How to reclaim PPI Payment Protection Insurance for free – but you’ve only got until next year
Millions of Brits were victims of the mis-selling scandal but you haven't got long to get your money back - and you don't need to pay a claims' firm to do it either
IT'S a scandal that's affected millions of Brits.
But if you think you were a victim of PPI mis-selling you haven't got long to get your claim in and get your cash back.
Here the Sun Online explains how you can claim before the August 29 2019 deadline - and how you can do it yourself without having to pay out for an expensive claims' management firm to do it for you.
What is PPI?
PPI - Payment Protection Insurance - was offered alongside loans, mortgages, credit and store cards, and car finance agreements in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It was meant to cover your payments for a year if you fell ill or lost your job but loads of policies were sold to Brits who would never have been able to claim on them - while some were paying for the cover without even knowing it.
The scandal has cost the banks more than £27billion - as many as 60million policies were mis-sold - but in order to draw a line under the whole affair, you now only have until August 29, 2019 to get your claim in.
How to make a PPI claim
Think you've got PPI? Then follow these steps.
1. Find out if you have a PPI policy - Check your loan or credit documentation to see if it refers to anything like "payment cover","loan protection" or "ASU (accident, sickness and unemployment) insurance."
If you've thrown away your documents, you can check you credit file which will list any credit agreements you have had in the last six years - and you can ask your lender for a copy of your documentation and terms and conditions too.
2. DON'T use a Claims Managment Firm - Claims firms will promise to do everything for you - but will take a massive slice of your cash if your claim is successful. MSE, Which? and watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, all have template letters and tools you can use to submit your claim for free.
The firm must respond to you within eight weeks of making your claim.
3. You might be able to make a new claim even if you've been rejected - Thanks to a court ruling known as Plevin, customers can get their money back if the bank didn't declare at least 50 per cent of the policy was in commission.
4. Act quickly - The deadline for making a claim is August 2019, so make sure you get your claim into the company you're complaining too well before then.
And thanks to a court ruling, it's now not if you were mis-sold PPI but if you had it at all.
The "Plevin" ruling now means that if over 50 per cent of your PPI costs was commission and the lender didn't declare it, you are due back money too.
As bank loans with PPI typically averaged 67 per cent and lenders almost never mentioned it, a lot of people are likely to be owed compensation.
Martin Lewis said: "With Plevin, in most cases it’s simply a case of ‘Did you have PPI? Then you are owed money."
"So if you have a loan, credit card or other debt product that has been active at some point since 2008 and had PPI on it, then if you haven’t reclaimed already, you’re almost certainly due some money back, even if you don’t think you were mis-sold in any other way."
How do I know if I had PPI?
You'll be doing pretty well to remember if you had a PPI policy when you took out a loan agreement, for example, years and years ago.
But don't worry - MSE says Brits should check their loan or credit documentation to see if it refers to anything like "payment cover","loan protection" or "ASU (accident, sickness and unemployment) insurance."
These are all categories PPI would fall under.
If you've thrown away your documents, it's still not the end of the road.
You can check your credit file which will list any credit agreements you have had in the last six years - and you can ask your lender for a copy of your documentation and terms and conditions too.
If you've been paying for PPI, it'll be flagged in those documents.
I think I've got a case - should I use a claim management firm?
NO.
Claim management firms will promise to do everything for you and make your claim as easy as possible.
But they won't do much beyond contact your lender - you'd still have to provide them with all the details - and then take a massive slice of your refund if it's successful.
There's lots and lots of ways you can submit your claim for free.
MSE, Which? and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) all have template letters you can use to submit your claim for free.
Once you've submitted your claim, the firm must respond to you within eight weeks of making your claim.
More on money
I've already had one claim rejected - can I try again?
If your claim has been rejected in the last six months, and you feel that's wrong, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If you were rejected a few years ago, thanks to the Plevin case, you might also find you can strike it lucky this time around.
you can use to try again.
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