What Was PPI Sold With?

Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI as it’s most commonly referred to, has been systematically mis-sold alongside various other products and has been a handsome earner for banks and lenders for decades as they swindled money from customers by taking advantage of their position of trust. For every ten complaints the Financial Ombudsman Service receives, eight are still regarding PPI and it estimates that £50 billion worth of PPI has been mis-sold throughout the years. Now the cat has been out of the bag for a while and the tables have turned somewhat, but far too many people still remain tentative about their chances of recovering compensation regarding mis-sold PPI and whether or not they’ve even had PPI. Unfortunately, it is still the case that some consumers aren’t entirely sure what PPI was sold with. So we’ve devised a quick list to give you a better idea.

Bank Loans/Mortgages

One of the most commonly sold products which came along with mis-sold PPI was mortgages. Prior to the financial crash in 2008 credit seemed relatively easy to come by, and banks took advantage of the credit boom like never before. PPI was generating such huge profits that bonus incentives were offered to staff, which inevitably led to the mis-selling on an enormous scale. Lenders advised customers that PPI assisted in the application process, or even that the credit facility wasn’t avilable without PPI. In the case of millions of customers, PPI was added without the customer’s knowledge, hidden away in the small print. It was not a matter of choice, and many homeowners paid thousands, even tens of thousands, back to the bank for insurance they simply didn’t want, didn’t need, or sometimes didn’t even know they had. The same is true of loans. We estimate that if you’ve had credit prior to 2010 you may well be in a minority if you didn’t have PPI, such was the scale of the illegal practise.

Credit Cards/Store Cards

As if the 30+% APR wasn’t enough, credit card providers and store card providers have been raking in a tidy amount extra as a result of mis-sold PPI. If you’ve shopped on credit, you could be entitled to reclaim PPI. Generally PPI was added each month you had a balance on your card, and would have been a percentage of your balance.

Car Finance

Today is the era of cars on finance. With people looking for the convenient option of monthly payments with all services and repairs included, many were snared by mis-sold PPI. Over the duration of a car’s finance plan, thousands of pounds could be charged in PPI costs.

Catalogues

Another way people have fallen foul of mis-sold PPI is through catalogue purchases made on credit. Entering into a catalogue agreement, many people were given PPI without consent. It is often the case that catalogues use different names and phrases when referring to their payment insurance, but it is always in essence PPI.

Hire Purchase

If you’ve entered into an agreement to pay for goods over a period of time, for example household appliances, there is every chance this came with PPI.

How to check if you’ve had PPI

Your Money Claim are the experts. With decades of experience within the financial sector, Your Money Claim is used to beating the banks on a daily basis. Such is our status within the industry, the majority of the high street banks contacted us in order to set up fast-track systems whereby we can find out whether you’ve been sold PPI quick.

We’d be delighted to take care of your claim. As a regulated Claims Management Company you can be sure that your claim will be handled in the correct manner throughout the process. We’ll answer your questions and we’ll keep you informed at every step. So why not fill in our online form or contact us via telephone, email or via our live chat facility and we can make a start on potentially recovering thousands of pounds in compensation for you.

What Was PPI Sold With?

Lloyds PPI bill rises by a further £600 million

Lloyds Banking Group, which includes the likes of Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Black Horse to name a few, has today issued it’s most recent figures. The bank, part owned by the UK taxpayer following a rescue package by the government, has today revealed that the biggest financial scandal to hit the UK, the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), is far from over.

Previous figures

You may recall that in Lloyds’ previous figures released to the city, it did not make any additions to it’s already staggering PPI compensation pot. This prompted analysts and so called experts to suggest this marked the beginning of the end of the PPI scandal. I suggested in my blog at the time that Lloyds were in the process of selling a 25% stake in TSB and that any bad news would affect the share price and therefore lead to losses for the bank.

I also suggested at the time that the Lloyds PPI bill will rise by over a billion over the course of the next 12 months. Three months later and they’ve added £600m to their compensation fund, so my prediction currently looks very much on course.

Total PPI bill

With RBS/Natwest and Barclays having already released their figures over the last week, with RBS adding £150m and Barclays topping up their compensation pot by £900m it’s clear that the scandal still has a long way to go before it’s over.

