The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) is in talks with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about setting a deadline for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) claims. The banks are hoping that they will be able to set in stone a date at which the PPI scandal, which has been dragging them down for the last few years now, can finally be put to rest.
It’s entirely a self-interested move, as the banks are having to pay out billions in compensation to customers that they deliberately mis-sold PPI to. Millions of people around the UK who took out loans, mortgages or other financial products were sold into PPI contracts, or had those contracts added to their costs without their knowledge, even though the insurance was totally useless to them.
The banks have been fighting tooth and nail in order to avoid paying out compensation, engaging in costly legal battles with the FSA in order to avoid giving back the money. Now that they have lost all of them and the cost of claims is mounting up, they are once again trying to get out of paying for their mistakes.
The date that they want the deadline to fall on is in 2014, and they have promised to fund a year-long advertising campaign which will tell people that the deadline is approaching if the FSA agrees to stopping the torrent of claims. It’s not yet clear whether the deadline will come into effect, but it is definitely a possibility.
The banks are haemorrhaging money through not just the compensation pay-outs, but with all the extra staff that they have had to employ to deal with the volume of claims, so it’s no wonder they are pushing so hard for a way out.
Regardless of whether the deadline is brought in or not, there is no reason for you not to make a PPI claim if you believe you are entitled to compensation. The amount will not increase the longer you wait and, if a deadline is brought in, you could well miss your chance. You could choose to make the claim yourself or, if you would rather leave dealing with the banks to somebody else, there are companies like PPIClaimCo.com who can go through the process for you.
The banks have already had to pay out around £12billion, all money which they originally conned consumers out of, and if you feel you may have been a victim of PPI mis-selling then it’s in your best interests to go through the claim process.