PPI complaints

PLEASE NOTE: Age UK, its local partners, and the Age UK Advice Line cannot offer assistance with PPI complaints.

Time is running out to make a PPI complaint. If you haven’t complained to your provider by 29 August 2019, you won’t be able to claim money back for PPI – so you should make your decision as soon as possible.

1. What is PPI?

PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) was a policy sold with credit products such as loans, mortgages, credit cards, store cards and catalogue credit.

PPI was designed to cover repayments where you could not make them yourself. For example, if you were made redundant or could not work due to an accident, illness or disability.

2. Is PPI relevant to me?

Millions of PPI policies were sold in the UK, mostly between 1990 and 2010 (and some as far back as the 1970s).

If you took out a loan or credit product during this period or paid for something on finance, you may have been sold PPI at the same time.

3. What types of products were sold with PPI?

A broad range of products were sold with PPI. Examples include:

• Credit products i.e. credit cards, store cards (usually from a high street store) and catalogue credit
• Loan products i.e. mortgages, personal loans, business loans, student loans and home improvement loans
• Finance products i.e. a car or sofa purchased on finance (this may have been called a ‘finance agreement’ or ‘hire purchase’)

The FCA has a comprehensive list of PPI providers who might have sold PPI. Visit www.fca.org.uk/ppi or call 0800 101 88 00.

4. How do I know if I am eligible to complain about PPI?

The FCA has found that PPI was often mis-sold. Millions of complaints about PPI have now been made and over £34 billion has been claimed back.

Examples of mis-selling include:

• PPI being added to your loan or credit product without you knowing
• Being pressured to take out PPI or told you must have it
• Being advised to buy PPI when you were unemployed or had a pre-existing medical condition

Further examples of mis-selling are detailed in question 9.

You may also be able to complain if you think your bank or other provider earned a high level of commission from your PPI and did not tell you when you bought it.

Further information on commission earned by a provider is detailed on question 10.

5. How do I check if I had PPI?

If you’ve had a loan or credit product but aren’t sure whether you had PPI, you should check with your provider.

Checking whether you had PPI is simple and free. Don’t worry about paperwork, you just need your name, date of birth and relevant previous addresses. Many providers now offer online tools to help you check.

You can find a comprehensive list of PPI providers and their contact details on the FCA website. Visit www.fca.org.uk/ppi or call 0800 101 8800.

6. How do I complain about PPI? (deadline 29 August 2019)

If you were sold PPI, you may be eligible to make a complaint and potentially claim back money.

If you decide to complain, this is free, and you can do this yourself. You can complain directly to the provider who sold you PPI.

Providers are obliged to make complaining about PPI simple and will help you through the process.

There are a few ways you can contact your provider to make a complaint:

• Online – many providers have online complaints tools on their websites
• Telephone – be aware that phone lines will have limited hours of operation
• Post – allow enough time for the complaint to reach your provider before the 29 August 2019 deadline
• In branch – be aware of the opening and closing times of your local branch.

You can find a comprehensive list of PPI providers and their contact details on the FCA website. Visit www.fca.org.uk/ppi or call 0800 101 8800.

7. Using a claims company to complain about PPI

You can complain about PPI yourself – for free.

Claims companies often contact people by text messages or phone calls and offer to help make your PPI complaint. These companies are also known as claims management companies (CMC\s), claims handlers and claims firms.

If you decide to use a claims company, they are likely to charge for this service, so you should find out what it will cost.

Visit https://www.fca.org.uk/ppi/how-to-complain/claims-companies or call 0800 101 8800 for further details.

8. What happens after I have submitted a PPI complaint?

Your provider will look into your complaint (they may ask you for more information, so make sure you give them your contact details).

Your provider must respond within 8 weeks to tell you whether you have been successful and are owed some money, or to explain why they need more time to look into your complaint.

If you are not happy with the final response you receive from your provider, or you do not get any response within 8 weeks, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service on 0800 023 4567.

9. What is PPI mis-selling?

It is likely you were mis-sold PPI if you experienced any of the following:

• You were pressured into buying PPI
• You were told you must have PPI
• You were advised to buy PPI that did not suit your circumstances or needs
• You were promised a cheaper rate if you bought PPI
• You were told your loan or credit application was more likely to be accepted if you bought PPI
• PPI was added without telling you
• You were self-employed, unemployed or retired but advised to buy PPI
• You had a pre-existing medical condition at the time of buying PPI
• You were advised that a pre-existing medical condition was included in your PPI policy (or advised that it wasn’t included)
• It was not made clear that you would pay interest on the PPI if it was added to your loan
• It was not made clear that the PPI would end before the loan or credit was repaid

There may be other ways you may have been mis-sold PPI. If you are still unsure you should contact the FCA on 0800 101 8800.

10. How do I know if I am eligible to complain about commission earned by a provider?

Banks and other providers must now also consider PPI complaints about the commission they earned from PPI. These rules followed a Supreme Court decision in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Limited.

This means you may now be able to complain if you think your bank or other provider earned a high level of commission from your PPI and did not tell you when you bought it.

<p?It also means you may get some money back even if you were not mis-sold PPI. And if you previously made a mis-selling complaint and it was rejected, you may be able to make a new type of complaint.

You do not need to know or explain how much commission was paid for your PPI policy, so if you aren’t sure, you might want to complain.

For further details and help on this, visit www.fca.org.uk/ppi/eligible-claim-commission or call the FCA helpline on 0800 101 8800.

11. Have you complained about mis-selling already and what should you do?

If the answer is no:

You should consider whether you may have been mis-sold PPI. Your provider will consider the commission they earned as part of a mis-selling complaint even if you don’t mention it.

If the answer is yes:

Your complaint was rejected – You may be able to make a new type of complaint about commission earned by provider – contact your provider.

Your complaint was successful, and you were refunded some or all of your money – You will not get back more money if you now complain about commission earned from the sale of the same PPI policy. This is because there is no remaining loss that you need to claim back.

You complained about PPI since late 2015 – Your provider should already have told you in writing that they would consider the commission they earned as part of your complaint – check the paperwork from your complaint or contact your provider if you aren’t sure.

Remember: if you haven't complained to your provider by 29 August 2019, you won't be able to claim money back for PPI ─ so you should make your decision as soon as possible.