A large proportion of disputes and upsets in regards to the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) need to be resolved over the course of this New Year, as banks and insurers have subjected consumers to ‘delays and inconveniences’ according to a financial watchdog.

Although there was a legal challenge to PPI complaints being dropped late last year, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said it was ‘disappointing’ that a large number of consumers were still waiting on business to clear up the amount of cases on their desks and actually deal with them.

This current financial year, 2012/13, the FOS expects to settle 130,000 of the PPI cases, however warned many are likely to be ‘more entrenched’. This figure is more than double the amount of PPI cases resolved in 2010/11 which stood at 60,000, and up from 109,500 in the recent financial year, 2011/12.

With PPI cases expected to make up half of its workload, the FOS said it shall need to gear up on an ‘unprecedented’ scale to tackle the amount of complaints.

Consumers took out PPI to help repay their loans if they fell ill for a long period or became unemployed, but a widespread mis-selling scandal emerged; where-by consumers were unaware they had been sold the product or had been sold it for the wrong reasons. The British Bankers’ Association confirmed in May 2011 that it was not going to appeal against a High Court ruling that rules relating to the mis-selling of PPI could be applied retrospectively.

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.