24/06/2011 by admin.

As the PPI complaints keep rolling in, one would assume that your friendly bank would have taken on extra staff to deal with the backlog of PPI claims they have caused in the first place.But no, they have gone to the financial regulator, the FSA, who has now granted 3 of the largest banking groups Barclays, Lloyds and RBS an extension to handle your PPI complaint.The 8 week rule has gone out the window.

If you put in your PPI complaint in say October 2010, the chances are it would have been put on hold pending the outcome of the High Court Judicial Review, and neither you, nor any claims management company could have done anything about it.Since the BBA decided not to appeal the outcome in May 2011, over 6 months of claims have been put on hold running into tens of thousands of PPI complaints sitting in in-trays.

The new FSA extension now allows the banks named above extra time in which to respond with a decision to your PPI complaint. The time allowed is now extended to the end of August 2011.That means you could effectively be waiting up to 10 months to get a response to your PPI complaint.

To add insult to injury, PPI complaints received after the conclusion of the Judicial Review, but on or before the 31st August 2011 now do not have to be responded to until 16 weeks from the date of receipt.PPI complaints received on or after 1st September but before 31 December 2011are now given an extension of 12 weeks.

The FSA does not require banks to conform to the 8 week rule again until 2012.

You would think all parties (banks, claims companies and the regulators) would now put all this behind them and just get on with the task in hand - giving the consumer their missold PPI premiums back.

Margaret Cole, interim MD of the Conduct Business Unit said “We want to see all PPI claims for compensation dealt with swiftly and appropriately”.

Hopefully swiftly means less than 10 months, and appropriately should only mean one thing, do not quibble over the customers PPI complaint and just pay them what they are due.Lets hope the next 8 weeks show that banks can put things right and live up to their promises. Is your bank on your side or a piggy bank. The jury is out.

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16/06/2011 by admin.

Just when you though it was over, and you were about to get your money back for missold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), your friendly high street bank is now pleading with the FSA for more time to sort out the back log of claims it itself generated when it stopped processing claims during the High Court Judicial Review.Normally banks are obliged to deal with ppi complaints within a statutory 8 week time limit.

However, thousands of ppi complaints were put on hold from October 2010 to March 2011 when the British Bankers Association (BBA) supported its members and put all ppi claims on hold until the outcome was concluded. Lloyds TSB, Barclays and RBS have all been granted extensions by the FSA and now HSBC has joined them.  

The new timescales for clearing the backlog of ppi complaints looks something like this:

All ppi claims received during the time of the Judicial Review and put on hold must now be cleared by the end of August 2011.

Newer ppi complaints received after the end of the Judicial Review but by the end of August must be cleared within 16 weeks.

PPI complaints received after the end of August 2011 but by the end of this year must be dealt with within 12 weeks.

From 2012 (yes you read this right) complaints are back to the usual timescale.

So to sum up, sit back and wait and wait and wait. And just to add insult to injury your claim may still be rejected !

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21/05/2011 by admin.

After 6 months of wrangling the British Banks have now conceded and will start processing Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims once again.In October 2010 the banks represented by the British Bankers Association (BBA) started groaning about new rules governing the way PPI complaints must be handled.The British Bankers’ Association then launched a Judicial Review through the High Courts against the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service over new regulations that came into force in December 2010.

The rules aimed to ensure consumers are treated fairly, both when they buy PPI and when they complain about being mis-sold the cover. To ensure people understood what they were buying, providers would have to talk potential customers through the key features of a policy, rather than just provide them with a document giving the information, as was previously the case. Surely, that is the right thing to do anyway, and the least loyal banking customers deserve?UK banks complained as this recommendation was retrospective, and claims going back 6 years that had previously been rejected at first hand, would now have to be reopened. Talking about reopening old wounds !Over the last couple of weeks estimates have grown wildly as speculators from both banks and consumer rights camps have taken a stab at the potential final compensation tally. Some pitch it as high as £8bn, an astounding figure given how many hospitals that could buy or put quite simply a cheque of £1333 to every man, woman and child in this country.

But it was wrong, and now it needs to be put right, there is no argument there.Just because banks have stated they will not contest the ruling, does not mean they will roll over and payout compensation for all PPI complaints. You would have to be very naive to think so. There are still banks profits, bonuses and shareholders to consider.

