How To Reclaim PPI

If you have had a mortgage, secured loan, unsecured loan, credit card or other credit product, you may have been sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) at the same time, perhaps even without realising it. PPI was designed to ensure that loan repayments could continue if you suffered loss of income through accident, sickness or unemployment.

Unfortunately, a great many PPI policies were mis-sold. If you are unsure whether you had this insurance, check the fine print of your credit agreement or your bank statements, or contact the lender.

Mis-sold PPI may have occurred if any of the following apply:

• You did not know you had the insurance
• You had other similar insurance at the time of the sale
• You were unemployed or self-employed at the time of the sale
• You felt unduly pressured into buying the insurance
• You were led to believe that the insurance was compulsory, or would improve your chances of being accepted for the loan
• You were sold a single premium policy, where the cost of the insurance was added to your loan amount
• The term of the insurance policy did not match the term of your loan

Step you need to take to Reclaim PPI

The first step in the process is to complain to the company who sold you the policy. This could be a high street bank, or a loan/mortgage lender or broker. Lots of people have used the services of a Claims Management Company with a successful track record of claiming back mis-sold PPI to assist in making the complaint.

The financial institution may make you an offer of compensation for the mis-selling. However, if it makes an offer which you consider inadequate, or rejects your complaint, the matter can be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is an independent organisation set up by government to adjudicate on financial services complaints where the complainant and the financial organisation disagree.

Unfortunately institutions can make mistakes in their complaint handling and you should go to the FOS with your complaint if you can demonstrate that is reasonable to believe they have with your complaint. The FOS can only legally get involved once the bank or other financial company has rejected your complaint, so there is no alternative to contacting the provider first.

Reclaiming PPI using a Claims Management Company

On making contact with a PPI Claims Management Company, you can expect to be asked certain questions about your circumstances and your policy, and to be asked to provide any documentation you have to hand. Throughout the process, the claims manager will write all the necessary letters to the organisation and/or the FOS, will liaise as required with these organisations on your behalf, will help you complete all necessary forms and will keep you updated as to the progress of your claim.

Of the PPI complaints handled by the FOS in the 12 months to March 31 2012, 82% were resolved in favour of the complainant. So your complaint has a very high chance of succeeding, and if it does not, you will not have lost out, provided your claims management company operates on a 'no win no fee' basis, and most do. So if you are not sure whether you have had PPI and, if so, been mis-sold that , then it is worth speaking to someone about how to see whether that was the case or not.

Next steps if you're looking to Reclaim PPI

As a specialist Claims Management Company, PPI Claimback would love to help you reclaim any mis-sold PPI. Simply fill in the form on the right and we'll crack on and get your claim processed straight away.

All information presented in this article is accurate as of January 2013