Banks Push for PPI Deadline

With Lloyds Banking Group this month announcing they are to put aside additional PPI provisions, it seems that the PPI scandal is set to stick around for some time yet.

However, despite the total PPI bill across all banks reaching £20 billion, there are rumours surrounding a revived proposal for a ‘PPI deadline’ which would potentially put an end to future complaints and customer compensation.

Lloyds bank last week announced that they are to add a further £1.8 billion to their already substantial PPI pot which has now reached just under £10 billion, the biggest sum of money set aside by any UK bank.

The total £20 billion reserved for customers who were mis-sold PPI by their bank, is in fact far bigger than the total bill for both mis-leading pension sales and mortgage endowments, which currently stand at £11.8 billion and £2.7 billion respectively.

And yet, news reports suggest that British banks are once again in talks with industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over a proposed deadline for mis-sold PPI claims. The FCA have refused to rule out setting a deadline, however Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the industry watchdog has said that “significant benefits” would have to be presented by banks for the FCA to consider the deadline:

“We are having a discussion and we have had that discussion many times over three years. Our question is: would there be significant consumer benefit to taking away consumer rights? It’s an equation.”

Meanwhile, as Natalie Ceeney, ex-chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) steps into her controversial new role at banking giant, HSBC, the FOS continues to receive exceptional volumes of PPI complaints. The impartial ombudsman service, where consumers can take grievances which remain unresolved, anticipate to welcome the new financial year with more than 400,000 unsettled complaints.

While PPI complaints are now beginning to decline, the figures remain vast. Between April and December last year, 326,977 new cases were taken on by the FOS, with around 6,000 complaints every week during the last quarter of 2013. 

A PPI deadline may be the recommended solution from the banking industry, which in their opinion will help to draw a line under the scandal which has cost the industry billions in redress, and in fact encourage customers to make legitimate complaints through a raised awareness campaign.

However, from the consumer perspective let’s consider the fact that more than 400,000 complaints are likely remain unresolved at the FOS this April, not to mention, the colossal PPI bill, which continues to rise beyond original expectations as a result of banks’ submissions. The evidence implies that there is still much work to be done before banks can be absolutely certain that all those who were mis-led into paying thousands of pounds for useless or unwanted PPI, will receive what they rightly deserve before a ‘set in stone’ cut-off date.  

Inflation Falls as Ombudsman Warns of Complaints Backlog

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has warned that it could take in excess of 18 months to resolve the thousands of PPI complaints submitted by disgruntled consumers across the UK.

According to the FOS, 400,000 complaints regarding Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) remain unresolved, and it is anticipated that 60,000 of these complaints could take more than 18 months to settle.

During the previous financial year, an additional 1,000 members of staff were taken on by the FOS to deal with the influx of PPI complaints, and it is expected that the ombudsman will recruit a further 1,000 people to help deal with the backlog of complaints in the forthcoming financial year.

While customers await the outcome of their complaints with the FOS, the rate of inflation in the UK has fallen to 2% for the first time since November 2009. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell from 2.1% in November to 2% the following month.

Lower food and non-alcoholic drink prices have helped inflation fall back to the target rate set by the Bank of England, however the recent energy price hikes from the ‘big 6’ may have an negative impact on this figure in coming months. Equally, the cost of living in the UK continues to rise at twice the rate of wages in the UK, while house prices have risen by 5.4% across the UK in November, compared with the same time in 2012.

Earlier today, Labour urged the PM to block attempts by Royal Bank of Scotland to offer bonuses to their bankers of up to double their salary, after it was reported that the bank will appeal to the EU in order to be granted permission to pay their bankers up to this limit.

Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary, Chris Leslie commented:

 "At a time when families face a cost-of-living crisis and bank lending to business is falling, it cannot be right for George Osborne to approve a doubling of the bank bonus cap”

During Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons today, David Cameron confirmed that there would be a limit to cash bonuses of £2,000, and stated that he would reject any proposals by RBS to increase its overall pay and bonus bill.

As a part-nationalised institution, RBS’ bonus debate is of course one that is going to be sensitive to tax-payers, who are suffering the rising cost of living and the repercussions of major banking scandals, while bailed out RBS mull over 200% bonuses for their investment bankers. 