Now we have an ideal situation for banks to consider setting up “think tanks” sitting around formulating ways in which to delay the PPI claims process, and to be honest with 5 years of comical regulation enforcement that is not difficult.

1.    The No1 excuse - Dealing with the backlog of 6 months of all PPI claims being put on hold. Same amount of staff and now a mountain of PPI claims to deal with. “Sorry Mr Customer your claim will take at least another 6 months to be dealt with”. 

2.    Keep rejecting claims anyway -Why not? Once rejected a claim can only go to the Financial Ombudsman who is so snowed under with previously rejected PPI claims, they are now sending out letters stating any new claim may take “up to a year” to be considered. 

3.    Make the claim even tougher to process - An easy but well trodden path. For every piece of paper you send to your bank, they will send you back 2 more to complete. Eventually you just give up and the claim stops. Public lethargy is a wonderful thing when its on your side. 

4.   And finally, lets team up with a Consumer Champion and declare we are now the good guys and open for business. Barclays have now teamed up with Which Magazine. The Chief Executive of Barclays UK Retail Banking stating “We are firmly focussed on resolving complaints from our customers”. Excuse me, aren’t you the same people who were the most complained about bank during the first 6 months of 2009, with a staggering 12% of the total complaints made about the financial services industry? (source The Independent 15/09/2009).And to top it all both Barclays and Which Magazine are now encouraging the public to avoid Claims Management Companies (CMCs) and complain to banks direct.Hardly surprising Barclays are promoting this, as its the Claims Management Companies who have highlighted this PPI misselling atrocity and taken the fight to the banks in the first place. Confused over how to claim for missold PPI? Here is our rough guide:

1.    Check your mortgage or loan agreement. If you have PPI attached to it consider making a claim. 2.    If you have the time, are happy to play ping-pong with your bank, wait for up to a year for your claim to be reviewed then claim direct with your bank. Remember if your PPI claims are rejected (which is still very likely) you may have to complete more forms and take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman who may take another year to review your claim 

3.    Consider using a Claims Management Company (CMC). A good Claims Management Company will deal with your claim beginning to end and keep in contact with the bank and Financial Ombudsman saving you a lot of hassle and time. All reputable CMC’s must be authorised by the Ministry of Justice and show their authorisation number (beginning with CRM) on their web site. 

Beware some CMC’s charge upfront fees and completion fees anything from 15%-38%. Search the web. Nowadays you can find some with a low 15% success only fee with no hidden charges. For every £1000 you could claim, getting £850 in your pocket for something you never expected in the first place is well worth it, and will save you a lot of time and headache.  Whatever you don’t do, don’t do nothing. The banks are wrong.

This is a clear consumer rights issue, which for once has gone in the consumers favour. It’s time to get your money back.

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26/03/2011 by admin.

With more and more banks and brokers going bust, the role of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is becoming more prominent.  The FSCS will look into financial misselling cases where the customer is seeking compensation from a financial institution that has gone into liquidation and is unable to make any compensation payments itself. 

A recent example of this is are the ppi complaints being received for Welcome Finance. On 8th March 2011 Welcome Finance was declared in default so all ppi claims are now being handled by the FSCS on their behalf.  Once the FSCS receive a ppi claim the obviously cannot contact the seller, but they will make an attempt to contact the PPI policy underwriter and administrators if possible. From here they gather as much evidence of the ppi complaint as possible and make a decision.  

Should they find in favour of the client, the FSCS can pay up to 90% of the compensation the client may have received should they have been able to direct their ppi claims to the bank.  This situation is not unusual and is used more and more by consumers as an increasing number of banks go into liquidation. Some major high street names include Yes Loans and Picture Loans.  

Submitting your ppi complaints and getting back 90% of what you are due is better than nothing although it does take some time and effort. To being with the FSCS will send the person making the ppi claims a questionnaire to complete. The consumer then needs to send this back to the FSCS with all the supporting evidence they can find. This is something quite difficult as the sale of the finance and PPI policy could have been sometime ago. 

This is where is can be good to engage a specialist ppi claims company like Claimline Legal. Claimline Legal has extensive experience when dealing with the FSCS. They can request the correct ppi complaints forms for you, discuss all aspects of your ppi claims and help you complete the forms correctly.  Finally, they can professionally package your claim and liaise with the FSCS ensuring your ppi complaint is dealt with in the quickest possible time.

