Have you got a claim?
You can find out in the next 30 seconds
If any of the following applied to you at the time of sale you probably have strong grounds for a complaint.
TOP 10 GROUNDS FOR COMPENSATION:
1. You were under 18 or over 65
2. You worked less than 16 hours a week
3. You were employed on a temporary or contract basis
4. You suffered from stress or backache
5. You had an existing illness
6. You were aware you may become unemployed
7. You were not told about the true cost of the insurance (or not told you were buying it at all)
8. You were not asked about any other insurance you had
9. You were told the insurance was necessary for you to get the loan
10. You were not told that the same policy could potentially be bought cheaper elsewhere
If YES, then it is likely that you were sold loan insurance and told that it would cover your payments if you suddenly found yourself out of work.
Payment protection insurance can be staggeringly and disproportionately expensive. The Citizens Advice Bureau reports that PPI premiums can add between 13% and 56% to the cost of a loan.
Have you ever taken used one of the following?
Loans
Consolidation loan
Mortgage
Store Cards
Credit Cards
The scandal is that it has been sold to many people without their knowledge and often when the company selling it knew that the consumer would never be able to use it but sold it to them anyway.
Your claim is for a full refund and/or cancellation of the policy. It probably adds up to thousands.
The selling of Payment Protection Insurance is commonly linked to borrowing such as your mortgage, credit card, store card, car loan, consolidation loan etc. The PPI policy is said to protect the borrower against the risk that they will be unable to make repayments under the loan for reasons such as unemployment or incapacity to work through illness or disability.
PPI is big business, with an estimated 20 million policies in force and making about £5 billion per year for the sellers.
Read enough.... apply now
Although PPI could be helpful in the right circumstances, it fails a significant number of people.
CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) enquiries about PPI have found a disproportionately high number of claims being turned down. A survey of CAB debt clients in 2001 found that 85 per cent of those that had claimed on PPI had been unsuccessful. In constrast, industry figures show around 85 per cent of claims are successful. As CAB clients are often subject to financial and social exclusion, this suggests that PPI is a particular problem for the most vulnerable borrowers who are also the people at greatest risk of facing financial difficulties.
Simon Burgess of PPI broker British Insurance agreed. "It's a major scandal that needs to be dealt with now," he said. "Lenders have shown they can't be trusted to sell the insurance. It should only be available through specialist providers."