You may have noticed that Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) has
been dominating the news at the moment, with stories explaining how
many consumers have the right to claim back thousands of pounds in
compensation refunds from PPI companies. Many people who have
PPI left wondering whether these promises of financial compensation
will apply to them.
However, the problem with PPI lies not within the product
itself, but the way in which it was sold to the consumer. Not every
person with a PPI policy will be entitled to a refund. But if you
can prove that the PPI company broke any rules or regulations when
they advertised, marketed or sold the PPI cover then everyone who
was affected has the benefit of making a claim for a full refund.
This situation is otherwise referred to as mis-sold PPI and was
caused by extremely dodgy sales practices. These unfair sales
techniques were so widespread throughout the early 21st
century that there may be millions of PPI policies that were sold
PPI in a breach of the rules set out by the Financial Services
Authority (FSA). All of these policy holders are entitled to a full
refund of any premiums they have paid under the mis-sold
policy.
PPI is a financial product which is meant to supplement your
income and help cover your debt repayments (such as mortgages,
loans and credit cards) if you are unable to work because of
illness, accident or redundancy. What is unfortunate is that a lot
of PPI products had very restrictive terms and conditions which
decreased the amount people who could actually make a claim under
the policy. PPI was often sold at an inflated price by mortgage,
loan and credit providers as part of the credit application. Many
consumers were also increasingly put under unfair pressure to buy a
PPI policy, and what is most worrying of all is the sheer number of
cases in which PPI was added to the credit product without the
consumer's knowledge or permission.
FSA regulations require all companies which sells PPI to act
openly and honestly in the way they deal with consumers, whilst at
all times ensuring that consumers fully aware that they may be able
to purchase similar cover at a better price from another PPI
company. They also need to ensure that PPI products which are only
sold to those that are most suitable and to keep up to date records
so that they can prove they have followed FSA rules. If the company
which sold you PPI has acted in breach of any of these requirements
then your PPI policy will have been mis-sold to you and I suggest
you begin to make a claim for a refund.
If you believe that you were misinformed about your PPI cover,
but you are concerned that you will not get a refund because you
think that the breach was relatively minor you should still attempt
to make a claim. Any breach of the Payment Protection Insurance
selling regulations, however small, will mean that the PPI was
mis-sold and you have the legal right to a full refund of any
policy premiums that you have paid, plus any interest.
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