The Payment Protection Insurance scandal has taken the country by storm. The repercussions of mis-selling the product has started to come in without any signs of slowing down. A lot of people, who have taken out a loan, credit card, or a mortgage, were sold the policy without their knowledge. Banks and other known lenders have kept so many of their customers in the dark as to what PPI was all about apart from its intent to help with the monthly repayment in the event of sickness, accident, death, or unemployment. Some were even trickier by having told their customers that their credit applications will not be approved without Payment Protection Insurance. They paid for something that they never really needed or already covered by a similar insurance.
The untold stories of how troublesome this fiasco has been are everywhere. The good news is, there is now a way to ease yourself the trouble. Yes, people who fell victim to this kind of mis-selling can now file for a PPI claim to get their money back.
Before you start your PPI claim, here are the things that you need to do:
Carefully go through every account and PPI related document that you have. There’s a possibility that the details are noted there. If it is not directly referred to as PPI, it might be called loan repayment insurance, account cover, loan protection, payment cover, credit insurance or ASU insurance. If you’re still not sure of it, check with your bank or the insurance provider you bought it from.
For missing documents, you can request copies from your lender, too. Or in cases of older accounts that may have already forgotten about, you can contact the credit bureau for information. Just note that they’re only required to keep those records for as long as six years from the date it started or the credit was paid in full. So be mindful of that.
When you’re done going over your documents you can then check the cases below that you may find applicable to your PPI claim:
You were urged to pay for PPI although it was not essential, suited, or needed.
It was added to your loan without informing you about it.
You were not told that it was optional.
You were not informed about significant exclusions like age limit, residence requirements, pre-existing medical conditions or being self-employed.
You were forced to take PPI.
When you have established your reasons as to why you have been wrongly sold the policy, you can follow the next steps below:
Write a letter to your bank or insurance provider. Tell them that you wish to make a PPI claim to get whatever amount you paid for the policy back, including the interest.
State the reasons you believe you were mis-sold the product. Avoid getting aggressive or emotional about the letter of intent as much as possible. Just be objective and clearly state what happened as you recall.
Attach the relevant documents as necessary. Remember to just send them a copy and keep the original with you. The paperwork can back up the validity of your claim.
Allow your provider to investigate and weigh things around for 6 to 8 weeks. They should come up with a decision given that amount of time.
Follow-up calls or bank visits may be suggested but the bank will most likely tell what is going to happen next as soon as they acknowledge receipt of your PPI claim.
If they fail to get in touch with you about their decision or if you find their decision unsatisfactory, file a complaint against your bank at the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Inform the Ombudsman of your wish to reclaim a mis-sold PPI policy and tell them how you were unhappy with the bank’s decision.
Allow the Ombudsman to make further enquiries. They will contact your lender to ask about their decision, and you for additional documents as needed. After their review, they will let you know of their decision without any delay.
Following this process will help you with the ins and outs of filing a PPI claim. Once all of these are in place, and your PPI claim was successful, you can sigh a breath of relief. Your money will be given back to you – that includes the full PPI premium amount you paid, and any interest that came with it for as long as you have had the insurance.