My advice would be as well as to try and claim on your PPI you should also try and see if you've been mis sold ppi in the first place. In fact American Express may well be fobbing you off as your not covered by your PPI. If that is the case you would be entitled to a full refund which you yourself say is a 'fairly large sum' per month. It's not ususual to be mis sold, it could be said it's more usual to be sold it properly in the first place as the banks have made billions each year for the last decade.

One tactic I'd use with your bank is if they drag their heels ask them if you've been mis sold and request the data that went with your application, I think that will spark them into action.

I would just echo Landshark's point about signing on. I too had to do this to claim PPI, even when I was heavily pregnant!! It is the menas that insurance companies use to make sure that you haven't sneakily got another job whilst claiming.

So, my advice is the same - sign on. There is no stigma attached it is just a necessity, and the small amount of benefit (jobseeker's allowance) might even help ameliorate your current circumstances.

Cat

Firstly, I am no expert, but I have experience with PPI claims.

The crux of the issue is your registration at the Job Centre - regardless of anything else, this is singularly the most important factor in any claim that I have ever been a part of. Unless you have 'signed on' any policy that you have will be either difficult or impossible to process. Now I know that this sounds incredulous and will probably not be what you want to hear, but this is one of those facts of life that we have to deal with.

The second part of this is the communication (or lack thereof) between Amex and yourself. Obviously you have letters from your employer regarding the redundancy which you can produce and copies of the letters that you have sent to Amex dealing with the situation. The situation appears to be one of miscommunication and poor handling. The offices for Amex are in Brighton and as they are the ones to whom you pay your PPI premium, I would have thought that it is up to them to deal with your claim - your policy document should give you the full T's and C's for this.

Your case puzzles me as no tax office that I have ever heard of would 'hold' your P45. This does not affect your ability (or otherwise) to sign on. You may not receive benefit, but it is imperative that you sign on as soon as possible. if you do not, then I cannot see any PPI paying out as they use this for verification of your job status.

Seek legal advice from the CAB at the earliest opportunity to avoid this getting worse and I hope things get better for you.

Dear Experts,

Little over 9 months ago l was unexpectedly made redundant from my job and found myself in court battle with my previous employers over outstanding monies owed to me. Upon being made redundant l immediately took action and communicated with all of my creditors to explain the situation and arranged a minimum repayment plan until there was a resolution of matters. One of my credit cards is American Express of which l have PPI and every month paid a fairly large sum for the privilege. They asked me to fill in a standard claim form and send it back to their underwriters' for review, although, they didn’t envisage any delays as it was a simple and straightforward case. The problems began some weeks later when after several telephone calls to chase them on my claim I still hadn't received any response. I was assured time and again that it would take effect soon and were most helpful. That was until one late evening l received a call from an incredibly rude and obnoxious American woman threatening me with court action if l didn't pay up the full sum. Not prepared to accept this l called the CEO of Amex in New York to complain of its handling with my situation and that their communication was in desperate need of review. The next day l received a call from the Executive office in London explaining that they would be dealing with my account from now on and that could l re-send another claim form to Ace Europe (the underwriters) of which l did along with a letter from my lawyer confirming my situation. I was assured that this would be dealt promptly and felt that finally something was being done. What is a simple redundancy case and 9 months on they still haven’t paid out on my PPI and none of my calls have been returned nor any communication received by post. One key point to mention is their insistence that l sign on to the job centre something that l simply will not do and have previously corresponded to them, even when l have explained that the tax office hold my P45 due to a recent tax rebate, therefore, in law l cannot sign on. All of this has proved stressful and costly especially for my credit rating. The final insult was a call only days ago from a collection agency for Amex threatening court action of which l responded to by again explaining that matters are far from resolved and that my PPI should have paid out a long time ago. Please can an expert in this field advise what is the next step in this quagmire of mistakes?