As a final point it should be noted the FSCS can take several months to review any claims so using a ppi claims specialist is worthwhile. If you have a claim for missold PPI contact Claimline Legal on 0800 779 7457 or online at www.claimlinelegal.co.uk

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13/03/2011 by admin.

Final PPI Claims Bill Colossal

Jonathan Evans MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance Financial Services, has warned that the final figure for payment protection insurance mis-selling compensation could end up as high as £4bn.

Speaking in the opening session of the group’s inquiry into the ppi claims Financial Services Compensation Scheme, Mr Evans said that “a significant figure is going to become a colossal figure.”He added that an industry source had told him that the figure in relation to ppi claims could become as high as £4bn.When questioned on the figure, Eric Galbraith, chief executive of the British Insurers Brokers Association said that the figure could be in the billions, but that it is “unquantifiable”.

Mr Galbraith added: “I want to make it clear - we agree with the concept of compensation. The provision for compensation for customers plays an important part in increasing public confidence in financial services.

Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is sold alongside financial agreements such as mortgages, loans, credit cards and hp and is supposed to protect the consumer should they fall ill or are made redundant and be unable to meet their regular repayments.A conservative estimate previously put the value of ppi claims at £2.6bn but this new figure is much higher and could cause serious compensation funding issues within the banking industry.Consumers who believe they have been missold payment protection insurance can make their own ppi claims direct to the seller, or can use any number of claims management companies.Claims Management companies

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08/03/2011 by admin.

The UK awaits with bated breath as the turmoil surrounding ppi claims rumbles on. the Judicial Review held in January 2011 is soon to be published (some say as early as next week) with banks, regulators and consumers all eagerly awaiting the outcome. What’s up for grabs is absolutely astonishing. It is estimated some £2 billion worth of PPI policies are in existence with a large percentage of those being missold.  

 This was highlighted well over 5 years ago with banks and regulators trading over to how to deal with ppi claims ever since.   The Financial Ombudsman received over 97,000 complaints in the second half of 2010 and upheld 53% of them. How many are ppi claims are unsure but they are on the increase. The knock on effect of this huge rise on ppi claims is the Ombudsman not being able to process them as quickly as it used to, meaning consumers are having to wait many months before their case is being heard.  Adding to this is the news that Welcome Finance, one of the UK’s more well known lenders, has now declared it may be unable to pay any compensation against its ppi claims.

As of 5th March 2011 it was reported that all Welcome Finance ppi claims would now be handle by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).  The same report mentioned the volume of ppi policies Welcome Finance had sold could be around the 500,000 mark.  The FSCS handles cases whereby a company is unable to pay any financial compensation through its own funds largely due to it going bust and being in default. In these cases the FSCS will consider ppi claims and if upheld can pay out up to 90% of the compensation should the claim have gone direct to the seller. 

Either way any claim direct from the consumer, via a Claims Management company, with the Financial Ombudsman or with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is in for a long and tough journey.  Quite simply, banks cannot afford to keep paying out. With bonuses and shareholder demands they need to conserve cash. The easy way to do that is to screw the consumer. Therefore they will find anyway to delay or even block paying out ppi claims compensation The Judicial Review being just one tactic in a long line. 

However, do not give up. This money is rightly yours. your ppi claim will be heard at some point and if you have genuinely been missold your ppi policy then you have every right to get your money back. For further information contact Claimline Legal www.claimlinelegal.co.uk

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27/01/2011 by admin.

Brokers are reeling at the colossal increase in bills they are being asked to pay to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) by way of its interim levy - some fear they may even go out of business.

Brewin Dolphin expects to face a £6m bill from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) as it collects its interim levy, this compares to the £1m the discretionary management group paid last year.Rival private client investment manager Charles Stanley has also confirmed to Citywire that it would be contributing £2.6m towards the levy this time round, after receiving its latest invoice from the FSCS. Advisers are incensed at the mammoth increases of up to 780% in the bills they have received from the FSCS compared to its interim levy last year.The FSCS felt it needed to raise its levy across the board following Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) misselling and the high profile collapse of Keydata Investment Services and Wills & Co which left thousands of investors out of pocket.

