Payment Protection Insurance is a product that is supposed to cover your debt repayments in the event of your inability to work. However, these lifesaving policies have been mis-sold to customers all over the United Kingdom by several insurance companies through aggressive and unethical marketing. If you too have fallen victim to these PPI policies like a large majority of people, you are entitled to fight for your money back.  While hiring someone (such as a claims company or agency)  to do it for you is one way to go about it, filing for an PPI claim is something that can be done by yourself too. With the right understanding of the process and the tools at your disposal you can now reclaim what is rightfully yours.

Have you been mis-sold PPI?

The first step would be to determine if you have been mis-sold PPI. Your insurance provider has wrongfully sold you a PPI policy to you if,

• The insurance was optional but you was marketed to you as a part of the financial service you availed.
• You haven’t been informed clearly about the exclusions of the policy such as previously existing medical issues etc.
• You haven’t been informed that you have to pay for the insurance upfront as a single payment.
• You haven’t been informed that you have been signed up for the insurance in the first place and have been paying for it without your knowledge.
• You have been coerced into signing up for it without being completely informed about the terms and conditions of the policy.

If one or more of the above are true, you have paid for a PPI that you do not need.  Reclaiming your PPI can be a quick and easy process.  There are PPI claim companies and agents who would do it for you in case you find the process daunting. PPI Claims companies have experienced advisors who investigate your claim after you provide them the necessary information (documents/ correspondence with provider) of your insurance policy.  While using the services of these Claims Management Companies can be useful if your claims process is more complicated than usual or if you do not have the time to file yourself, they charge a fee in the case of a successful claim. The fee may sometimes be a considerable part of your insurance claim going up to 30 per cent of what you get back.  On the other hand, there are several free services online which can help the already ripped-off policy holder calculate and claim their policy return.

Companies not only help enlighten policy holders of the necessary information required to claim their mis –sold insurance, but also equip them with the tools to calculate and claim what they need to get back. The calculations are made based on the PPI premium and the interest on PPI policy and once the customer or policy holder is in hold of this information along with an understanding of the terms and conditions of the policy he/she signed for, he/she can go ahead and write a claims letter to the policy provider. Alternatively, a smarter thing to do would be to fill out the claims form with the Financial Ombudsman’s office and send that letter to the provider.