One of the most abused charges to borrowers by lenders and insurance companies is payment protection insurance. Many of them charge unfair amounts on loans and general debt to unsuspecting consumers making the cost of borrowing high and unaffordable. Lack of information on particular charges like PPI is to blame for the suffering of the consumer, although this is changing fast.
Subsequently, borrowers against lenders in the UK have brought numerous PPI claims forth. Their success with the extra charges have in turn, triggered more applications and claims that seem to be threatening lender and insurance company reimbursement funds for the PPI charges. As a result, reports doing the rounds within popular media indicate that funds set aside for PPI settlements are almost depleted.
The specific timelines as to when the PPI kitty will be exhausted is however, not known although, common industry sentiment is that the PPI Claims Pot could run out sooner, rather than later. This means that if you want to be lucky with your claim, the time for filing is now.
It’s important to appreciate the fact that processing PPI claims is not as hard as you imagine and should be started immediately. First, you need to assess if you’re eligible for the reimbursement plus interest and whether or not you were sold your PPI in your full knowledge of what it’s about. As a matter of common practice, you have a better chance of successfully processing your PPI claims plus interest if PPI charges go as far back as 1994.
Once you have identified your eligibility for a PPI refund, you need to proceed and take care of all the requirements that show you were indeed mis sold the policy in question. Evidence could come in the form of bank statements and loan data statements provided by your lender. Although most systems are computerised, it also helps to have some documentation that shows to what extent, the lender has mis sold to you and how much your PPI refund and interest are worth.
However, be prepared to deal with exemption clauses from lenders. Many of them add many exclusion clauses in their lending contracts to ensure you don’t get due legal reprieve and compensation. Also, read your borrower contract to ensure that something tilts in your direction as regards to PPI charges on the amount you borrow. This can also help you determine the value of your claim, which you can negotiate depending on the offer the lender gives.
Lastly, it’s important to appreciate the fact that once the PPI claims kitty is depleted by current overwhelming claims, it will be sometime, before new funds are allocated to cater for late claims. To be on the safe side, you need to process your PPI claims with speed. You could choose to file the claims yourself, or with help of a reputable PPI claims agency that understands speedy processing. The latter option seems like the better option under these circumstances.
