PAYMENT PROTECTION RE-CLAIMED
Despite the banks’ defeat in the High Court last week it could be months
or years before they do what the court ordered and trawl through records back to
January 2005 to find millions of people who were mis-sold Payment Protection
Insurance.
The banks had claimed that the instructions given by the regulator – the
Financial Services Authority (FSA) – were beyond its powers. But Mr Justice
Ouseley said that was wrong. And the banks should do what the FSA told them to
do. But the banks are defying the court until it has made a case to appeal
against the judgement – a process that could taken another eight weeks.
So if you took out a loan or credit card in the last six years it is
worth checking if you are due compensation and put in a claim without waiting
for the banks to behave.
Payment Protection Insurance is supposed to help with the costs of a loan
or credit card if you fall ill or lose your job. It sounds a good idea. But it
is probably the most mis-sold product since personal pensions were foisted on
millions of people who should not have had them in the 1990s. Many people were
sold it even though they could not claim because they were too old,
self-employed, did not work at all, or had previous medical conditions.
It also emerged during the court proceedings that many people were sold
Payment Protection Insurance without even knowing it was part of the deal. They
were simply offered a ‘fully protected loan’ and given a quote for the monthly
repayment. Many didn’t realise that the cost could be more than doubled by
adding on the insurance.
So if you have taken out a loan or credit card since January 2005 check
your paperwork to see if insurance was involved. If it was then you should
consider making a complaint that it was mis-sold. You do that first to the bank
or credit card provider that lent you the money. If it turns you down or does
not resolve your case within eight weeks then you should take your case to the
Financial Ombudsman Service. It upholds three out of four of the cases it
considers. If the lender says your case is ‘on hold’ because of the court case
ignore them – after eight weeks you can go to the Ombudsman anyway.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm
If you were over pension age, retired, not working, or self-employed and
bought PPI it was almost certainly a mis-sale. And there are many other
circumstances when it was mis-sold. Check on these websites.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance
www.which.co.uk/advice/how-to-tell-if-youve-been-mis-sold-ppi/index.jsp.
If you only think you might just have a claim it is worth applying. There
is compensation of £4.5 billion due to around two million people.
Go back to Paul Lewis front page