Last chance for PPI refund claims
PEOPLE have been warned they could miss out on PPI refunds as a flurry of last-minute claims could see phone lines overwhelmed and websites crash.
Consumers were told “this is big money, don’t leave it to chance” as tonight’s 11.59pm deadline draws nearer, with “many billions” of pounds remaining unclaimed.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, yesterday said: “Over £36bn has already been repaid but the banks persuaded the regulator to put a deadline on.
“That deadline is tomorrow night... don’t leave it until the last second.
“The fact is, if you do websites could crash when you’re trying to process your information. You could get a call centre and they’re totally busy.
“You could be a small company closing its doors earlier so they can process it.
“Or frankly you might just find you’re missing a little bit of information and there isn’t enough time to get it.
“The sooner you do this the better.
“This is big money. Don’t leave it to chance.”
An estimated 64m PPI (payment protection insurance) policies were sold in the UK — many during the 1990s and early 2000s.
PPI was routinely added to products such as store cards, credit cards or mortgages.
It was intended to protect people if they could not keep up with their payments, due to illness or Deadline warning: Martin Lewis unemployment for example. But it was widely mis-sold.
People were pressured into buying it, did not know they had it or it was unsuitable.
It is the most complained-about financial product that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has ever seen, receiving more than two million complaints.
Crucially, even if people do not think they were mis-sold, there is also now another reason to complain about PPI.
Following a court case known as Plevin, people can also complain on the basis that a high level of commission was earned from the sale of the policy — but they were not told about it.
People can complain about commission even if they have had a previous complaint about the mis-selling of PPI rejected.