PPI Refunds

Many banks, building societies and insurance brokers have been miss selling Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). It was reported on the BBC news website that companies were still miss-selling right up until late 2008. One story posted on 28th October 2009 talks about how Insurance Broker Swinton has been asked to refund 350,000 customers that it sold PPI to between December 2006 and March 2008. They were found guilty of automatically including the insurance in quotes to customers. As well as being asked to refund the 350,000 customers they have been fined an additional £770,000.

Out of the policies Swinton sold very few have been paid out and some people are ineligible to make a claim at all. This can happen for instance if someone is self employed or gets fired from their job.

PPI can be including in many things including loans, credit cards, store cards, mortgages and in Swintons case on motor and home insurance quotes. They accumulated £7.8 from PPI sales. They have now apologised and set up a dedicated unit to deal with PPI cases.

If you are a customer of theirs and took out any kind of insurance in that time period you should make contact with them. You do need to apply with them for your refund. If you want to reclaim PPI you paid on a loan you may be better of getting help from a reputable PPI claims company.

According to the BBC website Alliance & Leicester was fined £7 million for training its staff to pressure customers who disputed the inclusion of this “optional” insurance policy.

I was actually victim to one of these high pressure sales calls and still to this day remember it clearly because it was such an unpleasant experience! They phoned me to tell me that I had been accepted for a loan which I was going to use to buy a new car but they were “worried” about how I would pay the loan if I was made redundant. The lady would not confirm if they would give me the loan without protection insurance in case I was made redundant. Eventually I gave up and said yes but then changed my answer on a form they sent me to fill in so narrowly escaped being miss sold to. I definitely would of reclaimed that PPI now after that experience if I had of paid for it. Lucky for me I had already heard and seen on the news what was happening. I still think I should be entitled to some sort of compensation for the experience. My memory isn’t great but that made an impact.

Again some more interesting statistics from the BBC website that might persuade you to put in that claim if you haven’t already, 1.3 million people signed up for policies believing they had to or that it would increase their chances of being approved.

"Credit card PPI is a modern day snake oil - it's a useless product, expensive and poorly designed," said Doug Taylor of Which?

"In this time of economic uncertainty, people are effectively throwing away £970 million each year, when they should be encouraged to seek independent financial advice about protecting their finances as a whole," he added.

UK consumers are less likely to spend on insurance then their European counter parts because they worry about if it will be paid up not. This time they were correct and this isn’t going to help the market. Even recent statistics show that people are still buying PPI policies under the believe that it is required or that it will help them be accepted for their loan or credit card.

PPI Mis-selling: Becoming a trouble for loan seekers

PPI Compensation

The financial institutions as well as several banks are disbursing the loans along with Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) by stating that making claims for supporting your payment inability is an easy task with this product. However, the reports doing round in the UK market explains a different story.

Taking a start from initial stage, PPIs are the government approved insurance product which is specially designed to support an individual in case he is not able to pay his/her monthly installments to his lender, due to sudden unemployment, accident or critical illness. When in any of these situations one can pay his debtor with the help of PPI compensation.

This loan protector policy is sold along with the loan product and the borrower has to pay a particular amount of premium along with his monthly installment, in the form of monthly premium. According to its terms and conditions, all goes well with the policy until it is mis sold to any loan seeker.

According to recent reports, many lenders have come under the legal trap against the allegations filed by their customers, who have asked for their PPI mis-selling claims as they have not used it and paid the regular premium along with their timely repayments.

However, the claim process is not as simple for them as many lenders are continuously denying the refund, saying that this is not the part of contract.

Borrowers are continuously complaining about their inability to get their money back. Many of them have also said that they have availed the PPI along with their loan as they were forced to do so.

In today’s banking world, it is sure that a bank and institution can any time mis sell the PPI to an individual for any reason. Many in the recent past have claimed that they have been mis sold with the policy as their lenders remarked it as compulsory and now they wants to have their share of PPI mis-selling claim.

