PPI - The scandal that refused to go away

How the mis-selling of PPI became the biggest thorn in the side of the UK banking industry – but has a silver lining too.

With the PPI mis-selling scandal being prominent for the last few years, it can be easy to fall in to the trap of negativity. But, there has been some positives to the payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.

There are two that are significant positive factors: jobs and cars.

Jobs

The PPI mis-selling scandal, and subsequent compensation pay-outs that customers are now claiming, is a mess. And when there is a mess, it needs to be cleared up. Thus, the PPI compensation saga has spawned a mini-jobs within the financial sectors. Banks, lenders and building societies have all had to divert resources and buy in more to be able to deal with the claims being made against them. With time pressures and deadline applying to each case, the banks have invested in large teams of people to deal with the cases.

But it is not just the banks who have taken on around 6,000 extra staff but the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) too.

FOS is the body that arbitrates on disputes between customers and the financial industry. They do not just deal with PPI cases, but all kinds of financial claims and disputes. They have hired thousands of extra staff to deal with sometimes complex PPI cases, whilst also dealing with other cases relating to other financial products too.

Cars

With thousands of customers experiencing unexpected windfalls, the economy has enjoyed a slight boost. With pounds in their pockets, people have been spending and investing. From clothes shopping to shoes, to holidays to new washing machines, people have been spending their PPI compensation on things that they need and want. And this has provided a welcome boost to the car industry in the UK as people with PPI compensation flocking to car show rooms.

What will you spend your PPI compensation on?

Before you start dreaming of holidays in the sun or driving a brand new car off the forecourt, you first need to check if you have a claim for PPI compensation.

PPI was an insurance policy that was mis-sold to thousands of customers alongside loans, credit card, car finance and so on. There are cases too, where PPI may also have been mis-sold as part of a mortgage.

If you find that you do have PPI, and not sure whether it is suitable for you or not, you need to call Payment Protection Scotland for help. And when the compensation cheque arrives, that’s when you can really start dreaming…

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