01/09/17 PPI mis-selling scandal is finally drawing to a close

After years of complaints, billions in compensation and far, far too many dodgy claims managers clogging up your answering machine, the PPI mis-selling scandal is finally drawing to a close.

Since Resolver launched the PPI complaints tool, over 350,000 of you have used it to claim back mis-sold PPI. While this is great news (well done everyone!) there are still billions of pounds in compensation going unclaimed – or worse, lining the pockets of claims manager vultures.

Why does this matter? Well from 29 August 2017, the clock starts ticking on PPI complaints. Because two years later, it will all be over.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have decided that they’ll draw a final line under PPI complaints on 29 August 2019. No more complaints about PPI sales will be allowed after that date.

So get ready for two years of non-stop adverts, publicity and media coverage. If you didn’t have PPI fatigue before, you will soon!

It is now believed that between 1990 and 2010 between 52 and 64 million policies were sold to 30 million consumers. So even though over £27 billion in compensation has been paid out, the fact remains that even on conservative estimates, less than half of the people potentially mis-sold have come forward.

Do I have PPI?

There are lots of reasons for this, but the main ones we hear at Resolver are:

“I don’t have my original documents from the loan/credit agreement”.

“I don’t know if I was sold PPI and don’t know how to get started”.

This doesn’t have to be a problem. If you can recall the name of the business you had the loan or credit with and your address roughly when the policy was sold, there’s a good chance the business can track down the details – leaving you with the information you need to make a complaint.

Have no doubt about it, the banks are going to be overwhelmed with speculative requests like this, so Resolver has been working with the banks to create a PPI checker, which will make it much more straightforward to find out if you were sold PPI. And like all things Resolver, it’s free!

The problem with Plevin

You’re going to hear a lot about the Supreme Court case Plevin versus Paragon and what it means for people who’ve previously had their PPI claim turned down.

To be honest, it’s so complicated to explain that we won’t subject you to it in this newsletter! Though scroll down if you want a bit more information about making a complaint.

The important thing to bear in mind is you may be able to make a complaint to claim back commission from the PPI policy. The business should contact you if you’re affected, but you can jump the queue by using our PPI Plevin/commission tool.

Here are the key facts on our new PPI checker and Plevin/commission tools

PPI checker

As we mentioned, the most common question people ask about PPI claims is “how do I know if I’ve got PPI?”

That means that almost anyone who took out a loan, credit card or other kind of credit agreement going back many, many years might have been sold a PPI policy.

This is relatively easy to establish if your policy was sold in the last ten years or so. But the further back you go, the harder it is to track down the details of the PPI policy – so the more information you can provide, the better.

To give you the best chance of tracking down an old PPI policy, we’ve created a special Resolver PPI checker. This simple tool with help your bank or credit provider get the information they need to check their old records, archives and legacy (old computer systems) databases.

You’ll need the name of the firm that sold you the loan or credit and any addresses that you might have lived around the time you took out the policy.

Once you’ve filled out the details, Resolver will pass the details to the business who will thoroughly attempt to track down the policy. You’ll be able to keep up to date with your complaint through Resolver. And when the policy is tracked down, you’ll be able to launch an official complaint in less than a few minutes through the Resolver website, knowing that the business will be able to fully investigate based on the documents they’ve located.  Try our PPI checker tool, here . 

PPI checker: Q&A

“Do I have to use the PPI checker if I have my PPI policy details or reference numbers?”

No. The PPI checker is solely for people who aren’t sure if they were sold a PPI policy. It’s designed to help the business find the old loan or credit documents so they can then fully investigate a complaint. If you’ve got the documents already you can use our complaint tool immediately.

“Why can’t I just use the complaint tool straight away?”

We’re working with the banks and credit providers to make the process of making a PPI complaint as simple as possible. In order to make an effective complaint, you need to confirm that you were sold PPI so the tracker saves time by helping the business to do that. Otherwise, you may find that the business is repeatedly coming back to you for further information. Our checker reduces this to two simple steps.

“Is it not simpler to use a claims manager?”

No. The same rules apply to everyone, regardless of whether a firm is taking your money to make a complaint. Claims managers use generic forms that often don’t have the information needed by the business to investigate your claim. This can mean you’re turned down sooner and have to go to the financial ombudsman.

Complaints about commission (“Plevin” complaints)

You may have heard about a court judgment that might mean you can still make a PPI complaint if your case was rejected in the past. This is correct, but there’s a few rules to bear in mind. That’s why Resolver has created a special PPI commission complaints tool to help you if you’ve been affected by this court ruling. Here’s a quick guide to these complaints.

• Back in November 2014, a court case known as Plevin versus Paragon Personal Finance Ltd went to the Supreme Court.
• The case brought by the customer was different to the usual PPI claims because she argued that she was mis-sold as she hadn’t been told about the huge amount of commission charged by the business that was taken from her PPI payment. She won the case.
• The court case was enormously complicated and the regulator – the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – spent a number of years discussing what the impact of the court case was and if people whose PPI complaints had been rejected could make another complaint.

It’s really difficult to know if you’ve been affected or what to do next. So the FCA came up with some new rules for making complaints.

1. If over 50% of your PPI cost went on commission and you weren’t told about it, you can claim back the commission on the policy over that 50% limit.
2. For this to apply, your PPI policy must have been running at some point since 2008.
3. You can make complaints about commission from 29 August 2017 – but the PPI deadline of 29 August 2019 still applies.

PPI, commission and Plevin: Q&A

“How do I know how much commission I was charged?”

It’s impossible to know without asking the business that sold you the policy. Our PPI commission tool allows you to do this and to see if you’re eligible for compensation, simply and easily.

“I’ve got an ongoing PPI complaint at the moment, what do I do?”

No need to do anything. All ongoing PPI complaints will ‘factor in’ the Plevin ruling, so you’re covered.

“I’ve already received compensation for PPI, can I make another claim for the commission?”

No, you’ve already had the full compensation. The PPI payment you’ll have received will have been a full refund of the money you paid on PPI plus interest. So that included the commission.