Over 1.5 million complaints on litigious PPI selling procedures had been reported to the FSA in the last five years 100,000 of which were registered in the last financial year.

PPI is a mechanism which clients can purchase on a voluntary basis when contracting a loan. It constitutes an insurance on the client’s loan, and thus implies a significant premium which covers the debt if an unexpected event such as illness or redundancy were to strike the bank’s client.

However, the FSA reports show that these insurance policies had been sold to clients that either did not need them, or simply did not know they were paying for it. The financial watchdog had previously issued a directive ordering banks to systematically consult misled clients and refund those who did not willingly enter the scheme and were therefore paying unnecessary premiums. Refunds, which include the premium and interests, could mount to a final bill of close to £4.5bn.

Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of financial claims specialist BrunelFranklin.com says that the public are slowly becoming wiser to the tactics of mis-selling, but that a lot of the damage is already done: “It is important to realise that we may all unwittingly have taken out PPI during the years when lenders were offering a seemingly endless line of credit in the form of loans and credit cards in particular. It costs nothing to check your paperwork for insurances that you may not even know you are paying for. PPI per se is not a bad product, however the onus is on the vendor to ensure the product is the best for your needs at the time of sale. If the best product for your needs was not offered, or if you were unaware of the true cost, for example, you may have grounds for a refund.”

Learn more about PPI refunds and find out if you could apply for a refund today! Visit the website www.brunelfranklin.com or call Brunel Franklin, free, on 0800 051 54 51