The Mis-Information That Resulted In Thousands Of PPI Claims

Written By: Gordon FJ Cook on June 4, 2010 No Comment

Just as the UK financial industry was recovering from the Bank Charges Controversy another scandal rocked the financial world with the rather shocking revelation that triggered an avalanche of people into making PPI claims.

The reasons behind this was due to the fact that over a number of years, PPI, short from Payment Protection Insurance, was being miss-sold, knowingly, to millions of customers taking out loan, credit and store card agreements.

4 billion pounds a year profit was being made by lenders, from the 5.4 billion being paid by customers for PPI. An extremely large profit but made on the back of false information.

PPI itself was a good idea however the way the product was being sold to the public was the reason for so much controversy, as a lot of people when making a claim found that, somewhere within the small print, they were not actually covered.

PPI covered people who had taken out credit agreements from having to repay their loan payments in times of monetary hardship whether that be by unemployment, sickness or accident. What was not being mentioned to the thousands of people was that, in some cases, the insurance cover was in fact worthless to them.

PPI was being miss-sold in many different ways and consumers are now finding out, usually to their cost, that they were not covered for what they had lead to believe they were and in some cases, were not covered at all.

Lots of lenders told consumers that there loan would not be approved if they didn’t include PPI when in actual fact this should not have been the case. PPI was an optional choice and it should never have been described as anything but that. Others simply were not made aware that they had even applied for PPI at all.

Another miss-selling tactic was the unemployment cover included. Many self-employed workers were dismayed to learn that they were not in fact covered at all and faced extreme monetary difficulties when unable to work as their repayments were never met.

Most lenders also capped the amount of time they would repay the loan for, often capping it at just 12 months, which was unfair if people found themselves unable to work for a longer period. If their loan repayments were taken over a five year span they found themselves in a lot of financial trouble.

Medical cover was also confusing as lenders did not fully explain that customers who had suffered from a similar medical condition in the past would not be eligible for help with repayments should the need arise.

The examples above are only the tip of an extremely large iceberg and anyone who thinks they may have experienced similar issues with their PPI, should seek advice as soon as possible as you may well be able to reclaim your money. In some cases, this amount can actually match that of the initial loan or credit you borrowed.

With so many companies specializing in PPI Claims you should take a look at what is on offer and take that first step towards recouping your losses.

Learn more about PPI Claims. Visit www.PPIClaimsUK.co.uk where you can find out all about how to make PPI compensation claims and start to get your cash back.