PPI Provisions at Lloyds Rise to Reach £8bn

Lloyds TSB is to set aside a further £750 million to compensate customers who were mis-sold PPI it was announced this week. The total amount set aside by the banking giant now stands at £8 billion, the largest provision made by any British bank. Barclays bank meanwhile has this week confirmed that their PPI provisions will remain unchanged at £3.95 billion while announcing an increase in their nine-month pre-tax profits to £2.85 billion. 

Despite the increase in provisions, Lloyds have reported a fall in average weekly complaints from 12,500 per week during the second quarter down to around 11,000 a week during the third quarter of the year, however they noted that complaints have fallen slower than initially projected.

Chief Executive at Lloyds bank, Anthony Horta-Osorio commented “We are well on our way to becoming a better, simpler, low-risk bank, which delivers the products our customers need and the strong performance and sustainable returns our shareholders expect”

Of course the increase in provisions at Lloyds is welcome news which we hope will help the bank work towards refunding the many people who remain out of pocket as a result of Lloyds bank’s mis-selling. However there are still concerns over uphold rates at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which remain high. On average, during the 6 months between January and June this year the FOS upheld 75% of complaints regarding PPI in favour of the customer and Lloyds’ individual uphold rate during the same period was one of the highest at 90%.

The uphold rates at the FOS have previously been described as “outrageous” and “unacceptable” by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Martin Wheatley, and prove that banks are still failing to treat customers fairly in refunding what is rightfully theirs. In spite of this, the British Bankers Association (BBA) continues to lobby for the enforcement of a time limit on PPI compensation, however has yet to achieve any momentum in their bid to end PPI pay-outs for customers.

The FOS has to date received over one million complaints relating to PPI and while we are pleased to see customers and Claims Management Companies (CMC) taking a proactive approach in escalating their complaints to the Ombudsman, it equally gives an indication into the number of complaints which are being initially rejected by banks. As a CMC specialising in reclaiming mis-sold PPI on behalf of our customers, we hope to see banks dealing with complaints at source, helping customers avoid lengthy timescales in resolving complaints and making the process easier for customers to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. 

PPI Scandal Drives Record High FOS Complaints

Figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) have today revealed a 26% increase in PPI complaints during the first half of 2013, compared with the previous six months. The ombudsman received a record high of 266,228 PPI complaints equating to 86% of all new complaints made to the FOS during the period.

However, it is not just the credence of consumer complaints which have today made the headlines, the uphold rate of complaints against select banks have proved equally as newsworthy. The FOS today revealed that some 90% of complaints against Lloyds TSB were upheld by the ombudsman in favour of the customer, which in contrast to the likes of Nationwide, with an uphold rate of just 7%, once again raises serious questions over Lloyds TSB’s complaints handling procedure.

Martin Dodd, Lloyds Banking Group’s customer service director has argued, “The group continues to proactively manage the issue of PPI complaints in order that customers can receive redress if they have been mis-sold…this is an on-going process and we will continue to review all claims in an in-depth manner that produces fair outcomes for customers”

While Lloyds have defended their complaints handling, the figures are of course a concern to consumers, the ombudsman and Claims Management Companies acting on behalf of customers. Worryingly for these parties, it is not only Lloyds who have underperformed in this area, the overall uphold rate for all businesses recorded in the FOS’s PPI complaints data equated to 75%.

Executive director at consumer group Which?, Richard Lloyd responded to the findings stating, “The shockingly high uphold rates on PPI claims exposes just how shoddy the complaints handling is at some of the major high street banks. Despite their claims, banks are failing to clean up their act. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must ensure all banks are handling complaints to a much higher standard”. The FCA have since announced that they will undertake a review of the complaints handling and management in major UK banks and firms, in hopes to eradicate the poor standard of complaints handling exposed today by the FOS.

As a CMC specialising in PPI, a much needed review of complaints handling across the industry is of course welcomed, however we cannot ignore the fact that banks are rejecting thousands of customer’s claims, only to be overturned by the FOS, making the claims process unnecessarily lengthy and often frustrating. The PPI scandal has created a bill of more than £18 billion for UK banks, and as complaints figures at the FOS reached a record high in the first half of this year, we can only anticipate that there is still more in store for the mis-selling debacle. 

Universal Suspicion and Distrust Remains

Natalie Ceeney, Chief Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), has this month warned of an “atmosphere of universal suspicion and distrust” between consumers and their lenders.

