The unfair mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) to
millions of consumers has quickly become one of the biggest
financial scandals of the 21st century. Recent figures
have shown that the major high street banks and other financial
services providers may be forced to pay out at least £10 billion in
compensation to consumers that were pressured into buying insurance
policies which were unsuitable for their personal needs and
circumstances.
PPI is an insurance policy that is intended to cover your
repayments of your debts if you suddenly lose your main source of
income because you unexpectedly become ill, or if you are involved
in an accident or become redundant. The problem began with many
credit providers offered PPI packages which were ridiculously
overpriced and completely unsuitable for the majority of consumers.
They even used unfair and manipulative tactics in order to try and
force a sale on people. Any consumer that was mis-sold a PPI policy
can make a claim for a full refund of any premiums they have paid.
The problem however, is that too many people fail to make a claim
because they do not even know that they have ever had a PPI
policy.
In order to find out if you have a PPI policy you should check
all your loan documents and any paperwork which you were given when
you applied for credit. If you have a PPI policy it should be
mentioned in the paperwork, although it is important to remember
that your PPI may be referred to by another name in your loan
document. This is due to the fact that the scandal attached to PPI
has knocked consumer confidence and banks have therefore
increasingly adopted less controversial names for what is
essentially the same product. These could include "Repayment
Insurance", "Debt Repayment Cover", "Credit Protection Insurance"
and "Card Protection Cover".
If you are unable to find your paperwork associated with your
loan, you should check your bank, credit, or loan statement for any
unexpected charges or deductions, which could be PPI instalments or
PPI interest charges.
Finally, you will need to write to your credit provider asking
them to provide you with full details of any PPI or other types of
insurance products which are attached to your credit. I suggest you
clearly state that your enquiry is a "Subject Access Request" under
the Data Protection Act. The credit provider has a legal duty to
respond to a request of this nature and will have to explain
whether you have been paying towards a PPI policy, together with
any details of that policy such as account or reference
numbers.
If you find you have PPI there is a strong possibility that you
are entitled to compensation and you should make a claim for a full
refund immediately.
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