PPI - The Great Mis-Selling Debate - Are You a 'Victim'? PPI ('Payment Protection Insurance') (or otherwise known as ASU or PPP) is a form of insurance that can maintain a borrower's loan repayments in such instances where they are unable to ordinarily make these payments due to being made redundant, off-work due to illness or following an accident. PPI is often sold by a bank or broker as an up-front single premium alongside the loan. These premiums can range from £500 right up to as high as £25,000!! Where a PPI policy is never successfully claimed upon it serves only to increase the amount a borrower lends and pays interest on, in addition to the loan itself. Over the past couple of years many banks and brokers have been massively mis-selling PPI policies alongside loans to thousands of vulnerable and unassuming borrowers. This has led to the Financial Service Authority (FSA), the Financial Ombudsman Service and lately, the Competition Commission, all making extensive investigations into this market and concluding that wide-spread mis-selling has occurred at an alarming rate and on an alarming scale! The Competition Commission has gone so far as to put forward proposals banning the sale of up-front single PPI premiums and of its sale immediately alongside a loan. How It Is Mis-sold? The most common form of mis-selling is where the PPI is made a condition of obtaining the loan i.e. a borrower is told that they cannot have the loan without the PPI. PPI is entirely optional and should have no influence on whether or not you get the loan. This is a classic example of banks and brokers using what the FSA refer to as 'point of sale advantage' they are aware of the borrower's real need to have the loan and wait until the very last minute before seeking to foist an insurance policy that was never requested (nor ever wanted) in the first place, onto a borrower who is not entirely sure what it is, yet is told they have to have it. In addition to this, banks and brokers also often fail to ask key information from a borrower before seeking to sell PPI, which often results in it being virtually useless. Such key information can include:
How Can We Assist? Over the past 18 months Michael Lewin Solicitors Limited have been successfully assisting and recovering monies paid towards mis-sold PPI policies, together with statutory interest for its clients. We also insist that where the loan agreement is still ongoing, the PPI is removed so that our client is no longer making any further repayments towards it. Should your loan be regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, be continuing and signed before 6 April 2007, we can also ask the Court to write off the remainder of the loan, so that you make no further loan payments, in addition. Where a broker is involved and does not inform you about the commission they will receive from the lending bank, we can also seek to recover a sum equivalent to this payment on this basis. Our Reputation We are extremely vigorous in our approach and have no hesitation in issuing County Court proceedings against the banks and brokers where we feel the borrower has a strong case that the PPI was mis-sold to them. We have found this approach is the fastest and most effective way to recover our clients' monies and has resulted in us being a market leader in the legal profession in this area. All You Need To Do Have a copy of your signed loan agreement with its terms and conditions to hand, give us a call on 0113 393 0231 and let us do the rest... |
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