If you live in UK, you must have a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) or know someone who has had it. About 75% of the UK population has PPI complaints. In case you are not aware of what it is, PPI is a credit protection/loan repayment insurance that has been designed to cover your debt (your minimum loan or overdraft) for a period of time (usually 12 months), till you can start working again and earn enough to repay the loan.

The difference between PPI and the other kinds of insurances is the level of difficulty in determining whether a person needs the insurance or not. It is also the reason why PPI has the highest number of rejected claims. Few reasons why most PPI claims are rejected:

• The insurance is under-written at the time of sales, mostly by the salesperson. When it’s time for payment, policyholders find out they are getting paid a lot less than they originally expected. Most of the times, the insurance companies manage to dodge or side-track the claims.

• Most people, that volunteer for PPI and give incorrect data or do not pay attention to the policy eligibility, get turned down. By the time the claim is made, it is too late to go through the policy again to ascertain whether it meets your eligibility criteria or not.

In most cases, you will find out you have been mis-sold your PPI. How do you know when you have been mis-sold?

• At the time of selling the insurance, if the salesperson did not make it clear that the insurance is optional and not compulsory.

• If you have not been advised about the exclusion that doesn’t cover pre-existing medical condition.

• If the advisor did not mention at the time of agreement that you will have to make an up-front single payment for your PPI.

• If you have not been made aware that the insurance cost is added to your total loan amount and you need to pay interest on the total, not just what you have borrowed.

• Single premium PPI lasts for a maximum of 5 years. You know you’ve been mis-sold when you have no idea that you continue paying interest on the insurance premium even after it has expired. Also, it is a mis-sale if your advisor has not told you that the insurance will run out before the loan.

• If the PPI is bought after 14th January, 2005, your PPI advisor must give you a demands and needs statement that would show why you need the policy and if it’s suitable for you, if he strongly recommends the insurance. If you do not have this statement, you can file a complaint.

Now, if you have been mis-sold a PPI and have PPI complaints, what do you do?

• Consult your lawyer or a law firm trained in claims handling immediately. If it is proved you have been mis-sold your policy, you should get back all the premiums you have paid so far and 8% statutory interest to top that. You should be back to the financial position you were in before taking out the PPI.

About the Author

For more information on PPI complaints and claiming your money, contact claimlinelegal.co.uk. Claimline Legal has some of UK’s most experienced and efficient claims handlers and lawyers. For a nominal charge, which is only payable if they win your case, you could get compensated in a few weeks time!