Latest complaints figures from the FOS, released last week, echo Ceeney’s warning, as PPI complaints to the independent body increased by 179% for the first quarter of 2013, in comparison to the same period the previous year. Of those complaints, 83% were regarding PPI, equating to 132,152 complaints.

In fact, the number of complaints recorded during just the first quarter of 2013, surpasses the total number of complaints received during the entire 2011/2012 financial year, and while it’s clear that customers are becoming increasingly savvy in taking up grievances with their bank or lender, the figures also represent wide spread mis-trust in the banking industry.

Consumer group Which?, this month released their customer satisfaction survey, exposing the best and worst banks according to the Great British public. The survey results, released last week reveal high-street giants, Halifax/Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest/RBS and Santander all scored below the market average of 62% with Bank of Scotland picking up a score of just 50%.

The results of the survey which focused on customer service, value, transparency of charges and penalties amongst other factors are a timely reminder of the issues brought to light by the parliamentary commission’s recent report on banking standards. The commission are working towards better industry standards by proposing criminal charges for reckless bankers and an overhaul of irresponsible incentive schemes within banks of which the government have initially backed a number of proposals, offering optimism that the industry may in fact see some positive changes.

There’s also good news for consumers as the Claims Management Regulation Unit (CMRU) this week announced that during the past financial year (2012/13) 211 Claims Management Companies (CMCs) specialising in mis-sold PPI have been closed, with a further 285 receiving formal warnings. For those consumers wishing to make a claim against their lender using the services of a CMC it is positive to hear that the CMRU has taken adequate action to help eliminate rogue firms from the industry.

Chancellor George Osborne has meanwhile welcomed a growth of 0.6% in the UK economy in the three months to June. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), output grew in all of the construction, manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors and means that output now remains 3.3% below its pre-recession peak.

While of course the growth in the UK economy comes as good news, the data has also been met with caution, as Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which? commented, “Today’s confirmation of further growth is welcome but there is still a long way to go before this will be felt by consumers, whose confidence and spending power remains fragile.”

Ultimately, based on the latest FOS data there is still much work to be done in not only restoring confidence in the economy but also in restoring trust in the banking industry itself. With the proposals from the Parliamentary commission, coupled with a tentative economic recovery we can hope that these are the first steps towards a better future for banking, customers and the UK economy.

Watchdog must punish parasite of mis-selling

Once again Jeff Prestridge of The Daily Mail has written about the scandal of PPI mis-selling.

In his article he argues:

"When Natalie Ceeney, head of the Financial Ombudsman Service, claimed a few weeks ago that some big banks were treating customers unfairly, she did not name names.

The issue related, inevitably, to payment protection insurance policies, which banks wrongly sold in their millions. Ceeney said the offending banks were  not looking fairly at complainants’ cases on their individual merits but were ‘managing complaints down in line with the money set aside for compensation’.
Ceeney did not single anyone out, but I bet one bank she had in mind was Lloyds. Even now, of all the complaints that Lloyds rejects that are then pursued by the Ombudsman, 86 per cent are won by the consumer. In other words the bank rejects far too many cases when it ought to pay up.

That conclusion should be clear from the figures alone, but last week an undercover operation gave it fresh emphasis. A Times reporter posing as a complaints handler for Lloyds revealed the bank did indeed have a deliberate ploy of fobbing off complainants to avoid paying compensation.

Let us hope the new Financial Conduct Authority will step in and penalise Lloyds’ directors for this. It should do so swiftly, especially given the determination of its boss Martin Wheatley to get tough on financial services miscreants.

But let’s make sure enforcement does not stop there, because there is another culprit in this shabby process – Deloitte. When the accountancy giant is not doing its day job of helping firms avoid tax, it provides services including complaints handling, which it was doing for Lloyds in relation to PPI.

In fact, a lot of Deloitte’s work arises when banks such as Lloyds get into trouble with the watchdog and need an ‘independent’ hand to sort things out. Deloitte’s standing has been so high that it has even undertaken work for the Financial Ombudsman Service and the savers’ lifeboat, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

But now Deloitte appears as guilty as the miscreant banks. Regarding the Lloyds scandal, Deloitte says no more than its role was to ‘process PPI mis-selling complaints in accordance with the bank’s policies and procedures’.

