Britain’s banks have finally abandoned their attempts to wriggle out of paying refunds to customers who were mis–sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

The British Bankers’ Association has announced that it will not be appealing against last month’s ruling in the High Court that the City regulator was entitled to impose tougher rules on mis-selling PPI.

The banks had argued that the Financial Services Authority was behaving unfairly because the rules would apply “retrospectively” to sales, and complaints, made before the new regulations came into force. So if you have a PPI policy, should you immediately put in a claim for mis-selling? While in many cases the answer will be yes, it’s a complicated subject.

While a great many PPI policies will have been mis-sold, not all were. So it’s important to check exactly what your policy covered and whether it was appropriate for your circumstances at the time.

There are a number of ways in which people have been mis–sold. If you can answer “no” to any of the following questions you may have been mis–sold and should make a complaint;

(1) If the insurance was optional, was that made clear to you?

(2) Did the adviser tell you about any significant exclusion’s – for example, the exclusion that says you won’t be covered for any pre–existing medical condition?

(3) If you took out a loan or finance agreement, did the adviser make it clear that you would have to pay for the insurance up front in one single payment? If so, did the adviser make it clear that the insurance cost would be added to the loan and you would be paying interest on it? Single–premium PPI insurance normally lasts only for five years. If your loan or finance agreement was for longer than this, did the adviser make it clear that the insurance would run out before you had finished paying for your loan or finance agreement? The adviser should also have told you that you would continue to pay interest on the insurance premium even after the insurance expired.

(4) If you bought PPI after January 14 2005, did the adviser try to persuade you to take it out by saying something like “we strongly recommend that you consider taking out PPI”? If so, the sale counts as “advised” and the provider should have issued a “demands and needs statement” to show why a particular policy had been recommended and why it was suitable. If they didn’t, this is grounds for complaint.

Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of leading financial claims company, Brunel Franklin, said that the amount of people who have currently lodged an application for a PPI refund is the tip of the iceberg. “We are seeing steady growth in PPI refunds and the trend is set to continue,” said Sally. What we know is that many millions of policies are in existence and it appears that a large proportion may have been mis-sold. Therefore it is imperative that people check the small print of their loan and other credit agreements, to see if they unknowingly have PPI.”

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