The countdown to the PPI claims deadline

thinkmoney

General Finance

Over the last couple of years, you may have spotted an ad featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robotic head in a bit of a sticky situation. If you haven’t, you’re missing out on an advertising treat, but you might not be aware the deadline to claim for mis-sold PPI is fast approaching.

It seems like a lot of faff, but did you know you could be entitled to a payout worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds? So far, lenders have paid out £33billion to people who have complained about mis-sold PPI.

The official deadline is 11.59pm on 29th August 2019, so there’s not long left to claim. If you’ve been thinking about claiming but haven’t got round to it, don’t panic! We’ve created this guide to make PPI as easy as ABC.

What is PPI?

PPI stands for Payment Protection Insurance. It’s sold on top of things like loans, credit or store cards, and mortgages. As many as 64 million PPI policies have been sold in the UK, most of them between 1990 and 2010.

The policy isn’t a bad thing to have, as it makes sure your payments are covered if something happens to you. If you became ill and couldn’t pay your credit card bill, PPI would cover the repayments.

It came to light that a lot of policies were mis-sold within the banking industry. Staff were pushed to sell the profitable policies using bonus schemes, and told to flog them whether they would benefit the customer or not.

How do I know if my policy was mis-sold?

If you have PPI and any of these points apply to you, then the policy was mis-sold:

• You didn’t know you had the policy
• You didn’t want the policy
• You were put under pressure to take out the policy – for example, you were told you’d be rejected for a credit card unless you took PPI out
• You were advised to take out a policy that wasn’t suitable – for example, if you’re self-employed, but were advised to take out a policy that’s difficult for self-employed people to claim on
• You weren’t made aware of the things the policy didn’t cover – for example, if you weren’t told it doesn’t cover a pre-existing medical condition

A new rule was introduced in 2017 to apply to future PPI cases called ‘Plevin’. The rule states that if commission made up over 50% of the cost of the PPI and this wasn't explained to you, you're entitled to money back.

As the average commission stands at 67%, millions more PPI policies are now classed as mis-sold. Thanks to Plevin, it’s worth making a claim if you’ve ever had any kind of PPI regardless of the circumstances.

I think I’ve taken out PPI but I’m not sure. How do I check?

Get in contact with the company who provide the product, because they’re responsible for it. Sometimes it’s not always clear who this is, so use the FCA’s provider search to check.

Then all you need is your name, date of birth, current address and if you’ve moved, the address you had when you took out the policy.

Even if you don’t have any paperwork, that’s okay! It just means that your check might take a bit longer. Give as much detail as possible and include any dates or information you think are relevant to the claim.

The longest the check will take is 40 days, and by then the provider should be able to let you know if you have a claim.

How do I make a claim?

If you checked and found you had PPI, get your claim in before the 29th August deadline.

There a few ways you can do this:

• Online – you can use online claims tools that are on a lot of providers’ websites
• By post – don’t forget to send your claim in enough time so it gets there before the deadline!
• At your local branch
• Over the phone

Include your full name, date of birth, current address and a contact number when you put in your claim.

If you can, you should also try to include any of these things if you know them:

• Your previous address if it’s changed since you took out PPI
• Your PPI policy number
• The date you bought your policy
• The date you bought the product if it’s different to your policy date
• Any info you can remember about your circumstances at the time, for example where you worked

Some companies will submit a claim for you if you ask them to run a check and they found PPI was mis-sold to you.

Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group (Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Lloyds and MBNA) and Nationwide have confirmed they’ll be doing this. The aim is to speed up the process and make sure customers can get their claim in before the deadline.

Tip: You don’t need to use a company to make a claim!

Using a claims company frees up your time, but you’ll lose out when they take a cut of your compensation. Check that your chosen claims company is legitimate too - PPI scammers are out there looking to take advantage of those making last minute claims.

It’s free to make a claim for mis-sold PPI yourself, and you can contact your bank or use online tools if you’re struggling.

How long does it take?

Your provider has 8 weeks to resolve your claim, but you could see a payout much faster. If your provider takes longer than 8 weeks, you can appeal to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

I’ve made a claim and it’s been rejected. What does this mean?

If your claim’s rejected or you feel like the compensation you’ve been offered is unfair, get in touch with the FOS. Check the information you’ve been given that explains what’s had an effect on the amount you’ve been offered.

Making a complaint is free, but bear in mind your refund could take a while. This is due to the sheer number of PPI claims that the FOS have to work through.

If I make a claim, how much money could I get back?

According to the FCA, the average payout is £1,700, but your refund could be much higher or lower.

The highest recorded single payout currently stands at £104,500. But before you start eyeing up luxury cars, some claims have only been worth pennies!

Generally, the more policies you have or if you were paying for PPI for a long time, the more compensation you could get.

Claim by 29th August 2019!

If you could have had PPI, get your claim in by 29th August 2019 so you don’t miss out on compensation. Anything that you can get is better than nothing!

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