Reclaiming mis-sold PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) For You.
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Monday 27 September 2010
Friday 24 September 2010
Welcome Finance Refund over £2200!
Tuesday 14 September 2010
Barclays tops complaints list!
A whopping 61% of consumers who took their gripe to the independent arbitrator, the Financial Ombudsman Service, about Barclays won their case during the first half of 2010, compared to the industry average uphold rate of 44% for the period (see the Best Bank Accounts guide).
But the bank was not the subject of the most complaints to the Ombudsman in that time. That unwanted title fell to taxpayer-backed Lloyds TSB with a mammoth 12,750, though Barclays was second with 7,991.
Barclays was not the worst financial provider for wrongly rejecting complaints, even if it was the high street name with the most appalling figures.
All protests against insurance provider Eisis, 99% against loan lender Ocean Finance and 90% against Lloyds-owned Black Horse were upheld by the Ombudsman in the first six months of the year.
Most of these relate to mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), a category that saw a 23% rise in complaints compared to the previous six months.
For the arbitration service to uphold a complaint it must first have been thrown out by the firm in question.
Lloyds TSB (where the Ombudsman upheld 45% of complaints against it), Welcome Finance (82%) and part Government owned Royal Bank of Scotland (50%) also performed worse, compared to the industry average.
Santander, beset by recent customer service problems, recevied a relatively high 4,881 complaints against it but only a fifth were upheld indicating, while service may be poor, it may be dealing with complaints reasonably fairly (see the Santander service scandal MSE News story).
The figures are part of stats released this morning showing the number of gripes against financial firms that were taken to the Ombudsman during the first half of this year.
It received 84,212 new complaints in that time – a small increase on the 82,136 received in the final six months of 2009. A whopping 30,000 new protests related to mis-sold PPI.
Yet these numbers are a fraction of overall complaints as fewer than 10% of people rejected by their financial provider take their case to the independent arbitrator.
The table below shows the ten providers the Ombudsman received most complaints about, ranked by the percentage upheld.
Complaints to Ombudsman – firm-by-firm
Black Horse 2,136 90% upheld by FOS
Welcome Finance 1,954 82% upheld by FOS
Barclays 7,991 61% upheld by FOS
Royal Bank of Scotland 2,250 50% upheld by FOS
Lloyds TSB 12,750 45% upheld by FOS
Natwest 2,810 43% upheld by FOS
Clydesdale Bank 1,807 39% upheld by FOS
HSBC 3,286 34% upheld by FOS
Halifax / Bank of Scotland 6,211 23% upheld by FOS
Santander 4,881 19% upheld by FOS
Data for first six months of 2010. Source: Financial Ombudsman Service
Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com creator, says: "The great shame is less than 10% of people take their case to the Ombudsman. All these people complain but banks say 'no' as a tactic but we don’t take it further.
"The message here is when you complain expect the firm to say 'no' but ignore that and go to the Ombudsman. It’s a disgrace and we really need to invent a system where banks deal with you fairly."
The Ombudsman says the overall 44% uphold rate is skewed by the 15,000 bank charges complaints that had been on hold that were thrown out after the banks won the historic test case on charges late last year. Discounting those cases, the uphold rate would have been similar to the 53% recorded for the second half of 2009, it stresses.
Natalie Ceeney, chief Ombudsman, says: "The latest set of data shows some businesses are committed to ensuring complaints are handled well but that there is still more that some businesses need to do to ensure that complaints are properly investigated and fairly resolved."
To start your PPI complaint visit www.ppiclaimsreview.co.uk
This article first appeared at www.moneysavingexpert.com
Tuesday 31 August 2010
The Great PPI Clean Up
Greater customer awareness, television advertising and the increasing number of PPI complaints have almost forced firms, credit institutions and banks to stop mis-selling and clean up their act.
For example, there has been widespread stalling of the sale of PPI integrated loans, lenders have been drained and huge institutions have stopped selling policies altoghether, it has also been spoken of sales staff having to get financial qualifications to be able to sell further products or services. Exposure to shady practices have also affected other insurance products, such as serious illness cover, which has seen the refund reclaims be increased from 8 in 10 to 9 in 10.
For more on PPI Reclaims click this link
Friday 27 August 2010
PPI Claims Can Go Back Pre-regulation
The last comment is a financial services partner at Beachcroft LLP, Dan Preddy, who had a particular problem with the application of rules for sales made before mediation PPI regulated by the FSA general insurance. Mr Preddy said: "There will be a deep disappointment at the retrospective rules for sales made before the general insurance intermediary, regulated by the FSA."
