The latest reports that banks and lenders have increased the
funds available for repaying mis sold PPI to over £18billion – a truly
staggering amount – simply serve to confirm that this is a scandal that has not
gone away. Indeed, many more people are making claims as the public becomes
increasingly aware of the right to get back the fees on mis sold policies. The
Financial Ombudsman, which deals with disputes between lenders and consumers,
has reported a slight decrease in the numbers of people claiming, but still
handles over 2000 cases each day.
Biggest Scandal of
All Time
The payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal has been
called the worst of all time to hit the UK finance industry, and rightly so:
over a course of many years, several million people were sold policies that
were either of no use to them or that they did not want, and a recent ruling by
the High Court means all fees on so-called mis-sold PPI policies must be repaid
to the customer. With the three biggest banks in the UK – Lloyds Banking Group,
RBS and Barclays – heading the list of names involved it is clear that
mis-selling has been widespread throughout the industry.
Calculating the
Payment
The average PPI payment is currently around £3000, but there
have been many that were considerably more; the amount in each case is
determined by the individual circumstances, as well as the size and type of
credit agreement concerned. The added awareness that has come with all the
publicity has led to many people using websites with an online PPI calculator, such as PPI Claims Advice Line to get an idea of how much they may be awarded. This
is a convenient way of an advance warning, but must only be taken as an
estimate.
An Ongoing Saga
One notable aspect of the scandal has been a fall in
confidence on the part of the consumer; the man on the street no longer trusts
the financial industry after discovering it has been selling products outsidethe regulations. It remains to be seen how – or if – this can be restored any
time in the near future.
