If you’ve ever taken out a loan, mortgage, credit card or store card, or bought something on credit, then the chances are you were sold payment protection insurance (PPI) at the same time.
Now, the consumer association Which? believes that thousands, even millions of you, may have been mis-sold PPI.
The scale of the mis-selling of loan payment protection insurance is greater than previously thought, with up to 2 million policies sold to people who may never be able to make a claim, according to Which?.
Which? says that up to 30% of you taking out insurance on a loan in the last 5 years may fall foul of exclusions that would prevent you claiming.
What is PPI?
PPI is designed to cover your debt repayments if you can’t work through illness or accident, or if you are made redundant.
Unfortunately it is often mis-sold, costing many of us thousands of pounds for expensive insurance we may never actually be able to claim on!
Which? has been speaking out about the mis-selling of PPI for many years, but now the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) are getting involved.
Mis-selling of PPI
The FSA has already designated the insurance a priority because of the potential risks to consumers, and has fined or censured a string of companies over poor selling practices.
Which? found that 32% of those who signed up for the insurance may fall foul of one or more of the ‘significant exclusions‘ in the small print. That could amount to between 1.7 million and 2.1 million policies.
The research also found that the average loan is £6,050; 1 in 10 of us has borrowed £10,000 or more.
A Which? spokesperson commented on their survey:
‘People who are self-employed or on a fixed-term job contract, for example, often aren’t covered by PPI. Nor are many people aged 65 and over, or people who might claim for absences relating to pre-existing medical conditions.’
Doug Taylor, Which? personal finance campaigner, said:
‘We’ve always known that people were being mis-sold [payment protection insurance], but we were still amazed to discover the scale of it. It appears that salespeople are chasing their commissions, while their bosses are chasing profits. Where’s the sense of responsibility to the customer?’.
He said if someone with a loan or mortgage thought they might have been mis-sold the insurance: ‘now’s the time to fight back‘.
Many people may not be aware that policies only pay out for a limited amount of time, often 12 months, and that credit card and store card insurance frequently covers only the minimum monthly payment.
So, if you think you have been mis-sold PPI, then you need to claim it back from the issuer!
- Claim back your Payment Protection Insurance
- Claim back your bank penalty charges
- Claim back your credit card fees
- Claim back your mortgage exit fees
Possibly Related Posts:
- Payday loans: helpful tool, or hopeless financial trap?
- Are mortgages tied to current accounts really such a bad idea?
- Which is the best balance transfer credit card? The champ vs. the challenger
- Is your credit card deal about to change for the better?
- Will we be living with inflation?
June 5th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Hi Martin
Sorry to be a bore and I think you will not want to here this.
Over the last 5 years I have had to claim twice for redundancy. These so called PPI you refer too have allowed me to keep my mortgage payments up to date, have paid 4 credit card accounts over the 2 redundacies and in two instances actually paid more a month than I did while working, paid for a loan I had on a car and a bank loan that I also had. I gree that they can be costly but if you have to draw on them as I have twice any payments they make soon cover the amounts you have made. To conclude and for the record
I was made redundant 30-3-08 and I am already receiving payments for my mortgage and credit card.
If you would like to know who these companies are please contact me by email. I think you will be
suprised. I look forward to hearing from you
Regards Brian J Taylor
June 7th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Bet you’re not self-employed?
June 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Thanks Derek…….. my point exactly to Brian. I was made to take out one of these PPIs with a loan a couple of years back despite having silimar insurance cover elsewhere. The lender didn’t ask and didn’t tell me that cover was valid on the loan. Needless to say I won my claim!
June 13th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hi I have been on long term sickness and although have an insurance with my mortage i am excluded on my cover to help with my mortage payments as my illness is due to something to do with my back… aswell as being on medication and having number of sicknotes and being refered to a specialist consultant i am still having to pay my mortage… How can I re-claim these… Feb 08 – ongoing. The medication can make me of unsound mind..(confused,etc). Any one have any sugestions on this that may help me.. Thanks for reading this!!!! Poll,
June 13th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I was interested in your information about mis-sold PPI. About 5 years ago my husband took out a Halifax loan to buy a car. Since then, we split up and almost divorced but got back togther again in February 2007. he had been ill and had to give up his full=-time retail manager’s job. he has since been diagnosed with possibly MS and will never work again. I wrote to the Halifax loans department because I wanted to find out what the terms and conditions of his PPI were since he had defaulted on payments because of his low income. It’s now over 6 months since I wrote and I realise that they probably wouldn’t write back to me with his details without his authorisation. I nder if you could advise me on who to contact at The Halifax since I could only guess at the address. Then I can get him to authorise me to deal with any queries and I can look at the PPI for him. he is unable to deal with such issues now.