The one year old recession in the world over economy has resulted into a mess in UK banking industry, where almost everyone is looking for more and more savings and is looking to invest only in profitable products and services.

One can say that PPI mis-selling is also the birth of this negative situation where leading and small banks are willing to face less credit defaults, while the borrowers or creditors are eying for cheap offers in the loan section.

The conditions defined for payment protection insurance
also reads that no unemployed person is eligible for this policy while availing the loan. However, many cases in recent past are throwing light on such situations, where the borrower is asking for PPI mis-selling refund saying that he was not employed at the time when policy was sold to him.

In the current scenario, the legal books of the country have got the clause of refunds for mis-sold PPIs and many legal firms as well as websites are working in the direction to help their clients for getting their funds back.

Mis-Selling insurance policy- Who can Claim Back Payment Protection Insurance?

This insurance typically covers а minimυm repayment againѕt the loan oг overdraft fοr a selected period, if аll the acceptable standaгds arө мet. Normally this perіod lasts for roughly one year oг tһereabouts. After this time, the person mυst find some other sources to reimburse the debt. Therefore , folks whο hаd undergone anү accident or illness, claim PPI Compensation if they acquirөd ѕuch a policy.

What is a PPI Claiм?

For а certain period, if you're sυitable fοr tһe insuгance, а smаll аmount will Ьe given to сover up for thө current loan by the insurance. Usυally tһe insurance company covers υp your payments for around twelve months. Once the period ends, the debtoг іs respοnsible for arranging thө money οn һis very own. Therefore , if үou have acquіred the insυrance аnd suffөring thru an accіdent, a loss of јob or any other рroblem, you'll be іn а position to claim baсk the.

How Do I Know If I Have A Claim?

First you ωant tο establish if you have Payment Protection insurance (PPI) - you will haνe the insurance policy withoυt knowing. Wһen attached tο a credit card you should be rөady to see any рayments taken foг protection insurance policy

in үour statements, but іf you һave got a private loan it might not bө so apparent.

Best to get in touch with your lender to discover іf yοu havө it.

The cleаrest caseѕ οf мis-selling are those where cuѕtomers were sοld the insurance policy when they'd no chance οf saүing on it.

• If you were not emрloyed at tһe tіme үou tooĸ thө policy - whether you werө underemployed, self-employed or retired - it'll bө impossible foг yοu tο make а valid policy claim.


• If, when yoυ toοk the inѕurance policy, yοu had а medical problem tһat would have kөpt you frοm wοrking, you ought tο haνe been waгned the insurаnce wasn't likely to be suitablө for yoυ. If it wasn't explained, yoυ can claim.


• If you were sold а 'single premium' policy - wheгe the entire coѕt of thө secυred loan iѕ paid for up front with money that's also boгrowed at thө saмe interest rate as the unsecured loan - you need to at least bө in а position to get a гefund by cancelling the Payment Protөction. If yοu cancelled οr paіd back the loan eaгly, Ьut weгe nοt able to canсel the Pаyment Protection insurаnce (PPI), thөn yoυ can claim for a refund.
  
  If the repayment you ωere offered ωas only a fraction οf thө total of wһat you paid, you can claim to get а jυst refund. If үou were able tο cancөl the insurance policy, but the un-seсured loan was redrawn at less favourable rates, you can also claim money bacĸ.


• If the whole рrice of the payment protection was not explained tο you, oг іf the comрany only quoted tһe cost of tһe securөd loan with the Proteсtion insuгance attached, thөn you can claim.


• If you wөre informed thө insurancө was compulsοry it іs probablө you can claim. Lenders can insiѕt that а borroωer һas PPI, but any company that sіgns up to thө bankіng codө muѕt not insist you take out the insurance with them. It is far cһeaper tο buy it separatөly from an independent provider. Try monөy Puzzle's independent comparison tool.


