What is Mis Sold PPI and How to Claim for Mis-sold PPI?

The Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) scandal which buffeted banks and lenders across the UK may still be present in thousands of mortgages and loans that exist today, yet these borrowers are still unaware that they are being cheated out of their hard earned money. PPI was originally designed to protect borrowers in case they were temporarily unable to pay back part of their loan, for example if they were in an accident or some circumstance where they were not earning money, the PPI would kick in and pay the monthly bills due on the loan.

However, many UK residents were mis sold PPI, either by being overcharged or told that Payment Protection was required on loans when in truth it was not necessary. This means that across the UK there are thousands of people either being charged for protection that they didn’t ask for or having more money taken from them than required.

Here are the types of loans that were subject to PPI, if you have paid on any of these loans in the past six years, you may be eligible to reclaim PPI payments that you have made.

• -       Personal Loan  
• Car Loan, Secure Loan or a Consolidation Loan. 
• Home Mortgages 
• Store and Credit Cards

Considering how common these types of loans are, it’s possible that millions of people have used them at some point in the past six years, which includes loans that were taken out more than six years ago, but fully paid off in the last six year. If you included payment protection in your loan, you will want to check it out to see if you were mis sold PPI, either because you were told it was mandatory when it wasn’t or that you were overcharged for the payment protection. If so, you may be able to get your money back.

• There have been thousands of people who were successful when they reclaim PPI payments that they had made. Generally speaking, they were sold on the idea of payment protection for one or more of the following reasons. 
• They had a pre-existing medical condition. 
• Were Self Employed 
•  Student 
• Retire 
• Under 18 years old 
•  You were informed that PPI was mandatory. 
• You were informed that PPI was included and you didn’t refuse.
•  You were Unemployed

Plus, if your lender was fined by the FSA, you may have been paying PPI premiums without knowing it. Some of the more common lenders who were fined by the FSA included Alliance & Leicester, Egg or Capital One. Even if the PPI was necessary for you to take out the loan, your lender may have overcharged you up to four times or more the amount it was worth. In this case, you are eligible to reclaim PPI.

If you had made PPI payments on any loan in the past six years, you may be entitled to a refund even if you actually used the PPI to have payments made on your loan.  

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Payment Protection Plan Guide

A payment protection plan, in short, is a means by which you protect your investment or purchase. In the case of your mortgage, a payment protection plan is insurance you take out to protect you from events that would affect you financially and leave you unable to pay your mortgage. The situations may include events like he lots of your job, illness that leaves you unable to work, or involvement in an accident that leaves you incapacitated. If you are unable to meet payments on your mortgage or any other large loan if this or other financially difficult situation should occur, a payment protection plan simply means that your mortgage is paid for a period of time, usually 12 months, while you recover and get your financial feet back under you.

How Does a Payment Protection Plan Work?

If you can't work for a period of more than 30 days, if you have a payment pension plan in place and you meet your policy's criteria to receive coverage, you should be able to make a claim and have your payments made, usually for up to 12 months. In some cases, payments may be made for up to 24 months, with certain types of redundancy insurance. There are, however, exclusions where the policy may not cover you. These are discussed below and you should be aware of them.

What Doesn't a Payment Protection Plan Cover?

A payment protection plan is fairly comprehensive insurance cover, but there are certain exceptions to it where it will not apply. If you are self-employed, for example, redundancy cover is different as compared to someone who is in full-time employment and loses a job. If you are self-employed, you will have to have stopped working altogether because of the injury, illness or accident itself, for example, not because you are simply experiencing a lull in your work.

If you are in full-time employment, there are some cases where a payment protection plan also will not cover you. For example, voluntary redundancy will not let you claim unemployment insurance. Because this is a choice you have made and not something that happened out of your control, any claim made would be void. If you're still not sure what is and is not covered, check with your insurance advisor. Your advisor will be able to explain payment protection in more detail and will also be able to make sure you choose the best plan for you.

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Mis Sold PPI Online Guide

What is mis-sold PPI?


Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is a form of insurance which is taken out to protect the repayment of debt in the case of the borrower being unable to make payments due to being made unemployed, or suffering, illness, incapacitation or death.

PPI was mis-sold to millions of people across the UK. PPI is classed as mis-sold if: it was added to a loan product without the policyholder's knowledge; the policyholder was misled into believing that PPI was not optional; the policyholder was told that a loan or credit card was 'protected' without the full conditions or cost of the PPI being explained; or if the policyholder was led to believe that PPI would help with the approval of a loan. The mis-selling of PPI happened online too; when lenders presented loan borrowers with pre-ticked boxes offering PPI cover, rather than letting borrowers 'opt-in'.

The mis-selling of PPI happened on a huge scale, with around a quarter of all PPI policies estimated as being mis-sold. This went on for a decade until April 2011. The courts then ruled in favour of the consumer, and banks and other loan companies were told they must return around £4bn to 2.5 million people. This money is only going to be returned to consumers who make a valid PPI refund claim.

