Which is a great website full of helpful tips and advice for consumers.
They have a PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) section where you can claim back PPI yourself quite easily if you have the time and can write a good letter.PPI was a very poor deal which made huge profits for lenders and insurers.If you are not sure if you were mis-sold ppi take a look at the checklist here.
There is no need to use a claims management company if you don’t want to. Just follow the Which Guide and use the Which Template Letters they supply on their website.
Which PPI Mis-selling Checklist
If you can answer ‘no’ to one or more of these questions, then you may have been mis-sold PPI.
If the insurance was optional, was that made clear to you?
Did the adviser tell you about any significant exclusions under the policy – for example, the exclusion that says you won’t be covered for any pre-existing medical condition?
If you took out a loan or finance agreement, did the adviser make it clear that you would have to pay for the insurance up front in one single payment?
If you had to pay for the PPI as a single payment, did the adviser make it clear that the insurance cost would be added to the loan and you would be paying interest on it?
Single premium PPI insurance normally only lasts for five years. If your loan or finance agreement was for longer than this, did the adviser make it clear that the insurance would run out before you had finished paying for your loan or finance agreement? The adviser should also have told you that you would continue to pay interest on the insurance premium, even after the insurance expired.
If you bought PPI after 14 January 2005 did the adviser try to persuade you to take it out by saying something like ‘we strongly recommend that you consider taking out PPI’. If so, the sale counts as an ‘advised’ sale and they should have issued a ‘demands and needs statement’ to show why a particular policy has been recommended and why it is suitable for you. If they didn’t, this is grounds for complaint.
What to do next.
If you answered ‘no’ to any of the questions in the checklist you should make a formal complaint as you may be entitled to compensation. Use the Which PPI re-claim tool to get redress. If you didn’t answer ‘no’ to any of the questions you probably weren’t mis-sold, but you might still want to cancel your PPI in favour of better protection.