If you’ve taken out any kind of loan, mortgage or credit card in the last 10 years you may have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

All the high street banks sold PPI including Alliance & Leicester, Lloyds TSB, HSBC, Barclays, Barclaycard, MBNA, RBS,Santander, Egg and many many more. Many people didn’t know PPI was being added to their loan, mortgage or credit card. Of the people who did know they had the insurance, when they came to make a claim they often found they were ineligible.

How Do I Reclaim?

The process of making a PPI claim can be quite daunting for some people. If you feel like you are unable to go it alone, we would recommend you use a reputable Claims Management Company. Always choose a long established company with a good reputation and never choose a company that charges an up front fee.

What If I Want to Go It Alone?

If you are feeling brave and want to go it alone we’ve given a quick overview of the steps involved in making a claim.

You need to write a letter to your vendor telling them why you think you were mis-sold.

You will need to give them a loan or credit card number and proof that you were sold PPI.

BEWARE – the person who supplied the loan or credit card may not be the same person that sold you the Payment Protection Insurance.

The vendor has to provide a reply within a certain number of weeks. They will tell you whether they agree with your complaint or not.

If they agree with your complaint they may offer you compensation. Always make sure that the offer given is fair and includes a refund of premiums paid plus interest. Vendors do try and offer ‘goodwill gesture payments’, these may be less than you are entitled to.

If the vendor doesn’t agree with your complaint you will need to send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman

What’s the Financial Ombudsman?

The Financial Ombudsman Service is an organisation established to mediate on financial disputes. If you have written to your vendor and complained about the sale of your PPI policy but they’ve rejected your complaint, the next step is the Financial Ombudsman. They have a detailed form which you need to complete and send to them.

BEWARE – you only get one chance to get your facts straight.
If you don’t give the Financial Ombudsman Service all the correct information they may reject your complaint. Once your complaint is rejected it is impossible to make another complaint.