PROTECTION RACKET
ADMITTED
Beware! The crooks are already
targeting people after the banks’ historic climb-down this week over payment
protection insurance (PPI). Two weeks ago I suggested you checked to see if you
had been mis-sold PPI since 14 January 2005. If you took out a loan or a credit
card chances are you were sold insurance with it and chances are that was a mis-sale.
The banks agreed this week not to
resist paying out to the millions of people affected. And the crooks are already
trying to get in on the act.
If you get a text message or an
email saying ‘our records show that you may have been mis-sold PPI and are
entitled to compensation’ and asking you to call a number or click on a link DO
NOT DO IT. The banks will never contact you like that. If you respond you could
be taking the first step towards being conned out of money. Delete them.
You may also see adverts in
newspapers, on websites, or even on TV or radio offering help with a PPI claim.
Ignore them too. They are not scams but they will take up to 40% of the
compensation which you can easily get for yourself.
If you have put in a complaint
about PPI in the last few months the bank may have written back to say it is on
hold pending the High Court case. That case is now over – the banks decided this
week they would not try to appeal against the judgment of the High Court on 20
April.
So the banks are now busy
processing their bulging pending trays. You should hear again soon. If the
answer is not one you want then take your case to the financial ombudsman
service.
If you have not already followed
my advice of two weeks ago and put in a complaint, there are three good reasons
to do it now.
First, the banks will not come
and find you. Normally the banks will wait for you to complain – even though
they have to look for what is called ‘systemic’ mis-selling and investigate it,
your case may not be included.
Second, the banks will now deal
with your case. Until Monday they were putting them on hold. If the bank does
not give you compensation within eight weeks of making the claim you can go to
the financial ombudsman anyway.
Third, the scale of the
compensation could be far larger than we thought. The most recent estimate was
that it would cost the banks £4.5bn. But five major banks have set aside a total
of nearly £6bn and industry experts say the final cost could be between £8bn and
£10bn.
That means more people are
entitled and that compensation will be higher than we thought. So there are
billions of pounds due to millions of people and we are now at the start of
payouts on an industrial scale.
To see if you can claim part of
it
read
my piece of two weeks ago.
And remember - don’t get help from anyone who wants to be paid to give it.
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