Overall, the changes are intended to prevent more harm from mis-sold PPI and paying back the PPI insurance will cost the industry between £ 2 billion to 4 billion pounds. The FSA acknowledges that if done correctly there will be victims of 5-10% and provides that some general insurance intermediaries will fail because of the refunds.
Click here to reclaim mis-sold PPI
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Monday 23 August 2010
Financial Services Authority confirms measures to reform PPI
More than 21,400 complaints have been lodged over controversial payment protection insurance since April, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which has received a total of 114,478 complaints over PPI in the last five years.
The latest figures come as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) confirmed reforms to protect consumers in what has become one of the UK’s biggest mis-selling scandals of recent years.
The FSA said the measures - which come into force on December 1 - were designed to “mend a market that has been broken for too long”. It said the measures are designed to ensure customers are treated more fairly when complaining about PPI and should help them to receive better information when buying the product.
Read more here
Claim back mis-sold PPI here
Monday 2 August 2010
Banks face £4 Billion pound bill for PPI Mis-selling.
Banks may be forced to pay back £4bn in mis-sold insurance scam Banks and insurance companies may have to pay a staggering £4bn to customers who were taken in by a 'loan protection racket', it has emerged.
City watchdogs have published their first estimates on the scale of repayments due to people sold payment protection insurance (PPI) alongside personal loans, mortgages, credit and store cards.
Vast numbers of the expensive policies were sold to customers without proper checks on whether the policies were suitable.
The PPI was sold to consumers on the basis it would provide a safety net to cover loan repayments in the case of sudden unemployment or sickness.
However, commission-hungry salesmen sold PPI to people who would never be able to make a claim, including pensioners, those in seasonal work and people with long-standing medical conditions.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said paying refunds and compensation to customers who have not yet complained could generate a bill of £1bn-£3bn. It suggests there will be another £700m to £1.2bn over five years for customers who have already complained.
The FSA estimates that insurance brokers may have to pay up to £430m with the rest paid for by a varying range of PPI providers, led by banks and insurance companies.
The watchdog estimates that average redress for people who bought single premium policies is £1,925. It is a lower £990 on average for people who bought the policies via monthly premiums.
The FSA has previously fined a number of household name banks and insurance groups for mis-selling PPI.
First published in the Daily Mail
Wednesday 28 July 2010
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Lloyds TSB scraps PPI sales
Years of payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling could be nearing an end after Lloyds Banking Group threw in the towel in the fight to keep the controversial product
Lloyds today confirmed that it has withdrawn PPI policies from sale across all its brands, which include Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Cheltenham & Gloucester.
PPI insurance is designed to cover loan repayments in the event of unemployment or loss of income. It can also come under the title of income protection insurance. It has been criticised for being useless for many policyholders who would never be able to claim, as well as for being costly and a huge money-spinner for the banks.
Experts hope it will mark a turning point in battle to rid the High Street of PPI, with more banks expected to follow suit.
Lloyds' – like many other banks - offered PPI to its mortgage, credit card, and loan customers.
Now the taxpayer-owned bank will only offer interested customers a generic PPI leaflet produced by the British Bankers' Association.
Existing customers who have taken out PPI policies, or are in the process of doing so, will not be unaffected.
Monday 26 July 2010
Mortgage firm to pay £500,000 for unfair fees
A sub-prime mortgage company has been hit with a whopping £630,000 fine by the City watchdog for treating customers in arrears unfairly.
Redstone Mortgages Limited overcharged customers a combined £500,000 in arrears fees between January 2007 and August 2009 and must pay that sum in addition to the fine.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which issued the punishment, says borrowers hit with excessive arrears charges will be contacted by the firm to offer compensation.
Redstone also demanded cash to cut customers' arrears without considering their financial state and wrote "repetitive, excessive and confusing" letters.
Redstone, which is not a lender, bought large swathes of mortgages from specialist lenders that mainly sold loans to those with poor credit histories or homeowners who could not prove their income.
Those whose loans were bought, now owe Redstone the money, not their original lender.
Redstone compensation
The regulator has identified four types of excessive charges. Redstone is currently sifting through customer records to determine who has been overcharged. When that process is complete, it will write to customers offering redress, though the FSA warns that could take months.
The unfair fees were:
- Charging for failed direct debits each time it attempted to take payment, even when this happened multiple times within a short time.
- Including arrears charges in the balance on which an early repayment charge (ERC, which is a percentage of the outstanding balance) was calculated.
- Charging for debt counsellor visits when the customer was not given an appointment time or was not told of their right to cancel.
- A solicitor's fee, applied when Redstone unnecessarily instructed lawyers.
