Websites crash as millions rush to beat PPI deadline

MILLIONS rushing to make last-minute PPI claims crashed websites and blocked telephone lines for hours as the door slammed shut on Britain’s biggest mis-selling scandal last night.

Lloyds Bank customers reported waits of more than two hours on phone lines while Santander’s website went down briefly for “essential maintenance”, as providers struggled with the number of inquiries in the hours leading up to the midnight deadline.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, set the deadline two years ago to draw a line under the scandal.

Payment Protection Insurance was widely sold alongside loans, credit cards and mortgages from the Seventies to the late 2000s. But few providers properly checked if the cover was appropriate or necessary, meaning about 62 million policies were missold.

Around £50 billion was reportedly set aside by banks to settle claims, with as much as £14 billion still left unclaimed. Complaints made after deadline may not be considered. But James Daley, of Fairer Finance, a consumer group, said the deadline should not trump banks’ responsibilities to treat their customers fairly.

“If there are detailed cases where a customer with exceptional circumstances couldn’t meet that deadline, or for vulnerable customers, I would say it still falls within the banks’ responsibility to hear those cases,” he said.

Martyn James, of consumer complaints service Resolver, said while he had been prepared for a spike in cases, he had been surprised by the sudden rush of interest. Resolver received

250,000 inquiries on Wednesday alone.

“This is unprecedented,” he said. “It’s clear that millions of people were attempting to make a last-minute claim.

People might have had 14 credit cards over the years and the realisation has only just dawned they could have been mis-sold PPI on all of them.”

Santander said its online issues were caused by exceptionally high traffic and a spokesman apologised for the inconvenience. She said: “This was quickly resolved and customers were able to submit online claims throughout the rest of the day.”

Lloyds said its phone lines had an exceptionally high number of calls but had not experienced any technical difficulties.

Many bank websites still told consumers they could complain by post right up until the deadline, despite the chance many of the letters might not arrive in time. Consumer experts said it was unclear how banks would handle these claims, though the FCA expects firms to act pragmatically.