PPI deadline – just one day left to submit claims for compensation
TODAY is the LAST day for everyone to reclaim cash for mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) - and you could get thousands of pounds back.
As long as you start a claim before 11.59pm tonight (August 29) it can later still be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service, but if you don't it may not be considered.
In total, £340.4million was paid in compensation to customers in June alone, taking the amount paid since January 2011 to a whopping £36billion, according to the regulator.
Making a PPI claim is easy, but with less than a day left until the deadline, you need to move quickly.
At the major banks, the last time to submit claims online is 11.59pm on Thursday, or if you're going to do it by phone, the cut-off varies between 6pm and midnight.
Some banks say they'll accept your claim if you post the letter on August 29, while others say they must have received it by then, so double-check what applies at your providers beforehand.
I got £18,000 back on old loans
FORMER bookeeper, Brian Goody, had no idea if he was due any PPI compensation on old loans – until his bank refunded him £18,000 out of the blue.
Brian had taken out six bank loans with Lloyds, but he couldn’t remember much about them and had no recollection of being sold PPI.
After hearing about the deadline, Brian used the free online claim tool run by Which?, he told The Sun.
At first, it didn’t look promising. When Lloyds sent him a 12-page questionnaire asking him to complete a claim for each policy he held, Brian gave up.
"I didn’t know what policies, if any, I had taken out, so I was unable to fully complete the forms.
"As a result I decided to forget about claiming and did not reply."
So he was amazed when, a month later, he was sent a letter from Lloyds Bank offering him an £18,346.67 refund on four of the loans.
The bank had continued with the claim and found out the details.
He said: “I was stunned to learn the total. I felt dumbstruck and over the moon."
If you're complaining in person at a branch you should make a note of the closing times.
No matter how you do it, make sure you get confirmation that you've started the process.
If you're doing it online, note down the reference number or if you complain by phone, get the name of the person you spoke to, make a note of the time and ask them to assure you the claim is triggered.
What is payment protection insurance?
PPI was an insurance policy attached to credit agreements such as loans, mortgages or credit cards.
The idea of these policies was to cover payments when a policyholder fell ill, had an accident or lost their job.
Sales of these policies were popular from the nineties and into the new millennium.
But then consumer groups started raising questions and a series of investigations revealed that lots of people had been sold policies when they shouldn't have been.
One problem was that sales staff were incentivised to sell PPI at all costs, meaning lots of people ended up being mis-sold to.
Some consumers had policies sold in the small print that they weren't aware of, others were sold insurance they would never be able to claim (for instance because they were self-employed or retired).
Sales of single-premium PPI policies were banned in 2009 and despite initial opposition, lenders were ordered to consider all PPI complaints in 2011.
I got £10,500 on loans and credit cards
MUM-OF-TWO Laura Tuley will never forget the day when a PPI cheque for £6,000 landed on her doormat out of the blue.
In 2003, it came at the right time for the then pregnant events administrator and it spurred her on to claim back a further £4,500 from other finance companies.
The 41-year-old from Kent’s first payout had been for PPI she had unwittingly taken out on a number of loans and credit cards in her late teens.
"I hadn't really heard of PPI back then. I just had to fill out a form and a few weeks later they sent me a cheque for £6,090," Laura told The Sun.
"It was a real shock. It came at a really good time as I was pregnant with my second son and needed a bigger car so the money went towards that."
It wasn't until a few years later that Laura realised the scale of the mis-sold PPI problem and thought she might be eligible more refunds.
Laura decided to pursue further claims in 2017, some which she did herself and others via a claims management company.
Of course, be warned that claims managment companies can take an up to 25 per cent cut of any cash you get back so you're usually better off reclaiming yourself.
Laura added: "I wanted to do as many of them myself and got my bank statements from the last six years.
"I wrote off to companies and kept chasing."
How do you check if you have PPI?
You will need to check the documents you signed when you took out a financial product such as a mortgage, loan or credit card.
It's also worth looking at any statements you received, particularly if you've lost the original paperwork.
Make sure you check the terms and conditions carefully looking for whether you were sold PPI.
Frustratingly, PPI has a lot of different names, but the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has a useful list of terms to look out for:
- Accident, sickness and unemployment insurance (ASU)
- Account cover
- Credit insurance
- Credit protection
- Loan care
- Loan insurance
- Loan protection
- Loan repayment insurance
- Mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI)
- Payment cover
- Protection plan
If you've lost all your paperwork, you should ask the company which sold you the financial product.
Many providers now offer online checking tools to help you check if you had PPI, and will usually get back to you within eight weeks.
If you can't find any of the paperwork or aren't sure what loans you had in the past, you need to check your credit report.
This will give you a list of all the credit agreements you've had.
Write to all of the companies to find out whether you had PPI.
It's helpful to provide your full name, your address at the time you got the product and any other details you can glean.
You should receive a response in 40 days.
I got £9,000 back from mortgage PPI in 5 minutes
IT took just a few minutes for flying instructor Ian Stevenson to fill in PPI reclaim forms - and a few days later £9,000 appeared in his account.
The 60-year-old had taken out a PPI policy alongside his mortgage with Barclays in 2002 after splitting with his then wife.
But in 2006 Ian, who lives in Coventry, West Midlands, cancelled the policy after realising that he was already covered for many of the perks it offered as part of his job as a management consultant.
“I got the payment into my account before I got the letter from Barclays,” Ian told The Sun.
“I thought it was a mistake but then I realised they had also paid me back interest.
“It was a very easy process, very slick. I was delighted with the speed and it’s great to get all the money back.”
How to check if you've been mis-sold PPI
If you're unsure whether you had PPI you can contact the bank directly to check – it then has eight weeks to respond to any mis-sold claims.
Most banks will count this initial enquiry as the start of the PPI reclaim process so as long as you do this before the deadline it's fine for the process to carry on after this.
If it rejects your claim you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service to have your case reviewed for free.
You can do this within six months of receiving your PPI provider's decision, even if it's after the August deadline, but you'll need to submit the initial enquiry before then.
The has links to online complaints tools and contact details for the providers that receive the most complaints about PPI.
You can also download free template letters from websites such as and .
There are plenty of claims handling companies that are trying to get people to complain through them because they can charge a fee, but there's no need to do this.
Processing the claim yourself means you'll get to keep all your compensation.
If your claim is successful, the amount you get depends on your circumstances, but the average payout is around £3,000.
If you're really stuck on your claim, the FCA has a free helpline too that you can call on 0800 101 8800.
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It's estimated that 60MILLION policies were mis-sold over the past three decades to customers who were promised a cheaper rate if they bought PPI or it was added without them knowing.
Those who've already received compensation are also advised to claim back tax on the payout because you could be owed hundreds.
Last month, several banks and building societies agreed to submit PPI complaints for you to ensure that tonight's deadline is met.
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