The amount of money banks in the UKhave handed to customers to whom they mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) has reached £215 million.

New figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have revealed an increasing level of refunds across the first half of 2011. As many as 16 firms, which accounted for 92 per cent of PPI complaints, paid back £29 million in January, followed by similar levels in the following months.  However, in May this sum rose to £37 million, before climbing to £65 million in June.

Margaret Cole from the FSA described the handling of PPI complainants as an “indelible stain” on the record of the financial industry.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said the refund total may sound like a lot “but when you compare it to the £7.4 billion that the banks have set aside to cover PPI mis-selling, you can see that this is just the start”.

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.”

“So few people know that they were ever sold PPI that some commentators believe there may be 30-35 million policies in existence, the majority of which could have been mis-sold,” added Sally. If you have genuinely been mis-sold a policy, you should be looking to get back your full premium plus interest, by way of fair redress.”

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