21/06/2010 by Bradders.

The savour of many a person taking out finance and then finding themselves in the unfortunate position of being unable to repay their financial obligations. Payment protection insurance isn’t a bad thing. In fact, its very good, sold in the right way to the right people. Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is commonly sold alongside financial products such as mortgages, loans, cards and store finance. It is meant to give the purchaser peace of mind should they lose their job or suffer from ill health and not be able to meet their repayments to the company lending them the money. A great idea? Of course, but here’s the catch. Payment Protection Insurance is classified as a big risk. It can add up to 40% to the cost of your original finance, and also earns the seller big commissions, and I mean big !

So like everything in life that is good, it is also open to abuse. Therefore, it is no surprise to hear that in the last 5 years The Financial Ombudsman Service has been swamped with people who have been mis sold ppi. For many consumers it was a case of being told they had to have PPI in order to get the finance they needed. The sales person “prayed” on them. For others it was a case of being pressured into taking out PPI with a store card or when buying furniture.  When times are good and finance is freely available even for those with bad credit the temptation for financial sales staff to offer such products must have been too good to be true.Now times are tougher and people are scrutinising their accounts, it has become apparent that many people have been mis sold ppi for many reasons.

Not only those listed above but also some have been sold PPI who have had pre-existing medical conditions that the PPI policy would not even cover. Even if they made a claim the insurance company would turn it down.If you have a finance agreement of any kind that was taken out  in the last 6 years it is worth checking the payment statements, you may not even know you have PPI running alongside your normal monthly repayments. If you have and you think you have been mis sold ppi you should take immediate action.You now have the choice to approach the lender directly or use a claims management company. The choice is yours. Going it alone is free but remember the banks and lenders employ teams of highly paid legal staff whose job it is to deflect and ultimately reject your claim. PPI cases can be very complex and you need to have the time and knowledge to fight them. Alternatively, you can use a claims management company who has the legal backing to fight the policy seller for you. They may take a percentage of the payout in commission but this will be well worth it and better than nothing. 

It is estimated that the average payout for mis sold ppi is over £2000. This is your money and something you never expected to see. Even if you pay a claims management company their fee you will still get a lot of money back. Some claims management companies charge up to 35% commission on successful claims and others want upfront fees before they even consider your claim.

If you think you have been mis sold ppi choose a company that only works on a no win no fee basis and charges a lower rate. Do some research on the internet and make sure you get a reputable company who will treat you fairly and not rip you off.Remember PPI can be a good thing but you need to balance this with your situation and needs. The salesperson should have taken this into consideration at the time they sold you the PPI policy. You should have been explained the policy terms and conditions and exclusions. If you feel you have been mis sold PPI then take action today.Do not leave your commission in the hands of the financial salesmen. You do have tthe recourse to claim your money back if you take a little amount of time to make a claim and fill in the necessary forms. It doesn’t take long to get back £2000 of your hard earned cash.

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21/06/2010 by Bradders.

The misselling of payment protection insurance has rumbled on for several years. However, I’m still amazed that with the amount of press reports and media coverage that I have seen more people are not aware of this rip off insurance. I was speaking to a friend the other day and he was able to shed a little light on this for me. He said the reason that I was surprised that more people had not heard about missold ppi was the fact that I was involved in the industry.

He said technology was a prime example of this with something like the mobile phone. When you see someone who is struggling to use a ‘simple’ application like a text one forgets how frustrating it was when you used a mobile phone for the first time. As time progressed the use of a mobile became easier and you could not understand how you managed without one before. 

When you put this into context its hard to believe that someone who is now aware that they have been missold ppi are not putting forward a claim to get their money back This got me thinking about a related area where people would be incensed if they thought they were being ripped off and would definitely complain big time. Let’s think about this, payment protection insurance was sold alongside a loan even when people did not want it, could not use it or didn’t even know they had it. So to draw comparisons I thought I would come up with examples and consider if people would complain. 

One of the striking things about ppi is the fact that the cover lasts for five years even if your loan lasts 10, 15 or even 25 years. So would you complain if you booked a two week holiday was told you had to take travel insurance that costs around 20% of the value of the holiday but it only covers you for the first three days? What about if the insurance will not cover you for sunburn if you have ever been treated for sunburn in the past? How would you feel when you discovered many years later that the holiday you booked could have been a lot cheaper except for the fact that you had been sold expensive travel insurance that you didn’t even know you had. Perhaps you would also be upset if you discovered when making a claim that you and your wife were covered but the kids weren’t as they were too young to insure. Or how about when you tried to claim it was only the bags that were in your personal possession that were covered and not the suitcases that were loaded on to the plane or left in the hotel room. 

If anyone was to hear of constraints like this there would be a queue a mile long around the travel agents so it’s still surprising to me why more people are not complaining about missold ppi. 

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