Unfortunately, whatever happens from now on, the banks will have profited more from selling PPI than they will ever pay back, given the compensation pot stands just over £23 billion, in contrast to the £50 billion worth of PPI policies sold. However, with an estimated 7 million people yet to make a claim, most of whom won’t be aware they’ve been sold a policy such were the tactics employed by lenders, I urge you to check your paperwork if you have it, or contact Your Money Claim who can carry out the necessary checks and work the claim on your behalf in order to recover the compensation you deserve.

Lloyds PPI bill

PPI Claims Continue to Concern Banks

News emerged this week of the increased provisions put aside by banks to cover the PPI claims which are not dwindling as fast as they’d like. In particular, the banking industry is less than pleased at the acceleration in the number of claims which relate to PPI policies sold before 2005. The response to this trend has cost the banks an estimated £1.5 billion in topping up PPI compensation funds.

Taken at face value, one could be mistaken for overestimating the decline in PPI claims. The Financial Ombudsman Service said last week that it had received 57,000 PPI-related complaints in the second quarter of the year, in comparison with 132,000 in the period last year. However,  while the overall trend is one of decline, the issue which is unsettling the chiefs in City banks is the steep increase in PPI claims from the pre-2005 era, and this has led to reasonable suspicions that lenders will kick up a fuss and make revived calls for the imposition of a cut-off point for those claiming PPI.

Cut-Off Point

This is by no means a new move. Indeed, the banks took the issue to a judicial review in 2011, unsuccessfully arguing for 2005 to become the cut-off point. The fact that PPI claims from before 2005 are increasing, along with the substantial top-ups necessary to compensate PPI claimants, has rattled the major banks.

It is likely to be their argument that, as they are only obliged to keep customer records for seven years, they will not have the necessary essential information relating to PPI claims from so far back. Executives at big lenders will also cite the costs of administering ‘invalid’ claims which can reach £1,000 each which they consider to be an erosion of capital.

Rejections

However, it is no secret that big banks are often found rejecting valid PPI claims, seeing over a million complaints escalate to the Financial Ombudsman to step in on behalf of the victim.

Despite the fact that the Financial Conduct Authority’s chief executive, Martin Wheatley, told MPs he remained sceptical about the prospect of a cut-off point, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has held initial talks with the City regulator regarding a cut-off for PPI claims.

The latest tentative steps taken towards a cut-off point have been faced with hostility from consumer groups, who were also keen to kill the prospect of any deal in the wake of previous attempts by the banks.

PPI Claims

Here’s the continuation from part three. We’re going to dive straight into the next post and carry on from where we left off with part three.

Let’s start this section with the following question…

I’ve already claimed on my PPI, can I still make a mis-selling complaint

It is still possible to make a complaint regarding the sale of the policy, as it is the point of the sale that is the issue and not the fact you may have made a claim against the policy. However, if the claim is successful then your award will be reduced by the amount the policy paid out.

I want to make a claim, but I want to remain protected if I fall out of work etc.

We would recommend searching the market via one of the many comparison websites out there. There are some good, and affordable polices available across the market, ranging from Payment Protection Insurance policies which cover the cost of your credit repayments, to Income Protection policies which cover your salary. If you got credit that was taken out some years ago and you have PPI on it, it’s more than likely that you’re paying way over the odds for it. You should check if you can get a better deal elsewhere:

• Standalone cover can save you up to 70%. This is due to the fact that some bank policies are so pricey that the maximum pay out for a year maybe less than the policy actually costs. It is possible for you to get similar cover separately at about a third of the cost.
• Cancel and also switch your expensive insurance. If you already have a bank loan with PPI, you’ll be allowed to cancel the policy but it’s always best to check first. You should also ask if you really need it or not. If you do then getting a standalone policy and cancelling your existing one should save you money as there’s less going out on commissions.

Will my lender cancel my PPI if I make a claim?

If you start a PPI claim, the lender generally cancels the policy upon receipt of the complaint as it’s assumed if you’re complaining about it you don’t wish to have it.

I cannot remember who I had loans / credit cards / mortgages with. How can I find out?

If you find yourself in this position, you can check your credit report. On there you will find any debts that have been alive within the last 6 years, even if they’re closed now. You have a right to see any credit files for a small payment of £2 from Equifax, Experian and Callcredit.

This just about brings part four to a close. We hope you’ve found things out that will eventually prove useful if you have a PPI claim to make. Keep your eyes peeled for the next part in this series of blog posts.

PPI – Frequently Asked Questions Part 4