As I read it, Deloitte is saying that fairness and good practice do not come into the equation. Complaints handing is not about putting things right, it’s about doing whatever Lloyds says. Justice and integrity be hanged.

Lloyds lost any remnants of its once high reputation years ago. Now it is only known as a customer-bashing millstone hanging round taxpayers’ necks.

Deloitte’s reputation, after these revelations, deserves to head in a similar direction. If ever there was a parasite profiting from the mess of bank mis-selling, it is Deloitte. It deserves to be in serious regulatory trouble."

Banks Still Short Changing Consumers

Lloyds bank have this week admitted to shortcomings in their PPI complaints handling following revelations by an undercover reporter from The Times newspaper.

According to reports published by the BBC, a reporter for the national newspaper went undercover as a graduate trainee at a Lloyds complaints centre in London, which was at the time operated by Deloitte. The complaints centre employed around 1,300 staff to assess PPI complaints on behalf of the bank.

According to the reports, staff at the Royal Mint Court centre in London were trained to “play the system” and were instructed to reject claims on the basis that most customers would give up on pursuing a claim following an initial rejection. The reports also claimed that staff were trained to effectively turn a blind eye to fraud, while the entire operation at Royal Mint Court was based on the assumption that Lloyds salesmen had never mis-sold PPI.

For the bank, the allegations by The Times are another black mark on a far from perfect complaints record. In February this year the bank was fined £4.3 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for delayed PPI redress payments, while more than 40,000 complaints were logged by the Financial Ombudsman Service against the bank in the second half of 2012 alone.

Lloyds have responded to the accusations, admitting that there were shortcomings in their complaints handling which have been identified and dealt with independently. The bank also announced that the contract with Deloitte was terminated in May this year.

Lloyds may have acknowledged their wrongdoings, but it seems that their admission has been sparked only by The Times’ exposé.  What’s more, as reported by This is Money, a Lloyds' spokesman, rejected the notion that customers have suffered any consequences as a result of their poor practice stating, “I don’t agree that anyone lost out as a result of what went on at Royal Mint Court. There was a 75% uphold rate from the centre and claims were constantly being checked”, a notion that is contradicted by The Times’ allegations and does little to work to rebuild trust for those customers let down by the bank.

Next week, MPs are set to debate the UK banking industry, with hopes that the parliamentary commission on banking standards will begin to improve standards within the industry, forcing banks to better serve the public and make amends for the likes of the Libor and PPI scandals.

As a claims management company specialising in reclaiming mis-sold PPI on behalf of customers, it is discouraging to hear about the latest development in Lloyds’ role in the scandal. However, the forthcoming Parliamentary commission on banking, is a highly anticipated movement which we hope will begin to prevent such failings and undo existing mis-trust between consumers and the industry.

Finally, a timely reminder arrived this week illustrating the very point that we have made here. One of our customers sent us their testimonial:

So the message is clear... and we will keep on fighting for consumers across the UK.

Consumer Confidence in Banks Still Rock Bottom

As the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) last week released its latest annual report, figures show that complaints to the service have rocketed over the past year, leaving consumer confidence at rock bottom, according to the Chief Ombudsman.

The FOS deals with complaints that are unable to be resolved between consumers and financial businesses and offers a free and impartial service to consumers. Over the past year the FOS has witnessed an unprecedented rise in queries and complaints from disgruntled customers over a range of financial products and services.

During the last financial year (2012/2013) enquiries to the FOS reached daily highs of 7,000, while more than two million initial enquiries and complaints were made to the body throughout the course of the year. Of these initial customer enquiries, 1 in 4 turned into a formal dispute with a record 508,881 new cases recorded during the same time.
 
As the total amount set aside to compensate victims of the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) surpasses £15 billion, it is little surprise that PPI complaints accounted for 74% of the total complaints to the FOS during the last financial year contributing toward the surge in grievances.

While a colossal 140% increase in PPI complaints was recorded by the FOS last year, there was also a 92% rise in all cases. Chief Ombudsman Natalie Ceeney has suggested that consumers are becoming increasingly savvy, and as a result are taking action to complain, with a “much stronger consumer voice”.

