Why should you care about PPI?

02/02/17 Payment protection insurance

Payment protection insurance. Aren’t you just sick to death of it? It feels like we’ve spent years hearing about PPI, huge bank compensation bills and claims management companies. Many of the people we speak to say “surely everyone in the UK has made a PPI claim by now?” So why are we writing about PPI then?

For over a decade, complaints about the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) have dominated the headlines. But despite an estimated 45 million policies sold and £25.5 billion paid in compensation, it’s likely that millions of people may still be unaware they have a valid complaint about a mis-sold PPI policy.

However, there’s a clock that’s ticking. The regulators of the financial services industry – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – are expected to announce a deadline for making PPI complaints that will draw a line under the biggest mis-selling scandal that the UK banking industry has ever seen. Depressingly, we also expect a huge increase in the activity of claims managers – firms who charge you for making a claim on your behalf – who have already cashed in on PPI, taking billions of pounds in fees from people’s compensation payments.
It might sound a bit bonkers, but we’ve spoken to lots of people who never wanted PPI at all, but have just found out that they were sold it anyway. Most of these people only found out by looking at their statements by chance, or through their partners or friends who were pursing their own complaints.

What’s wrong with claims managers?

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again: paying someone to make a complaint on your behalf doesn’t increase your chances of winning. In fact, in some cases, it can work against you if a good case isn’t made on your behalf.

One of the reasons why we set up Resolver was to help you make complaints in your own words without the need to have any legal or expert knowledge. All of the evidence we’ve seen makes it clear that you don’t need complex or legalistic arguments to succeed with complaints. You just need to explain your own personal experience.

Not all claims managers are bad. But you don’t need to use them. Even if you think you don’t have time to make a complaint – or it’s too complicated – you can do it for free. I can help you get started on our website, www.resolver.co.uk.
How do claims managers know how much money I’m entitled to?

They don’t. They made it up. This is the one thing that makes us completely livid. I can’t tell you the number of people who contact me to say they’ve been sent a text from a claims manager that says they’re entitled to £3752.53 (for example). Let me make this crystal clear. Without investigating your personal finances, there’s no way that a claims manager and possibly know what you might be entitled to if your claim is upheld. It’s rubbish.

So how do I make a complaint?

It’s really easy to get started with a complaint. You can use the Resolver PPI complaints tool to do this in a matter of minutes – so it really doesn’t have to be a hardship at all.

Some people who use claims management companies tell us that they didn’t have the time to make their own complaint – or they thought it was too much hassle. But claims managers will ask you for exactly the same information as we’re recommending you pull together – so why give them 40% of any compensation you might win for doing nothing?
Before you get started

Dig out your documents. From old loan agreements to a random credit card statement, anything with a reference or account number on helps track down your policy. Don’t worry if you don’t have them, all is not lost. But the more you can find, the quicker and simpler the process. If you don’t have documents, list out your addresses. Lenders can track down your details using old addresses and postcodes. So jot down the ones you can remember – and when you might have lived there.

Have a think about what happened when you took out the loan or credit. There’s no compensation scheme for PPI. You’re making a complaint about the way the policy was sold to you. So write down a few bullet points about your circumstances at the time. Were you self-employed? Was money really tight or were you not working full time? Would you never have taken out insurance? Were you told you had to take out PPI if you had the loan? All these things can help your claim.

Our colleagues at Money Saving Expert have a great in-depth guide to making a PPI complaint that you can read here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

We’ll be providing loads of help and advice over the coming months on getting your PPI claim resolved – so key an eye on the newsletters and our social media pages. Twitter @WalkerResolver, or @Resolvercouk or Facebook www.facebook.com/resolvercouk
Get started with your claim today: https://www.resolver.co.uk/service_types/ppi-complaints