As of today, we all have less than one month to claim any mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). Statistics show that around 64 million PPI policies have been sold in the UK – most of them between 1990 and 2010, with some policies dating as back as the 1970s.
The History of PPI
As some of you may probably know, the payment protection insurance was established in order to cover repayments that people couldn’t pay themselves due to certain circumstances. For example, PPI would cover any repayments of a person that could not work due to an illness, accident, or death or was made redundant.
More than 35 billion pounds have been repaid to customers since 2011, with banks setting aside billions and billions for this type of compensation and refunds. Naturally, a deadline was probably bound to happen sooner or later – you can do so and reclaim any mis-sold PPI until the 29th of August 2019.
In today’s article, we will be talking about everything that you need to know about the PPI deadline. This way, you won’t miss a single thing and you’ll be able to properly claim back your money.
Are You Entitled to PPI Compensation?
You may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance if you have purchased a loan, mortgage, or any kind of credit product – such as a credit card – up until 2006. Keep in mind that mis-selling could have taken place after this year as well.
Given that there is no limit on how far back people can claim payment protection insurance and that most of us don’t actually know if we’ve been mis-sold PPI, we should all consider making a claim.
Even if there’s a small chance that you are owed compensation, then make sure that you do not miss the deadline.
What Happens to the Unclaimed PPI funds?
As mentioned before, the money available for compensation and refunds has been set aside by the banks of the UK. Obviously, any unclaimed funds will be reinvested in these banks.
In short, every bank that is offering refunds keeps the money that the people don’t claim. Basically, we could say that these funds are up for grabs for anyone that has been mis-sold a PPI.
What You May Not Know
If you haven’t filed a claim yet, then you may think that this whole PPI thing does not apply to you or that the process for being awarded a refund is too complicated.
You may also avoid claiming a refund because you had PPI on an appropriate product and nothing went wrong with it – you were happy with your deal, so to say. However, there were some cases in which people were sold a certain product as part of a credit deal.
This should make the sales process questionable and, ultimately, persuade you into applying for a PPI refund.
There are more than enough stories of people that have checked PPI without expecting anything, only to find out that they were owed thousands due to a mis-sold. For example, one person who used a lot of different loans in the past didn’t think that they were eligible for a refund. Later investigations discovered that the person was owed almost 19 thousand pounds.
When Will the Claims be Resolved?
Keep in mind that the deadline date is the 29th of August. All you need to do in order to take advantage of the PPI repayment is to submit your claim before this date.
If you submit your claim close to this date, it is unlikely that you will receive an answer before the 29th. However, this doesn’t mean that your claim will get cancelled or denied. As long as you submit it before the 29th and the bank receives your claim, they will investigate it and return to you with the result.
The bank usually takes around eight weeks to resolve a claim – still, it is known that this process can be longer in some instances. You should be patient.
How Do You Submit a Claim?
There are companies that will offer you their services and make a claim on your behalf. However, keep in mind that the claims management firms will take a rather large part of your compensation for filing a claim for you – up to 24%. For example, if you think you may be entitled to PPI compensation on a buy to let mortgage, you may want to keep it all for yourself.
Naturally, the easiest way to submit a claim is by making one directly to your provider. There are also many online tools that can help you start your claim, fill out the form, and then forward it to your provider, be it Property Finance or anyone else.
Buy to Let Mortgage PPI
Since we have mentioned a scenario including a buy to let mortgage, it is worth mentioning a couple of things about this specific case.
While you can file a PPI claim for this, keep in mind that most companies will reject it – therefore, PPI is worth having. Moreover, as most mortgage brokers were not regulated before January 2005, the window for complaints is little to none.
In short, the sale of PPI starting with January 2005 has been regulated while buy-to-let lending is unregulated – the result is mortgage PPI that does not get much coverage.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?
If you miss the deadline of August 29, you can still make a claim – but only if you have experienced exceptional circumstances. If you have to rely on such a claim, keep in mind that you must include as much information as you can when you apply – as these claims will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
We strongly recommend you apply for PPI compensation before the deadline if you want to make sure that your claim gets considered.
Concluding Remarks
If you’ve stressed over PPI in recent years, then now is the time to make the most of it, so to say, and take advantage of it as well. As you won’t have to think about payment protection insurance ever again, this is the perfect time and opportunity for you to file a claim and possibly get compensated.
Basically, if you think you’ve been mis-sold PPI, then don’t waste any time and apply for a refund today – it’s free, it’s easy, and you get the chance to solve this matter once and for all!