Meanwhile, banks have come under fire for their inadequacy in resolving PPI grievances. Talking to the Mail on Sunday Natalie Ceeney explained that the FOS are seeing evidence of some banks “tightening the criteria” under which they will agree to compensate customers who were mis-sold PPI, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

Echoing the Ombudsman’s concerns that banks are narrowing the terms of redress, Richard Lloyd of the consumer group Which? added “These shocking figures show the banks are still letting their customers down and failing to help consumers with legitimate claims to get the compensation they’re rightly owed”. Based on the FOS figures, the magnitude of customer upset is widespread, and the notion that banks are in fact making it increasingly difficult to claim is discouraging to hear.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has on the other hand defended criticisms from the FOS and consumer groups, instead maintaining that unscrupulous claims from Claims Management Companies (CMCs) are to blame for the lengthy process in compensating customers.

While we can only speak for ourselves as a CMC, we can confidently say that submitting erroneous claims to lenders would be counter-productive for both our customers and business. We aim to resolve complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible, and while there may be select companies who operate under bad practice, at We Fight Any Claim we are focussed on obtaining redress for our customers.

Based on the figures released by the FOS last week, it is clear that consumers are becoming more pro-active in tackling their grievances with banks. While select banks have responded to the PPI scandal by assigning entire departments to the process of redress, there are many who, according to the Ombudsman are restricting the conditions of compensation for customers. With the prospect of a frustrating and lengthy claims process, many consumers may find themselves discouraged from pursuing a claim, a worrying prospect we hope to see prevented by appropriate action from the banks.

Triple Dip Avoided but Bank Woes Continue

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released last week indicate that the UK has avoided falling into a triple dip recession as figures show that the economy grew by 0.3% during the first quarter of 2013. The data represents the strongest year on year increase since the end of 2011, as GDP is has risen by 0.6% compared with the first quarter of 2012.

Described by Chancellor George Osborne as “an encouraging sign”, the growth in the economy has been widely received as positive news for the UK.  The banking sector on the other hand has endured some significant setbacks over recent weeks.

The Co-op bank pulled out of a major deal to buy more than 600 bank branches from Lloyds TSB last week, a move that was anticipated to bring competition to commercial banking in the UK. In the same week HSBC announced plans to axe more than 3,000 jobs in a bid to cut costs while Santander and Barclays announced their first quarter profits both fell by more than 25%.

Likewise, the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) scandal was under the spotlight this month as figures from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that pay-outs for mis-sold PPI have now topped £9.3 billion. In addition, earlier this month the regulatory body released complaints data, highlighting the continued customer detriment caused by the scandal. In the second half of 2012 more than 2.1 million PPI complaints were recorded by financial firms, accounting for 63% of all complaints made to financial firms during that period.

Taking into account the number of complaints recorded by the FCA, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) also received 264,375 complaints between April 2011 and April 2012, of which 157,716 were regarding PPI. Notably the FOS overturned 82% of PPI complaints in favour of the customer during the 2011/2012 financial year, reinforcing the argument that banks are erroneously rejecting legitimate complaints, forcing customers to take their complaint to the FOS which ultimately results in a lengthy and frustrating claims process.

While analysts have proposed that the growth in the UK economy will bring consumer confidence and encourage spending, it seems that the practices of UK banks are still leaving customers sceptical. Research by consumer body Which? found that only one in ten consumers trust the banking industry, while nine out of ten believe there should be a compulsory bankers code of conduct, suggesting that the weight of the PPI and Libor scandals are still very much in the minds of  UK consumers.

Although the research by Which? indicates that there is still much to do in terms of regaining customer trust in the UK’s financial industry, we should not lose sight of the positive news that the UK has avoided a triple dip recession, bringing optimism to UK consumers that the economy may well be on the road to recovery.

PPI Upset Persists as FOS Complaints Reach Record Levels

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has described a rise in complaints relating to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) as ‘unprecedented’. But what do the latest figures from the FOS tell us about the PPI scandal?

This week the FOS revealed that PPI complaints have now reached record levels, as 211,885 new complaints were recorded by the independent body during the second half of 2012, an increase of 147% in comparison to the first half of the year. During the same period, between 1st July 2012 and 31st December 2012, the FOS dealt with an average of 2,000 complaints on a daily basis.