The FSA, which does not have a breakdown of the average amount charged to individual borrowers, says homeowners will know if they're a Redstone customer if the name appears on their mortgage statement.
More on this story http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/mortgages/2010/07/mortgage-firm-to-pay-500000-redress-in-unfair-arrears-charges
You could be able to claim compensation for a mis-sold mortgage click here for more details.
Mortgage lending by UK banks fell in June
Mortgage lending by the major UK banks dipped in June compared with the previous month, figures show.
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases in the month fell to 34,813, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said.
However, net mortgage lending was still 4.1% higher than a year earlier.
Meanwhile, people continued to pay off more of their unsecured debts than they spent on credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts, the BBA said.
Read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10737826
Thursday 22 July 2010
Is it possible to make a claim for compensation on my Mortgage or Secured Loans?
All mortgage and secured loans must adhere to all relevant laws, rules and regulations regarding the agreements and or its terms and conditions. (Contact an advisor) You could be entitled to make a claim if you have had, or still have, a Mortgage or Secured Loan agreement which is incorrectly written. For information on how to claim for a mis-sold endowment mortgage please see here.
The agreements on these mortgage and secured loans may be fundamentally flawed, invalid or unenforceable. At Claims Review we use specialist team of solicitors to search for the irregularities of these contracts not of they have been mis-sold allowing us to identify your rights and help you make a claim.
In the vast majority of cases, the person who took out the mortgage was not given any alternative to the agreement supplied by the lender. The contract you agreed may have put you in an unfair relationship with your lender as it could contain fundamental flaws that may invalidate this agreement giving you grounds to claim for financial recompense.
For more information click here.
Tuesday 20 July 2010
What is Mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance?
If you have taken out a loan with any high street bank, taken out a hire purchase agreement or even opened a credit card, then it is likely that you also took out Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) with it. If this is the case then you may be entitled to compensation.
The reason why this can be reclaimed is because in the majority of cases the insurance was mis-sold. Many people were not aware that this insurance was optional and often thought that they wouldn't get the loan if they didn't take the insurance out.
Sometimes the PPI was added without the knowledge or permission of the borrower. The purpose of Payment Protection Insurance is to cover the payments you have to make on a loan or credit card when you are unable to keep them up due to sickness, unemployment etc.
There are many situations when this insurance doesn't actually provide the cover you need. For example, if you were unemployed, retired or even self-employed at the time of taking out the policy you are ineligible to make a claim on this policy which makes it a total waste of time and money for you.
Did the sales person go through the process fully with you? Did they follow the procedures below?
They should have:
- Explained the full process to you
- Told you the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) was optional and NOT compulsory
- Explained the terms and conditions in full
- Explained the total cost of the PPI to you
- Asked you comprehensive questions on your employment and health situation
Monday 19 July 2010
Banks Continue to rip off customers
Mr Cable said forcing banks to change their practices would be a key test of the coalition government.
His comments come as research for Panorama reveals that high street banks surveyed are charging as much as 167% interest on unauthorised overdrafts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10664533
Friday 16 July 2010
Ombudsman is flooded with rejected insurance complaints
Growing dissatisfaction with payment-protection providers.
First Published: 12/07/2010
More than 1,000 people a week are pursuing mis-selling claims about payment protection insurance after having their complaints rejected by the banks, it has been revealed.
The Financial Ombudsman Service said it was receiving more than 1,000 cases each week relating to the insurance cover from people who were unhappy with the way their provider had dealt with their complaint.
Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1817059?UserKey=#ixzz0tTeN4oKw
PPI Claims Review YouTube Video
Was Your PPI policy Mis-Sold?
When you took the Loan or Credit Card out with the PPI do any of the statements below apply to you? If so it could have been mis-sold and you could be able to claim back the money you have paid - plus interest.
You were told the PPI was compulsory to get the loan. | |
You felt under pressure to purchase the PPI. | |
You didn't have the Terms and Conditions explained in full. | |
You weren't told the total cost of the PPI. | |
You were you self-employed or retired. | |
You weren't told the PPI was optional. |
If any of these apply to you there may be a claim!
Visit www.ppiclaimsreview.co.uk for more information.
Why can you reclaim mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance – PPI?
The Financial Services Authority has recently fined many banks and companies hundreds of thousands of pounds for mis-selling PPI to consumers. Recent estimates also say that up to £4 Billion could be paid out in compensation and refunds over the next few years. The FSA has also issued new guidance to make sure that compensation claims are handled effectively and efficiently.
The list of lenders that have mis-sold payment protection includes; Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Abbey, Santander, First Plus, Halifax, Nationwide, Marks & Spencer, Alliance & Leicester and many more.