Searching for a payment protection insurance (PPI) template letter on the internet produces several results. The best of these provide valuable guidance on how to go about writing to a financial institution to make a complaint about a PPI sale.
A good template letter would include as many of the following as you can recall:
- The policy number
- The date of purchase
- A statement that you believe the insurance was mis-sold
- The reasons why you believe a mis-sale took place, e.g. policy sold without your consent or knowledge, you were led to believe it was compulsory, you already had adequate alternative insurance or sick pay, insurance term does not match term of loan, not explained to you that insurance was single premium, you were unemployed or self-employed at the time of the sale, the provider did not enquire about your medical history and alert you to any exclusions
Conclude the letter by saying:
- What you would like the provider to do to put things right ñ usually you would ask for a full refund of premiums paid plus interest at 8%
- That you are prepared to take the complaint to the FOS if you do not receive a satisfactory response
Alternatives to a PPI Template Letter
Instead of completing a letter, you can complete the complaints questionnaire of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which can be found on their website at
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/ppi.html . Some companies will ask you to complete this immediately upon receiving a letter or telephone call from you registering your intention to complain. If the company doesnít ask for this, but the FOS subsequently handles the case, then you will be required to complete the FOS form at this stage.
The questionnaire includes questions about:
- Any person or organisation who is claiming on your behalf, such as a claims manager
- Whether the insurance was sold face-to-face, by telephone, by post etc
- Whether you received advice to buy the policy
- Whether the policy was single or regular premium
- Your employment status at the time of the sale, e.g. employed, self-employed, unemployed, retired
- Your medical situation at the time
- Whether you may have had other insurance, employerís sick pay or other means of making loan repayments
- Why you feel you have grounds for complaint; this can be done in your own words in a freeform text section
Alternatively, if you contact a claims management company, your correspondence to the bank or other financial institution will be drafted for you, based on the information you provide.
Whichever method you use, donít worry too much about how well a case you might have presented in your complaint letter or questionnaire. When considering complaints, companies are required to make judgements based on the facts of the case, not on how articulately you make your argument. If the case goes to the FOS, they will make their decision on the same basis.
Use us instead of a PPI Template Letter
As a specialist claims management company, PPI Claimback would love to help you reclaim any mis-sold PPI. We have a wealth of experience completing ppi claims, so simply fill in the form on the right and weíll crack on and get your claim processed straight away.
All information presented in this article is accurate as of January 2013