FOS upholds 80% of single premium PPI complaints

by Gill Montia

Story link: FOS upholds 80% of single premium PPI complaints

Changing economic circumstances could result in an increase in claims for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) during 2008, and while a rise in redundancies would almost certainly reveal further instances of mis-selling there is good news from the Financial Ombusdman Service (FOS).

Emma Parker, spokesperson for the FOS, states: “We received a record 970 cases in December and it looks likely that January will bring even greater volumes. We are currently upholding around four in five complaints about single premium PPI.”

Five thousand PPI cases have been lodged since April of last year, as compared with 1,832 cases received by the FOS during the whole of the 2006/7 financial year.

PPI is now the most complained about area of insurance. Typical areas of complaint include consumers not being aware that they had taken out the insurance when getting a loan; the policy not being properly explained; and the cover being unsuitable for a person’s particular needs.

Some PPI customers have not had the pricing structure fully explained or have been left with the impression that the insurance came as a free benefit with a loan.

Others have been told that they could not take out a loan without the PPI insurance that was being sold alongside it.