Now you understand the definition of mis-sold PPI, you may realise that you are one of the victims. Look through your loan agreement and find out if you have been paying money for 'payment cover', 'ASU', 'payment protection', 'loan protection' or a similar term. If you feel that these policies were sold to you under the false pretences mentioned above you are due a refund, even if the loan which your PPI was covering has been paid back.

You may find that your PPI was paid as an additional charge with each loan repayment, or as a one-off payment at the start of your contract.

A credit report will list all of your financial products for the last six years, so this might be useful if you do not remember who your lender was. It doesn't matter if you don't have a copy of your paperwork for your loan either; once you know who your lender is, you have a legal right to obtain a copy of your original agreement from them for £1. They may not provide the agreement if your account is closed, but you can ask for a full breakdown of your account for an additional charge, which will show PPI payment transfers.

The rules of mis-sold PPI claims state that you can usually only claim if your account was active within the last six years. So as long as you were still paying back a loan and its mis-sold PPI six years ago, even if the loan was taken out ten years ago, you are due a claim.

How much can I claim?

A good Payment Protection claims management company will tell you whether you are entitled to make a mis-sold PPI claim, as well as guiding you through the claims process. You will not be able to reclaim your full loan, but the mis-sold PPI on that loan will likely still be a sizeable sum which you can reclaim.

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Payment Protection Insurance: Your Personal Safety Net

If you have ever applied for a loan, a credit card, or some other form of unsecured debt it is very likely that you have been asked to have payment protection insurance (PPI). As a matter of fact, the creditor may have required you to have payment protection insurance (PPI). This is not uncommon in the United Kingdom, especially in today's market. The economy has become increasingly shaky, with people losing their jobs each day. It would only make sense for a creditor to want to protect their assets. However, having insurance on your debt in not a bad idea; in fact, it makes perfect sense.

What Is Payment Protection Insurance? 

Payment Protection insurance (PPI) was designed to help a borrower struggling to stay current with their debts due to an unforeseen event. For example, if a borrower were to be involved in an accident, they would be able to put in a claim for PPI coverage. At this point, the PPI coverage would start, and the debts would continue to be paid. This is why we call it the "personal safety net". A safety net is in place for protection, specifically for the one that will be most hurt by the fall. Therefore, it is highly important that you ensure your safety net is in place (make sure you have PPI).

The In's And Out's

As with most any other insurance, you pay a premium to a company for the added protection. So, when it comes time for making a claim, it should be easy... right? Not exactly! All too often, insurance companies do not want to part with their money. So, what do you have to do?

It is important to find a reputable company that has dealt with PPI claims. These companies understand the "red-tape" issues that all too often hold back claim acceptance. Many people feel that they can just ask for the money, and all is well. That is just not the case. There is paperwork, there are legal issues, or your coverage may be inadequate. Without the proper representation, you just are asking to be denied of your claim rights. Secondly, why should you be dealing with the hassles and headaches that are associated with a claim; especially if you have just been in a nasty accident? You should be more concerned with ensuring that you recover properly.

We insure many things every single day. We insure our homes against fire, water and wind damage. We insure of vehicles from accidents and mishaps. We insure our material property against theft and other random events. Some of us even insure our cell phones, so why not insure our debts. Ultimately, we do not know what will happen to us in the next week, much less in the next hour. Therefore, by utilizing payment protection insurance (PPI), you can relax a little. In the event a catastrophe such as a job loss or vehicular accident occurs, your debts would be taken care of. PPI just makes your life a little easier when the going-gets-tough.

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Payment Protection - An Online Free Guide

In the UK the escalating controversy regarding the wide spread mis selling of Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI, shows no signs of letting up, with figures released last month showing most banks saw a dramatic increase in the volume of complaints in the second half of 2011. Barclays was the unlucky recipient of 'most complained about bank' stigma, although they only 'win' the individual bank award. The worst culprit as a group was Lloyds TSB, who own a number of other High Street Banks.

As well as banks, thousands of complaints were lodged against consumer credit organisations, consumer finance companies and even the seemingly more reputable insurance companies. It would seem that banks are prepared for the 'long haul' as well, as figures released in April show that the amount of recruitment going on in the banking sector is at a record high. This is largely being driven by banks recruiting qualified staff to field the vast amount of calls they are getting from unhappy consumers! The British banks have been in a similar position before, following the endowment policy misselling scandal which caught them severely understaffed, leading as a result to even greater consumer disgruntlement.

So what can you do if you think you were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance?

Well, there are a couple of avenues you can explore. The simplest is to print off a ready made PPI Claim Letter and tailor it to fit your own situation. Banks are now experienced at receiving these letters, so there's no need to worry about making your letter too detailed, just an overview of why you feel aggrieved.

By law the banks then have eight weeks to respond to your claim. If they do not, or if they respond and you do not agree with their findings you can then go to the financial ombudsman to ask them to provide an impartial review of your claim. They will do so, and decide whether you are due compensation or not. You will need to be patient with the Ombudsman - they can take up to twelve months to decide on cases. However with some of the compensation amounts being awarded it is well worth approaching them and then 'forgetting' about if while they look into your claim.