At the time we split up, we had had a joint current account with the Halifax and it had a £3000 limit. I paid my husband half the debt on that overdraft but the Halifax harrassed me at home for the full payment, not taking into account that he had moved out. I got my solicitor to organise an indemnity and my husband voluntarily took on the debt. However he got into a real mess once he was out of work because the Halifax bounced all his direct debits and other payments once he had reached the £3000 limit thus sending it up to around £4,000 with their charges. They then stopped him from drawing money out once his salary had gone in and the only way he survived was afterwards when he received his benefits, he used an old Brittannia account to have them paid in there. When we got back together he was living in a scruffy flat with faulty central heating, freezing cold water, huddled around a halogen heater. His mum had visited from Cheshire. she was in her eighties and her pension bought the food. he had arranged a monthly repayment to the Hlaifax’s credit company for both the debt and the loan. He ran out of payment slips two months ago and so I wrote to them asking for more but they ignored us and so we have to post a cheque to them for which we don’t get a receipt. That’s for the car loan – £5 a month! The other one, he got confused a few months ago and they rang himn one day demanding money off him. he got more confused and I went on the phone. We have to sue my [personal bank account for bills because his Brittannia account won’t allow direct debits. these people would not accpet anything less than £35 and took my bank details so that they get it by direct debit – so in effect, I am paying back the overdraft now that I paid half back to my husband three years ago!
Just to put all this into perspective, I have also been ill and signed off worke for two years now. Therefore , with chuild tax credits and Housing benefit, our monthly income is a little less than £1700 a month and that has to pay for us AND our kids aged 17 and 13.
I would appreciate some advice, particularly whether we can actually fight the Halifax at this late date but especially who to write to about getting the information about my husband’s PPI on the car loan please.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I have been inundating Lloyds TSB with letters over the PPI applied to my Credit card account. I was not made aware it was being added until I took the time to scrutanise my monthly bill. I contacted my bank only to be fobbed off by them spouting Codes of practice etc. What they ignore is the fact that staff are offered incentives to add these services,whether the customer is aware or not. I have written dozens of letters cancelling this useless insurance cover, but they continually ignore my requests. I am disgusted by Lloyds TSB’s attitude, they treat their customers with contempt. They are a disgrace to the Banking Industry. This has been going on for over a year now. I have made an official complaint to The Financial Ombudsman, but it takes so long, the banks realise that it is a long process, and so take advantage while they can. The general public don’t have proper protection from these institutions.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i recently took out a loan through picture finance, who advised me to take their ppi which cost 13k on top of the loan, this was for death, sickness, and unemployment, so i took it (like an idiot). i have been on sick sice march after falling at work and put in a claim, i was horrified when they replied telling me i was not covered. when i rang and queried this they say its only my partner who is covered for sickness, not me.i am only covered if i die. great. yet they failed to tell me this, however they are adamant they told me. if so would i of paid 13k just for 1 person. i dont think so. i amk now going to try to get this refunde, but fear i have a massive battle on my hand. because of this loan we are now at the brink of losing our home. tina
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Tina
You may be able to get this loan written off. When did you take it out and what was it for? If it was before April 2007 you can claim to have it written off. You will have a good case. You will almost certainly get the PPI back and the loan written off. Please please look at http://www.CreditCardsWrittenOff.com I am divorcing and have lived on credit cards after my business folded. I have claimed to have my cards cleared. It will only cost you £10 to get your file from them. Their solicitors do all the work for you Please PLEASE leave your details for them and Robert from the company will ring you. You have nothing to lose Tina.
Regards Jo
August 17th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Martin
HELP
I have had a loan with PPI from HSBC, which i settled before the full term. I curent have another loan worth nearly £6000, with no PPI and have a large credit card nearly £10,000. As am going through finacial hardship I wish to recalim all monies that i have been over charged, I want to do it myseld and was wondering if you have template letters.
many thanks.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hi Ali,
On behalf of Martin (who’s now left us to discover the New World) I would recommend that you chat to our claims partners (click here: http://af.moneyhospital.co.uk/redirect.aspx?ltype=45&cid=BLOG ) as they’ve got a lot of expertise in dealing with these cases and are perhaps more likely to bring you success. However I’ve done a bit of searching for you and MoneySavingExpert has a letter template:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#step2
August 20th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
And the other side of the coin is how very helpful and kind AXA have been while paying almost £15k on a credit card over the past year under PPI since my husband was diagnosed with a serious heart condition which means he will never work again. Without this I cannot think how we would have managed to clear this debt. Credit card now nil.
Thank you AXA for the way you handled this claim.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:58 am
Lisa – it’s good to hear the good stories too sometimes! As long as you’ve been advised properly and you have cover that’s appropriate to your needs then it really can make all the difference.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I REMORTGAGED MY HOME IN 2006 AND PPI FOR £7,500 WAS ADDED TO THE LOAN.WHEN I SOLD THE HOUSE THE RESETTLEMENT FIGURE QUOTED WAS£ 7,500 MORE THAN I BORROWED.THEY SAID THIS WAS TO TAKE IN TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PPI INSURANCE FIGURE.I WAS EMPLOYED AT THE TIME WITH SICK PAY AS A BENEFIT.I HAVE SOMEONE DEALING WITH MY CLAIM AT THE MOMENT BUT THE FIRM THAT PROVIDED THE LOAN IS NO LONGER TRADING.I HAVE BEEN CONTACTED TO SAY THAT AS THIS IS THE CASE,MY CLAIM WILL HAVE TO BE LOOKED AT BY A GOVERNMENT COMPENSATION BODY ???? AM I WASTING MY TIME IN HOLDING OUT FOR A POSITIVE OUTCOME FOR ME AND MY FAMILY ??
August 9th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Last year I made a claim on my car insurace cover as I was in an accident which left me unable to work. The insurance payed out for 9months. I am still unemployed and paying the premiums each month even though I can’t claim. Can I claim for miss selling of the policy?