Payment Protection Insurance Explained

One of the most hyped areas of consumer litigation in recent years has been actions against payment protection insurance, and alleged mis-selling from some of the country’s leading financial names. Everyone from banks to credit card companies to mortgage lenders and insurance companies have come under scrutiny for their part in what has become one of the biggest consumer finance scandals of modern times.

But underneath the media glare and the high-profile litigious nature of these claims lies a fundamentally decent, valuable insurance product sold in knowingly unscrupulous ways by the worst offenders.

Payment protection insurance guards against repayment defaults on a number of key grounds, designed to protect the borrower against common reasons for default. In some instances, for example, payment protection insurance would cover an inability to meet repayments by virtue of unemployment or ill-health, offering to meet the liability for loan repayments during the period of incapacity.

For some borrowers, payment protection is an advisable consideration. For example, those relying on their health to meet monthly mortgage repayments might want to safeguard against repayment problems caused by illness in order to preserve their ownership irrespective of their ability to meet repayments due to ill health.

But while payment protection insurance can be useful for some borrowers, the problem of PPI mis-selling has led to widespread anger and disillusionment amongst consumers, and caused many thousands of people to purchase unnecessary or unwanted payment protection insurance. As a result, payment protection insurance sellers have now come under fire from a barrage of claims from consumers who fell victim to these widely discredited sales tactics, and are being forced to proactively pay compensation in respect of those wrongful sales in addition to meeting incoming liabilities.

If you’ve taken out an unsecured or secured loan over the last five to ten years, you should check your loan documentation to determine whether you have been sold payment protection insurance.

At www.ukppiclaims.org, we help ordinary consumers process applications for compensation as a result of PPI mis-selling. Get in touch today for more information or to start your claim.