Lenders use stalling tactics after scandal, it is claimed

Banks have been slammed for continuing to stall the refund on claims of customers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). Thousands of people were unwittingly sold worthless or overpriced cover in case they defaulted on loans, mortgages or credit cards, according to The Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/city/4069349/Banks-continue-with-sharp-tactics-to-stop-customers-reclaiming-mis-sold-Payment-Protection-Insurance.html )

Last year, the High Court ordered lenders to pay back any mis-sold PPI plus eight per cent interest — expected to lead to payouts totalling up to £9billion. But many are claimed to be dragging their heels. Months on, many customers are still waiting for their payouts.

Customers making a claim are rewarded with a lengthy eight-page questionnaire. Banks know that when asking the general public to fill out long forms, a lot do not have the time or know-how to do it. It’s a deterrent and they know up to 40 per cent will never come back. Now we know banks have mis-sold in most cases, the process should be made easier. The customer states how they were mis-sold to and the bank should only concentrate on that information. Because the lenders’ call centres used scripted sales talk, a high percentage of customers were mis-sold PPI in an identical fashion.

A Lloyds spokesperson said: “We have built a five-fold increase in PPI operations over the past 12 months to manage the increase in the volume of PPI cases. There has also been a significant improvement in the efficiency of the processes for PPI complaints. As a result of this investment, Lloyds is now able to process over 30 times more complaints each day than it could at the start of last year. Our latest numbers indicate that we are almost at 100 per cent success rate of paying customers within the FSA timescales.”

Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of leading claims firm, Brunel Franklin said, “Making a refund application against a bank or other large financial institution can be a daunting prospect, which is why it can sometimes be much better to seek help from an organisation like Brunel Franklin, rather than struggle on and be left to try and work out the details for yourself.

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