Reclaiming your Mis-sold PPI

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by: BTLewis
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Word Count: 564
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2012 Time: 2:51 AM
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If you've been made redundant, your having difficulty finding work, or simply don't seem to be earning enough, making ends meet is tough, particularly if you have a loan, mortgage or credit card debts hanging over your head. However, there may be a way to relieve some of the pressure, by reclaiming mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

For anyone who has taken out a loan, a mortgage or applied for a credit card through a financial service provider over the past fifteen years there is a high chance they were sold a PPI policy in conjunction with their chosen product, to allegedly "protect" them in situations where they are unable to continue loan payments. When that customer is hit with an unexpected illness or accident, is killed or becomes unemployed, the PPI's job is to cover them in their hour of need.

The downside of these seemingly wonderful policy is that they had many flaws, mostly to do with stipulations in their terms and conditions that made them remarkably unfair, even if the customer was eligible at the time of accepting it. The other major problem is that, on the whole (judging by the sheer numbers of complaints and investigations carried out by consumer watchdogs), the policy was fraudulently mis-sold to customers who had no way of ever making use of it - paying money for something about as useful as a submarine with windscreen wipers.

Mis-sold PPI is big news in the world of British banking - a debacle that is costing the banks billions of pounds to rectify and resulting in a lot of indignant letters being sent to their respective complaints departments. Many people are receiving premiums plus interest worth hundreds to thousands of pounds, the banks setting aside huge provisions in anticipation of the sheer amount of disgruntled customers eager to claim their money back.

Reclaiming mis-sold PPI is a necessary process to undergo in order to reclaim that money and punish banks for taking said money in a devious and unethical way. There are many ways to claim - it could be worth trying to reclaim the premiums plus interest by yourself by complaining straight to the bank.

However, more than anything, it is very important not to let the banks deny your compensation if you have completely justified reasons to claim and it is not unknown for them to offer a partial settlement instead of the full amount.

If you don't have the time, you find the process of reclaiming stressful or just plain frustrating, then contacting the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to make them aware that the financial service provider has denied your claim or using the services of a reputable claims management company (CMC) could be the way forward.

If you or anyone you know has been hard hit by the recession and its detrimental effects, it wouldn't hurt to check whether you were mis-sold PPI along with a loan agreement. It could be that a banking employee coerced you into taking it, told you that they couldn't get a mortgage without it or added it to your loan agreement without their knowledge - there are a number of situations where PPI refunds are applicable.
It could make all the difference.

About the Author

Bryan Lewis has been following the PPI scandal for some time, writing for one of the UK's leading claims management companies.