Two aspects of this story we should all pay attention to

THE first thing to consider when entering a deal with any claims management company is simply: do you really need its services?

There are many legitimate companies recovering money, but, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service, using this sort of company doesn’t affect your chances of recovering any money.

Your chances are neither improved or damaged by making your own claim. This is easy to do and there are several online guides to help.

Many CMCs will offer a no-win-no-fee service but be aware that if your claim is successful they usually take around 20% of whatever you receive.

Stories of people being awarded £6000 or even £10,000 are common. That means these firms pocketed £1200 or £2000 of that money.

If you do use a CMC, have a look to see if it is regulated by the Ministry of Justice. You can check on its website – claimsregulation.gov.uk

Remember to read the terms and conditions and, whatever you do, don’t pay any money up front. These firms get their payment after the award of cash owed to you.

Secondly, many of us have been contacted by firms asking if we want them to find out if we have PPI claims.

Are we about to face a new barrage of calls about endowment policies?

If you have money owed to you, then you should pursue that money. Or, better still, that money should be automatically returned to you.

But we don’t want to be pestered by another rash of cold callers every evening.

The Sunday Post has long campaigned for cold calling to be better regulated in the UK.