What exactly is mis-sold PPI and what should you do?

When taking out a loan, mortgage, credit card or store card or bought something relatively large on credit then it’s most likely that you’ve been offered PPI. That is for those not in the know – Payment Protection Insurance. 

PPI is an insurance policy that covers your payments when you can’t. This may be for a number of reasons including being ill, having an accident or being made redundant. What a good idea. It sounds simple enough and sounds flawless. People can really benefit from PPI. A lot of people did but shock horror foul play was at hand. And we wonder why we are in a financial mess. Anyway, let’s proceed with the modern day financial cliché that is Mis-sold PPI. I, like many other people, have had the question “have you been mis-sold PPI?” seared into my brain for the past few years now. Similar to yourselves (due to you reading this now) I chose to feed myself a bit of information to prepare myself for the current craze that is Mis Sold PPI. 

Research proves that millions of victims have been sold policy’s unsuited to them. This, my dear audience, is Mis-selling. What do these people have to do? Complain, and get back their money that’s what. In an organised and official way of course. Don’t throw a tantrum outside the doors of your local bank. 

The problem is that many people are unable to use their PPI when they need it most. What businesses are obliged to do when selling you a product is make sure you’re fully aware of exactly what you’re buying and any significant exclusion. Therefore they should be making sure you know exactly what PPI is and that it is only an optional extra. Many companies get away with small print, automatic offerings. So many people were assuming they had to take out PPI and of course assuming the concept was officially sound. 

Making a complaint isn’t as much hassle as you might think. There are hundreds of helpful mis-sold PPI sites that offer a claiming back process. Just fill your details of yourself and the loan policy and hey presto. The tool generates a tailored letter of complaint for you. You then either email that letter directly to your bank or print it off and take it by hand. Your bank has a maximum of 8 weeks to respond to your claim. Of course using a claim management service will require having an agreed percentage taken off your compensation so if you don’t want to speed the process up then simply contact your bank or building society yourself and follow instruction.