To assess if you were mis sold PPI there are a number of avenues to consider. Firstly you need to have your PPI agreement and Terms and Conditions to hand as the wording differs between lenders. Bear in mind that if you bought the PPI online, you may have less of a case as the onus is on you to read through the terms and conditions and decide whether it is suitable. If you were sold your PPI by a person though and feel that they did not adequately explain the policy and its exclusions then you should consider pursuing compensation.

If your policy covered unemployment but you were unemployed at the time you took out the cover you could be able to make a claim. If the staff encouraged you take out the policy anyway, or did not ask about your employment status, you are in with a good case. If you were advised of the exclusion but decided to take it anyway, then you will have less of a valid argument.

They also normally (although you need to double check) exclude existing medical conditions as well as common complaints such as back ache and stress. If these omissions were not explained to you by a member of staff, you should consider making a complaint to your lender.

Its also worth doing some research online to see if your seller has already been penalised by the Financial Services Authority. If so, you could have good grounds for pursuing compensation.

There are other grounds for compensation such as feeling unduly pressured to take out the policy by the member of staff, or being told that you would not get the finance if you did not take out PPI (which lenders are not able to insist you take through them). Also, if you had existing cover which would have performed the same job as PPI you should have been asked about this by the seller - if not, again, you could be able to pursue compensation.

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Facts about Payment Protection Insurance

Are you planning to take credit card, mortgage or any type of loan for your business but you are hesitant to take risks? Then, you might need the help of payment protection insurance since it will cover you from any damages or unexpected incidents. Remember that you cannot predict what will happen next in your life: you might experience sickness, injury, or unemployment, making it important for you to have an insurance to cover you when such situations happen. Good to know that there is the PPI or commonly known as the Payment Protection Insurance which is provided by the most reputable and credible banks and high street lenders.

Payment protection is also known as a product insurance which is usually made to cover a credit which is currently used in any type of business. Payment protection is usually in the form of credit and is sold through banks and some credit providers. This usually covers the debtor against sickness, accident, death, unemployment, or any type of circumstances which could possibly hinder a person from gaining a salary by which debtor can service the credit.

PPI is available from any type of insurance provider. You can also find payment protection insurance in some companies that provide credit just like PPI. However, it is not important to accept the sale since it may not necessarily be the most important insurance to use in buyer’s needs. Even though it is easier to maintain the track payment protection costs if the firm is associated directly to the product, it covers like loan, mortgage or credit card. So, it is better to look further around and take a wide overview of the market in order to see the best available deal of PPI. Relying on the comparative price on websites can prove functional in looking for an appropriate cover with lower premium every month.

Comparison of Income Protection Insurance and Payment Protection

As far as PPI is concerned, you will find different available types that cover several situations. In a long term insurance, the payment protection protects and secures the policy holder when they are unemployed. On the other hand, the paymentprotection policies provide short-term service and can be used together with a credit card, mortgage, and bank loan in order to cover their repayments.

Income protection insurance works to all products which pay the policyholder for the loss of earnings due to the accident or sickness. The costs paid will depend upon on the kinds of the policy held and will often cover a percentage of the total wage. There is the ASU or known as the Accident, Sickness, and Unemployment Cover that refers to the products which protect borrowing mortgages, bank loans, and credit cards. The type and range cover offered will alter based on the policy, but it is best to bear in mind that even the most important policy will have its end. Thus, it might be good to verify or determine that the policy that being taken out is based on the individual’s personal security and lifestyle. 

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Payment Protection Plan

A payment protection plan, in short, is a means by which you protect your investment or purchase. In the case of your mortgage, a payment protection plan is insurance you take out to protect you from events that would affect you financially and leave you unable to pay your mortgage. The situations may include events like he lots of your job, illness that leaves you unable to work or involvement in an accident that leaves you incapacitated. If you are unable to meet payments on your mortgage or any other large loan if this or other financially difficult situation should occur, a payment protection plan simply means that your mortgage is paid for a period of time, usually 12 months, while you recover and get your financial feet back under you.

How Does a Payment Protection Plan Work?

If you can't work for a period of more than 30 days, if you have a payment pension plan in place and you meet your policy's criteria to receive coverage, you should be able to make a claim and have your payments made, usually for up to 12 months. In some cases, payments may be made for up to 24 months, with certain types of redundancy insurance. There are, however, exclusions where the policy may not cover you. These are discussed below and you should be aware of them.

What Doesn't a Payment Protection Plan Cover?

A payment protection plan is fairly comprehensive insurance cover, but there are certain exceptions to it where it will not apply. If you are self-employed, for example, redundancy cover is different as compared to someone who is in full-time employment and loses a job. If you are self-employed, you will have to have stopped working altogether because of the injury, illness or accident itself, for example, not because you are simply experiencing a lull in your work.

If you are in full-time employment, there are some cases where a payment protection plan also will not cover you. For example, voluntary redundancy will not let you claim unemployment insurance. Because this is a choice you have made and not something that happened out of your control, any claim made would be void. If you're still not sure what is and is not covered , check with your insurance advisor. Your advisor will be able to explain payment protection in more detail and will also be able to make sure you choose the best plan for you.

Read more »