you believe you may have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance, then why not join our community forum, where you can discuss your own claim and gain the support and assistance of others who have already successfully reclaimed their mis-sold PPI.

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