The policy of mis-selling payment protection insurance has not only been one of the most controversial financial scandals of recent times – it has also exposed the banks as being utterly ruthless. Although other events probably would have done so, anyway! If you’re unsure as to whether you’re eligible to claim back any of the £4bn or so that is out there to be paid back to consumers, then keep reading, and one of our hints should help you out with your PPI claim .
Firstly, it’s well worth checking out your financial records if you applied for (and were given) a mortgage at any point from around 1998. One of the more evil and ruthless tactics banks used to offload PPI policies was to tell consumers that it was an essential part of the mortgage process, and without it they could not purchase one. Complete cobblers, obviously, but it does mean that anyone with a mortgage could be eligible to reclaim the money back. Laughing as they do it, preferably.
Secondly, it’s important to make sure that if you applied for a credit card or a loan in the time period of mis-selling that you check out your policies. Whilst you might have been informed at the time that PPI was being added to your policy, it’s entirely possible that you wouldn’t have. Yup, the skullduggery really did reach those levels. Obviously if you were actually made aware of the PPI, the chances are you’re probably eligible, too!
Finally, it’s well worth cranking out the financial records if you applied for mortgages, credit cards and the like if you were in any situation other than full-time work at the time. Probably the all-time most devious method of PPI selling at the time was to sell it to people who weren’t actually eligible to make a claim at all. Yes, really. So anyone self-employed or claiming pension at the time could well be eligible for claiming back money they shouldn’t have been sold anyway. Whoever said the world is sensible?