Payment protection insurance - known to thousands of customers
across Scotland as PPI - is a term that sends shivers down the
spine of bank executives and employees. At one time, it was the
golden policy, bringing in large profits and commission to
match.
But now, it is something too hot to handle, costing banks more
money collectively than it took to fund the London 2012
Olympics.
Some people were mis-sold the policy because they would not have
been able to make a claim on the policy. But why?
The idea behind the policy is that in the event of you being
unable to make repayments on your loan, credit card etc. the policy
would kick in and make the repayments for you. Usually lasting for
a set period of time - most policies would make payments for 12
months - PPI was seen by many as a sensible financial product to
have in place.
But, some customers were not made aware that they were excluded
under its terms and conditions. Even though banks and lenders knew
this, it was sold as a blanket policy alongside the main financial
product.
Self-employed
Those people running their own businesses, at various times,
rely on their good working relationship with their bank to fund
some aspects of their work. For example, taking on a large job that
needed large cash injection upfront may have been funded by
stretching an overdraft or allowing more credit on another credit
facility.
With this relationship in mind, when you were offered a product
by the bank that covered repayments, you would think they were
doing so with your business in mind.
However, check the finer detail carefully and you may be
surprised to learn that in order to claim on the policy, you would
need to cease trading.
With many cases being referred to the Financial Ombudsman
Service (FOS), this body along with the various consumer groups are
putting pressure on banks, referring to this as an unrealistic
request. For small businesses, with one or two members of staff, it
would be fool hardy to think that in order to claim on the PPI
policy they would need to cease trading!
If you are elf-employed...
... in all likelihood, if you find PPI on any of your business
accounts then you are entitled to make a PPI complaint, asking the
bank or lenders for your money back that you paid in goodwill for a
policy that was, in all intents and purposes, useless.
Payment Protection Scotland can help! We work with
hundreds of customers across Scotland, both domestic and business
people looking to claim back the money they have paid for a PPI
policy that was worthless. Why not call us to find out
more?