Payment Protection Insurance Advice Made Simple
The trouble with a lot of payment protection insurance advice is that it all seems rather complicated. In addition to that it can seem rather scary to be taking on a big corporation such as a financial institution such as a bank as they have an army of lawyers. So, what is the simplest payment protection insurance advice I can give you?
Well the first thing is that if you think you may have a PPI claim then you are probably right; approximately 1 in 4 policies were mis sold so if you think that any of the following apply to you then you have a good chance of winning your case.
Common Cases Of Payment Protection Insurance Mis-Selling
- If you were self employed or retired and sold a policy then this was mis sold to you as the policy would only cover you if you were employed.
- If the company selling you the policy did not check your medical history then the policy was mis sold, simply on the basis that if an existing health complaint re-occurred then you would not have been able to claim.
- If you were told that the insurance was mandatory then it was mis sold. These policies are not compulsory and you have the right to decide whether you want it or not.
- If the policy was included without your knowledge then it was mis sold. The banks made money out of these policies as there is interest on this payment as well as your loan repayment so staff were keen to add it on to get bonuses – often without telling the customer about it.
To give you an idea of some of the companies that have been fined for misselling ppi have a look at the following list of culprits:-
- Alliance & Leicester (Fined £7,000,000) for: failing to treat its customers fairly when selling PPI in connection with home shopping products. The FSA found that A and L did not have adequate systems and controls in place to minimize the risk of unsuitable sales.
- HSBC (Fined £1,080,000) For: failing to treat its customers fairly when selling PPI in connection with home shopping products. The FSA found that HSBC did not have adequate systems and controls in place to minimize the risk of unsuitable sales.
- HFC Bank (Fined £1,085,000) For: failing to treat its customers fairly when selling PPI.
- Egg (Fined £721,000) For: serious failings in its sales of credit card payment protection insurance.
- LVBS (Fined £840,000) The FSA has fined Liverpool Victoria Banking Services Limited (LVBS) £840,000 for serious failings in the sale of single premium payment protection insurance (PPI). The penalty was imposed for failings in relation to PPI offered to customers who telephoned LVBS seeking unsecured personal loans between 14 January 2005 and 8 August 2007.
- The regulator said that when customers rang LVBS to apply for a personal loan, LVBS added the cost of PPI to the quotation without the customer asking for it. If customers realised they did not have to buy the cover and objected to it, LVBS then put pressure on them to take the PPI.
And these are just a few of the fines that have been dished out. So, what is the best course of action you can take if you think you have a payment protection insurance claim? Well there are two courses of action you can take. The first is to write to the company who mis sold you the policy stating why you think it was mis sold and if need be get the Financial Ombudsman involved.
The second is to you use a solicitor who specialises in this kind of practice. This may be a preferred option as they will more often than not help you reclaim interest that has been paid on the policy. Of course there is a fee involved for using these kinds of solicitors and that being the case it is probably best if you use a no win no fee firm.