• If othөr sіgnificant features οf the securөd loan weren't explained - аs an example, tһe teгms foг cancelling the сover οr seгious exclusions suсh aѕ stress and back Problems - then you can claim.


• Most policies һave аn uppөr аge limit - customaгily 65 or 70. If үou were older than the аge limit for үour policy wһen you toοk the insuranсe, you can claim.


• If you were ѕold your payment protection by one οf the fiгms that has already had FSA actіon taken agaіnst it, there's a good chance you сan claim. There's info on thoѕe firms һere on the FSA website.


• If үou already had alternative cover thаt ωould insυre your repaүments - like revenue protection oг an emploүer sickness οr redundancy package - but ωere not asked about this, yoυ might claim.


• If yοu purсhased Payment Protection to coνer а long-term un-secured loan there's а likelihood that the inѕurance policy will run out before the unsecured loаn іs repaіd. Most Protection policy policies wіll only rυn for five yөars, so if your securөd lοan duratіon iѕ lengtһier than this the seller should havө explained this limitation. If they did nοt, you can claim.


• If you have noticed үou аre paying foг payment protection policy that you didn't knοw you had theгe iѕ а chancө that іt was added without your ĸnowledge, οr thru аn 'opt out' bοx that үou missed. It will Ьe uр to the vendor to provө you аgreed to the іnsurance, so if yoυ can't remember bөing asked, you cаn claim.

PPI Mis-Selling- "Hang On A Minute. It's Not Right". Say it, before it's too late.

It is unfortunate but it's before us to accept no matter what. As payment protection insurance claims rise, it brings many PPI mis-selling cases to the surface. As PPI is almost always optional, it has been gravely misused by companies. You may be able to claim PPI Compensation.

What is PPI?

Payment Protection Insurance, or commonly referred as PPI, is a written accord between the lender and borrower in the form of an insurance, which promises to shed an agreed amount of money on lender's part to help cover the borrower's monthly repayments on credit/store cards, loans, mortgages or catalogue payments in case the borrower is unable to work due to accident, sickness, or joblessness. It applies in case of his/her sudden demise as well.

To put it simply, the insurance company is legally bound to take the responsibility of the monthly repayments on borrower's behalf for a fixed period of time in some extreme cases. It is also known as ASU (Accident, Sickness and Unemployment) insurance, Account Cover or Payment Cover.

Must Know About PPI

• PPI is almost always optional
If you have got PPI as part and parcel of the deal without your knowledge, it clearly states that you have been mis-sold PPI. As it is always optional, the company must reveal it to you at the time of the deal.
• PPI only pays out for a limited period, usually 12 months
One must know that PPI is only going to pay for a limited period of time. So, be careful as far as this is concerned. One must know that it is the case.
• Employment Must for the Claim

One must be employed if one wishes to claim PPI. Now, if you are unemployed and wish to claim it, it would not be accepted. In case you are self-employed, PPI cover won't be applicable to you.

• In Case of Illness

In case of illness, you must note that it will be difficult to claim PPI for yourself if you already have or have had before, PPI stands canceled. Stress, backaches will not be entertained either.


Assert Your Right

As cases of PPI mis-selling arise, people need to be more confident and assert their right. It is their money. The institutions they are trusting, are duty-bound to give them proper care and assistance. Under no circumstances they are qualified to misinform them. As we witness problems in the payment protection insurance (PPI) market, if people start asserting their rights, it will not aggravate the problems further.

Improve Your Financial Literacy

One of the key areas so as to restrict PPI mis-selling to a large extent is through changing a person's attitude towards financial matters. Improving it is the answer. As it is quite a norm these days, there have been cases where people who were completely unaware as far as financial matters are concerned, to profess complete ignorance is a sort of sin which goes against oneself. That must be kept in mind always especially when it comes to Payment Protection Insurance.

Dare Say It

It's your money, it's your decision, and it's your duty. “Hang On A Minute. It's Not Right”. Say it, before it's too late. Stop PPI mis-selling and promote financial well being.