While the latest statistics may seem to suggest that many more customers are actively seeking redress from their lender, there is also the concern that banks are failing to resolve customer complaints in the first stages of a claim, resulting in an excessive number of complaints being referred to the FOS.

For Lloyds Banking Group, more than 40,000 PPI complaints to the FOS were logged against them during the second half of 2012. Black Horse, part of the same group saw 97% of complaints against them upheld by the FOS in favour of the customer. And they are not alone; other major banks within the group including Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB saw similar results as the FOS upheld more than 80% of complaints against them in favour of the customer.

While the FOS is appointed to resolve complaints which have failed to be settled by a creditor, it is important that the banks make every effort to resolve their claims to their best ability, before they are referred to the FOS. The FOS is under building pressure to deal with the mounting number of PPI complaints left unresolved by UK banks, and this year announced the recruitment of 1,000 additional employees to cope with demand.

Aside from the implications of unresolved complaints on the FOS, many customers who are owed compensation by their lender are being forced to endure a drawn-out and frustrating claims process as banks appear to reject claims unnecessarily, to be successively overturned by the FOS. A claim which is referred to the FOS can take between 3 and 12 months to be settled, in some cases longer, resulting in a prolonged claims process for the customer and needless costs for the banks.

As a Claims Management Company specialising in claiming back mis-sold PPI on behalf of customers we hope that the figures released by the FOS will encourage banks to improve the claims process and enable customers to reclaim what is rightfully theirs with ease and efficiency.

PPI complaints still at record levels

The financial ombudsman service is taking on 2,000 new cases a day following payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints, with numbers rising at "unprecedented" rates.

The service received 211,885 new PPI complaints in the second half of 2012.

These made up nearly three-quarters of the 283,251 new complaints sent to the ombudsman during the six months.

The service rules on cases that remain unresolved between a customer and a financial institution.

Payment protection insurance was designed to cover loan repayments for policyholders who became ill, had an accident or lost their job. Yet it was miss-sold on a massive scale to customers who did not want or need it.

Now, they are each receiving an average of nearly £3,000 in compensation, if their claim is successful. Refunding these customers has cost the UK banks a collective total of more than £15bn, following the latest provisions by the major banks.

Some claims are disputed by the banks and these often end up with the ombudsman.

Lloyds TSB Bank had the highest number of PPI cases referred to the ombudsman of any institution during the second half of the year, but the ombudsman found in the customers' favour in 86% of the cases against the bank.

This was a higher level than all of the other major UK banks.

For more on this story visit the BBC News website.

PPI Complaints Continue to Soar

The number of complaints about payment protection insurance has sharply accelerated, with around 12,000 new cases being referred to an ombudsman each week between October and December.

The Financial Ombudsman Service received 145,546 complaints about PPI during the last three months of 2012. This represented 80 per cent of all new complaints.

The massive case-load was more than double the amount of complaints received in the previous quarter.

The big increase in PPI cases caused the total number of complaints in the three months to rise to 180,679, which means the ombudsman received more cases in that one quarter than in any single year between 2000 and 2010.

Credit cards were the second-most complained about product, accounting for 3.5 per cent of complaints, while current accounts were the third-most complained about.

The number of complaints regarding PPI has been steadily rising for some time. Between April and June last year just 32,000 cases were referred to the FOS.

For more on this story, visit Money Observer.

Consumer Fairness Must be at the Heart of PPI Deadline Decisions

We Fight Any Claim (WFAC) is urging the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to put consumer fairness at the heart of any decision they make about a possible deadline for reclaiming mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

As Britain’s Banks, via the British Bankers Association (BBA), lobby for a deadline for new claims to be initiated, it was widely reported in the media at the beginning of the year that the current provisions for compensating consumers of £13 billion are likely to almost double to £25 billion during 2013.

Head of Communications at WFAC, Simon Evans commented:

“To be frank, I am appalled by the attitude of the banks in this matter. To try to seek a deadline that will deny thousands, if not millions of consumers a right to reclaim monies they are rightly owed is not only infuriating, but in my opinion, wrong.

“In the last week alone we have seen a former senior executive of Lloyds, Helen Weir, apologise for the mis-selling of PPI to consumers across every corner of the UK, and admit that the issue has caused a breach of trust between banks and consumers, so it is simply not good enough to make the right noises in public whilst at the same time the banks push hard to deny all consumers a fair opportunity to reclaim their money.