FSCS confirmed it would raise a record £326m for its interim levy, due to the collapse of Keydata Investment Services, Wills & Co and other investment firms. £93m is to be raised from the investment intermediation sub-class, which includes advisers, with £233m to be raised from fund managers.The FSCS has implemented a radical shake-up of the way it calculates firms’ contributions to the levies it imposes, which changes the measure from the number of registered individuals at a firm to the amount of ‘eligible income’.However the FSCS has been accused of not making it clear to advisers how and when the charges would be imposed.The adviser community has been thrown into confusion with some of the giant rises in bills it has imposed, and left many with a nightmare scenario of facing a one-month deadline to pay bills that vastly exceed expectations.

Many brokers feel the vast rises are unjustified and that the FSA should take a large part of the blame for increased compensation claims for not adequately policing the sale of ppi claims for not properly monitoring rogue firms.

The cost of ppi claims means all brokers are facing massive fee increases which critics say proves the structure of the compensation scheme is totally flawed. The majority of good practioners in the industry are paying for the sins of the bad.

Many feel the FSA should have been far more vigilent in the first place on the types of product sold on the market.

Source: David Burrows. AOL Daily Finance

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23/01/2011 by admin.

This week sees the banks begin their High Court challenge over new rules on the way complaint about Payment Protection Insurance  (PPI) must be handled.

The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) is launching a Judicial Review against the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service over new regulations that came into force in December.

The rules aim to ensure consumers are treated fairly, both when they buy payment protection insurance (PPI) and when they complain about being mis-sold the cover.To ensure people understand what they are buying, providers will have to talk potential customers through the key features of a policy, rather than just provide them with a document giving the information, as was previously the case.

They will also have to provide evidence to show that it was made clear to the customer that the cover was optional if it was taken out alongside credit.But the banks are unhappy that the rules will apply to ppi claims relating to PPI policies which were sold before the new regime was brought in.

The BBA said: “We believe the FSA is effectively creating a precedent which permits it to apply new rules to previous sales - even where those sales were regulated by other FSA rules.”It said the policy was like having a road with a speed limit of 30mph, which was later changed to 20mph, and deciding to hand out speeding tickets to people who drove at 30mph before the limit was reduced.

PPI covers debt repayments if the holder is unable to work due to an accident or illness or if they lose their job, but it has come in for heavy criticism after research found it had been mis-sold to many consumers who would never be able to claim on it while others felt pressurised into taking it out alongside a loan or credit card.

The cover is currently the single most complained about product to the Financial Ombudsman Service, with the group receiving nearly 2,600 ppi claims during the past week alone. It is also finding in favour of consumers in 86% of PPI cases, suggesting the banks are not handling the complaints properly.

Source: The Press Association

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05/01/2011 by admin.

When taking out a loan, it always makes sense to prepare for the worst, however is the protection offered always a good deal?Compensation claims running into millions of pounds are set to follow the damning Competition Commission report on the insurance cover that can make personal loans far more expensive than borrowers often realise.

Although Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is sometimes sold with store and credit cards and mortgages, the provisional 218-page provisional report from the Competition Commission (CC) focuses on its impact on personal loans.A number of households facing rising costs will arrange personal loans for many £1000’s payable over five years in the next few months – and pay way over the odds for PPI because they aren’t paying attention.PPI could lift their monthly repayments on a £10,000 loan from £200 to £250 if they accept a policy from the lender, instead of buying cheaper cover through an independent broker.

In a lot of instances the policyholders don’t even realise they have bought it.The CC report accuses High Street banks of making £39 excess profit on every £100 of business in the personal loans sector, and warns that consumers may be overcharged at least £100 each when they take PPI in their loan package.Consumer groups like Which have campaigned against PPI for nearly a decade and estimates as many as 2 million PPI policies were missold with personal loans in the last five years, often because buyers would have been unable to claim due to pre-existing health conditions or details in the small print. For instance stress and back pains are not covered in any PPI policies.

The vast majority of people buying PPI with a 10 year loan might also be unaware that PPI policies may only be effective for five years. In addition, they might not realise that the single premium for the policy, added to the loan, is incurring interest charges for years into the repayment period.

