Warning on Banks PPI Complaints and Compensation Claims
Personal_Finance / UK Banking Jun 19, 2011 - 06:59 AM GMTBy: Nadeem_Walayat
The banks and building societies after losing a court case in April brought by the British Bankers Association, are being forced to repay approximately £5 billion in mis-sold payment protection insurance to their customers that in the vast majority of cases proved totally worthless. Barclays has already set the ball rolling by trying to ingratiate itself with its angry customers by automatically refunding all legitimate claims that have already been submitted to date, with the other banks seeking to write to upto 3 million customers over the coming months.
My own personal PPI experience was when I opened a credit card account with Lloyds TSB Bank some years ago, despite specifically rejecting their offer to add payment protection to the credit account they STILL signed me up for it and and started to charge me on a monthly basis. I immediately complained and stated that I specifically told them that I did not want it, against which they relented and stopped charging me for a service that I never wanted in the first place. This type of behaviour illustrates why as many as 3 million people have been mis-sold PPI.
However PPI customers need to be on guard against the dangers of effectively being defrauded by as much as half of their claims as a consequence using any one of the literally hundreds of PPI claim back firms that have sprung up over the past few months that purport to act on your behalf to claim back monies from the banks.
The firms are using mass emailing, text messaging, cold calling, and mail drops to try and push a service that you both DO NOT NEED and will also act to clog up the claims system with invalid claims as they blanket many financial institutions with your details even if you have never banked with them, thus resulting in a delay for all valid claim.
Instead the BANKS will now approach YOU rather than you having to have the involvement of a third party that will eat into upto half of your compensation.
If you do want to action a complaint then write a simple letter of complaint to your bank requesting repayment of mis-sold PPI charges in full with interest to include:
- your full name and address
- PPI policy details / ref number
- When the policy started and what did it exactly cover
- Reason for complaint i.e. that you did not want it and nor was it explained properly, or if you are self-employed or part-time that the policy was not valid for you as you could never have claimed on it.
The financial ombudsman service has for a some time made available a detailed questionnaire that you can use as a further guide for a complaint, though this amount of detail is probably now no longer necessary (download the consumer questionnaire in Word format)
Another good free source for help with making a claim online is http://www.which.co.uk/campaigns/personal-finance/the-ppi-campaign/claim-back/
Source and Comments: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28768.html
By Nadeem Walayat
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