Borrowers of mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) on loans and credit cards face further delays in refunds after banks and lenders admitted they are failing to meet an agreed deadline for dealing with claims.
Banks admitted breaching a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to pay Payment Protection Insurance refunds within 28 days to the customer. The worst affected by the latest delays who have accepted an offer of a refund may be forced to wait months for their money.
Up to 16 million PPI policies – meant to cover people who lost their jobs or became too sick to work – were sold to people who didn’t want it, need it or who would never have been able to claim.
A huge backlog of complaints built up earlier this year. But after the banks lost their Court case in April they were forced to set aside billions of pounds for refunds and were given until August 31 to work through the backlog. On the day of the deadline the Financial Services Authority revealed that 16 unnamed firms had paid out £216million in refunds in the first half of the year.
Banks say they are now meeting the 28-day deadline. Banks and new lenders face a new crackdown on the way the new generation of protection policies are designed due to growing fears of a repeat of the PPI mis-selling scandal.
The FSA and the consumer watchdog the Office of Fair Trading yesterday proposed tougher rules, including forcing firms to be clearer on costs and design products with their target audience in mind.
Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of Brunel Franklin said, “Chasing a vendor can be a difficult and time consuming process to undertake with no support or technical knowledge, and this is where Brunel Franklin comes in. We would encourage anyone who believes they may have been mis-sold a PPI policy to talk to us, as a quick initial assessment is usually enough for us to decide if you 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.