This form of insurance is certainly a huge profit for the major lenders as only 14% of PPI premium income goes back to policyholders making successful claims, as opposed to 54% for home insurance and 78% for motor insurance.The Competition Commission claims the 12 largest PPI providers enjoy a return on their equity of a staggering 490%.It says borrowers are in a captive market (worth £5.5bn a year) dominated in 2006 by Lloyds TSB, Barclays, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

For their part the banks, claim loan rates would be far less attractive if their PPI income was slashed.Nationwide BS stopped selling PPI on personal loans and credit cards last August, and now only sells it with mortgages. Nationwide now refers customers to the FSA website for advice on protecting their finances against accident, sickness and unemployment.The Association of British Insurers (ABI) maintain quite rightly that PPI can be a useful defence against financial crises, if it’s bought at the right price.

1. Were you suffering from a pre-diagnosed medical condition that was not discussed
2. Was the cost of the policy explained to you and were you informed that you could buy it elsewhere, potentially at a cheaper price.
3. Were you led to believe that the cover was a condition of the loan
4. Were you aware that PPI was attached to your borrowing
5. Were you told that being unemployed, self employed or on a fixed term contract could make you ineligible for a payout
6. Did you feel pressured into signing for the cover on the day

With estimates in the region of 2 million missold policies over the last five years, many people are eligible to claim back thousands of pounds.There are hundreds of web sites offering advice on ppi claims, however taking professional advice is the best way forward. With many high street banks putting ppi claims on hold pending the judicial review expected in early 2011, you may wish to look into your best options.Simply copying a generic complaint letter template may seem like a good idea and the cheapest way, but every bank receives thousands of these daily and may simply put these into a pile. 

If you have PPI attached to a sizeable loan or mortgage you may be better off seeking advice from a reputable Claims Management company. There are hundreds of these on the internet all fighting for your business. Most offer a “no win no fee” service and their commission rates are falling drastically as they rally for your business. They started out charging 25%, but some are now as low as 15% if you search around. 

With the economy looking set to get tougher in 2011 you need money back in your pocket. Taking 5 minutes to check your loan or mortgage policy and make a claim against missold ppi could be the fastest way to get £1000’s back in your bank account within weeks.

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14/12/2010 by admin.

There are thousands of articles written about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), many by myself, but it got me thinking about the real injustice of being missold PPI and those trying to make PPI claims.  Having referred to guidelines issued by the Financial Ombudsman, it seems all financial products should be sold in a “fair and reasonable manner” and “suitable for the needs of the client”. A wonderful sweeping statement but in the UK who really has the authority to monitor what is fair and what is suitable in the financial sector? The FOS are now drowning in complaints about rejected claims from banks whereby the policy holder is clearly either not in need of a PPI policy, or could not claim on it even if they wanted to. Recent research by the regulator has shown some banks are rejecting claims without even considering them ! Take for example the lady who took out a loan with her local bank to support her granddaughters wedding. The loan itself wasn’t the issue although one has to question the morals of a bank that puts someone in so much financial debt at their time of life. But more the point is the greed of the salesperson who sells a 5 year PPI policy to a retired lady with a long medical history of arthritis and hypertension. She was also unlikely to be made redundant as she was retired already. so what was the point of the PPI policy? Quite obviously the salesperson made no attempt to question the poor lady over this and therefore the policy was sold alongside the loan “as is”. The insurance company would undoubtedly fight like hell to pay out given her previous medical history.  Then there was the gentleman who was a deep sea diver for one of the major UK oil rigs, one of the most dangerous jobs in the World. He was sold a PPI policy in case he was sick and unable to work. Again, what are the chances an insurer would happily pay out should he be off work sick which is quite likely? Both claims were rejected by the selling bank who reported that both customers were told about PPI, and were given policy documents at the time. I’m sure they were, but what about what was “suitable” for the customer?   So who monitors these rules and how often are they vetted? Well this is now the issue that is causing such a consumer backlash. The FOS is apparently receiving some 500 new PPI claims each week about missold PPI. This just goes to show the extent of the misselling scandal that has been going on for years. 

According to the regulator there are some £2.7bn worth of PPI claims to be had over the next 5 years, a real boost for the claims market. And since 2010 there are new rules governing PPI at the point of sale. But isn’t that making us smile after the horse has bolted? Wouldn’t it have been better to make regular checks on the banks and find out who they were selling PPI to and why for the last 10 years? I’m gong to repeat what has been written before. PPI is not a bad thing. Some people do need it and some banks do sell it in a fair and reasonable manner. But its about time the regulators got to grip with what is essentially an easy product to sell and easy to monitor. Stop the injustice and stop the industry from getting a bad name.

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