Examining Mis-Sold PPI And It’s Effect On Personal Finances
Anyone who has taken out a loan, a credit card or a store buying card at any time over the past six years may be in line for a refund amounting to thousands of pounds. The reason for this is because of the huge amount of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies that have been sold as part and parcel of these products. Almost everyone purchasing this type of financial service has been mis-sold PPI.
The idea behind payment protection policies is basically sound. They are meant to offer some degree of protection to a borrower if they become ill, meet with an accident or suddenly find themselves unemployed. The problem concerns the way in which the policies are sold. Many banks and finance companies instruct their employees they have to sell the policies or be penalised if they don’t.
On many occasions, the client is informed that the policy is compulsory. This is simply not true, which, on its own, is mis-selling. In all probability, those people who are unemployed, self-employed or retired and who may already have cover for the aforementioned conditions, have been sold these policies unnecessarily. It is possible that a person may have one of these policies without knowing about it, although because of stricter regulations in recent years this is very unlikely. However, loans still active from many years ago may have been sold like this.
Quite often, a client will phone their bank for a quote on the monthly payments for a loan they intend to apply for. The consultant at the bank will quote a figure whilst at the same time informing the customer that the loan is fully protected, which is another way of saying that there will be a very expensive policy attached to the loan. The client, who will generally be unable to make the repayment calculations in his head, thinks the amount is reasonable and accepts the quote little realizing that he has just been mis-sold PPI.
The loan products that are sold do not generate the real profits for the lending institution. Enormous sums are made from the products sold together with the loans. Following an investigation lasting 15 months, the Competition Commission announced in June 2008 that huge profits were being made after they had calculated how much the insurance companies were paying out against what they had been taking in. Insurance costs are generally far higher than the interest charged although it is not the insurance companies that are making the money, but the companies selling the loans.
If a person has been mis-sold PPI, the chances are that they were not given complete details about the product they were purchasing. Among the ploys used by financial institutions are telling the client that the cover is compulsory, not even telling the client about the policy, not inquiring whether the client is already covered by another policy. Lenders are obliged to inform customers about specific details of any policy and to make sure that it is what they need.
Clients suspecting that they have been sold a product unnecessarily, have every right to demand a refund of their premiums. Usually the first letter is answered with a rejection couched in legal terms. This is where many people give up. Subsequent letters and reference made to contacting the Financial Ombudsman Service, sometimes results in a settlement.
Many claims examined by the Ombudsman are decided in the consumers favor. If the consumers claim is successful, the cancellation of his policy is fairly certain, if it is active. Clients should bear this in mind. The information in this article is a superficial look at the problems facing consumers that have been mis-sold PPI.
Want to find out more about making PPI claims? Then visit www.PPIRefundsUK.co.uk and find out how to start your mis sold PPI claim today.
August 9, 2010
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Posted by Phelton McCory
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