“We should be telling it like it is, the banks are once again looking to keep customers money, which they are not entitled to. This is staggering and in the wake of the banking crisis, the LIBOR scandal and the Wheatley Review, and the record fines that banks are being served with, it beggars belief that it seems they are trying to recoup some of this money by ripping off their own customers yet again.

“Remember these are the very same banks who when it was discovered that they were mis-selling PPI tried every possible avenue to avoid repaying consumers. Not only that they continue to obstruct, delay and argue the point in minute detail in ultimately successful cases, which not only causes delay for consumers but means that the sums repaid are greater due to the interest being added, so how is this value for anyone?

“If we look for example at Lloyds TSB Group, in cases where they are trying to deny the consumer their rightful repayment, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has adjudicated in favour of the consumer in almost every single case – as they upheld 98% of cases in the first half on 2012. This is another reason why this move from the BBA is so outrageous.

“The answer is simple. If banks really want an early end to the PPI scandal take our advice. Pay every single consumer, such as our customers, their money back tomorrow. No arguments, no delay, pay everyone back all they are owed and the scandal will be over, don’t try to wriggle out of your responsibilities by arguing for a cut-off date.

“My final message is to the FSA, be bold, and continue to treat consumers fairly and deny the banks this opportunity to abrogate their responsibilities. Make banks treat consumers fairly and honestly and allow everyone the opportunity to be compensated by their bank who mis-sold them the product.”

http://www.wefightanyclaim.com/press-releases.html?article_title=Consumer-Fairness-Must-be-at-the-Heart-of-PPI-Deadline-Decisions

More Staff for FOS to deal with PPI Claims

The Financial Ombudsman Service has increased its staff numbers by 25 per cent over the last year under the weight of payment protection insurance mis selling with plans to keep hiring if complaints continue at current levels.

In the last year it has recruited 500 more staff to deal exclusively with PPI claims, bringing its total workforce to 2,500.

The full article can been seen over at Money Marketing

Banks Face Criticism from FOS over PPI Scandal

There was a brief sense of early festive cheer for Britain’s hard pressed consumers recently, as more of the major High Street Banks announced further provisions are to be set aside to compensate customers who were mis-sold PPI.

Last week, the provisions in the UK topped £12 billion, with significant increases announced by Lloyds, RBS, HSBC and Barclays. With banks making appropriate provisions for refunding customers, why is it that the banks have come under further criticism from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)?

The FOS, who recently received their 500,000th complaint regarding PPI have criticised UK banks for their part in the handling of PPI complaints. With the provisions reserved for compensating customers continuing to climb, alongside a record number of complaints to the FOS it is clear that many customers are still seeking compensation from their lender. The FOS have found that despite banks recognising a demand for compensation, many legitimate cases are being dismissed, as highlighted by Natalie Ceeney, Chief Executive of the FOS, ‘In a quarter of cases where banks said customers didn't have PPI, they did’.

In contrast Lloyds bank have argued that half of complaints they receive are ‘duplicates or dubious’, which the bank claim are accountable for slowing the process in which customers are receiving compensation. The FOS have quickly rejected this statement pointing out that only 3.5% of their complaints are erroneous.

While the FOS have highlighted the apparent failings of the banks in compensating customers, and many customers still await a refund from their lender, there are also success stories showing  that making a complaint against your lender may in fact be worthwhile. So far it is estimated that only one in ten people who were potentially mis-sold PPI have claimed back compensation, with seven in ten cases referred to the FOS being ruled in the consumers favour. It has also been reported that UK consumers are receiving £347 a second from lenders who mis-sold PPI to their customers with around £30 million a day being paid out to customers.

So while the banks at the centre of the scandal are accused of dragging their heels, it is important that consumers across the UK maintain their efforts in reclaiming PPI, despite the potential obstacles they may face in claiming compensation. There is after all, billions of pounds set aside by banks, waiting to be refunded to customers, and many have already been successful. Just last week it was revealed that a British woman won £140,000 compensation from her lender who was mis-sold her PPI 20 years ago. We therefore remind consumers to continue their efforts in claiming back PPI, and hope that the banks who have prepared financially to refund consumers will take the next appropriate steps in ensuring their customers are compensated and that this scandal will never be repeated.