More than £1bn was paid in refunds in the first 10 months of the year to people who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), financial watchdog figures show.

PPI was supposed to repay people’s loans if their income dropped because they fell ill or lost their jobs, but thousands were mis-sold the policies. The cash was paid by 16 unnamed firms, accounting for 92% of PPI complaints in the first half of 2011.

In October refunds totalled £268m. This was the highest monthly total in the first 10 months of the year, according to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which published the data.

After losing a High Court test case in April 2011, banks were told to deal with 200,000 complaints which they had put on hold pending the hearing’s outcome. The FSA gave them until the end of August the same year to either offer compensation, or reject the complaints.

Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of leading financial claims company, BrunelFranklin.com said: “Whilst the rules have been tightened up to prevent the blanket mis-selling of PPI, in theory, the problem is historical and people can often apply for a refund of several years’ worth of premiums plus interest, if they were mis-sold a PPI policy.”

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.