Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is an insurance cover given at the time of obtaining a loan or else when purchasing a credit card to protect the consumer from being unable to pay the installments due to recognized cause of events. However, in some instances, the fine print inclusions have not been properly divulged to the consumers and at times, the policies were offered in instances where its application was inappropriate. In such events, the consumers have the right to claim the PPI and the interest charged by the financial institute in this regard.
Who are eligible to claim back PPI?
Consumers become eligible to claim back PPI in instances where they have no means of repaying the debt because they are unable to work. However, for those who were given a PPI in inappropriate circumstances where the policyholder does not have a sound justification to claim back the PPI can also claim based on ‘mis-selling’ of the policy. Mis-selling can take place in a variety of circumstances and some of these circumstances include,
-When the consumer is not employed at the time of taking the insurance,
-If the consumer was suffering from a medical problem which could prevent him or her from working in the future and therefore was not explained of the invalid nature of the PPI,
-In some instances of ‘single premium’ policy,
-If the entire cost of the PPI was not explained, if the PPI was not offered as an optional component etc.
However, a professional agency could help with determining the eligibility of a person towards claiming back the PPI, as it needs considerable amount of processing before filing a case against those institutes.
What are the steps in claiming for PPI?
First of all, one needs to know whether the policy in question has a PPI cover. Details can be obtained through the documentation given with the policy, billing documents or else by contacting the vendor directly.
If there is a PPI cover, one should go through the eligibility criteria to claim the PPI, which includes instances of ‘mis-selling’. However, if one feels that they should receive PPI for some reason, they should claim it first from the vendor through a letter citing the potential eligibility factors.
If the response was not positive, another letter including detailed explanation of the circumstances on which the policy was taken and the justification of one’s claim should again be sent with a deadline to respond positively. Usually, the policyholder needs to give about 8 weeks in total to the financial institute to respond.
If all these requests fail or if the consumer is not happy regarding the refund, they can request the ‘financial ombudsman‘ to take a look at the matter. However, the policyholder needs to fill in a compliant form and sign in-person before sending it for investigations. At the same time, one needs to attach all the relevant documents for this purpose as well.