Banks brought out Payment Protection Insurance to cover a consumer’s repayments in the event they lost the ability. However recently, it has been publicised that banks and lenders are exploiting the product through questionable loopholes. It has been sold to people who are uninformed, have not been quoted the cost or want it but don’t know they are ineligible. Most banks cunningly tag on PPI to any loan or credit and bank are pressured with bonus incentives to sell as much as possible.

Theoretically, PPI is a great item for consumers, particularly in view of the rising rate of unemployment in the UK where people are being made redundant regularly. Ideally, a short spell of unemployment shouldn’t hamper your ability to repay a mortgage, but the reality is quite the opposite; lenders will avoid paying out at all costs, often claiming that an individual is not able to take advantage of the system based on some technicality.

The biggest con of all is the fact that you will most likely not be able to ever use the insurance in the event of an emergency, for example; if you are over 65, even if you are still employed, you could not claim PPI because you would be above the age of retirement. If you have a previously documented medical condition, no matter how small, you will be considered a high risk customer and as you are more likely to be off work on medical grounds, you would not be eligible for the insurance. If you are self employed, you are considered a higher financial risk customer someone employed full time, so you will not be entitled to PPI. But in any of these circumstances, banks will have no problem adding it on to a service with no intention of paying out if it is needed.

The PPI can take up a significant portion of your repayments, to put it in perspective, if your PPI was 30% of your monthly repayments and for 10 years you had been paying a 250,000/25 year mortgage, with interest this could add up to over 3000 to which you are entitled to reclaim.

The have been thousands of cases of banks mis-selling PPI just like this and if you are one of them, you are legally entitled to a full refund. You may need to be persistent with the banks and this can take time so it is sometimes easier to enlist a legal professional to do it for you. Doing this can save you all the legwork and give your claim much more authority, most agencies work on a no-win-no-fee basis so you will not be out of pocket. After a watchdog ruling in 2009 lenders are now required to correctly sell PPI to customers ensuring they are not overpriced, customers can chose to opt out at any time and they are fully covered.

There are many loan protection reclaim experts out there to help you claim back your PPI, contact Donns LLP for the best advice

Three Labour MPs at the heart of the expenses scandal refused to pay back their fraudulent expenses, they are now facing court after unsuccessfully attempting to claim an ancient bylaw of parliamentary immunity and they are intending on using state funded legal aid in their defence. This move was condemned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown who declared they will have to pay back the costs.

Brown was accused of making the move in a bid to be seen to take a stance against fraudulent expenses and dishonest politicians in the lead up to the general election. However he may not have the power as legal experts have commented that the government may not have the ability to withhold legal aid which is provided by the state.

Through a series of false mortgage applications, rent claims and service invoices the three MPs reportedly stole over 60,000. But this is a fraction of the cost of preparing their defence which is likely to run into six figures at an optimistic estimate. This cost could spiral however if the MPs manage to have the case thrown to the Supreme Court.

“The government has now introduced reforms to enable means-tested legal aid although they were unable to implement them in time for the MP’s cases” Justice Secretary Jack Straw explained. Brown argued that now the law has changed and although these changes will not take affect until June, he believes it is just cause for the MPs to pay back the money.

Experts have estimated the total cost of the case to exceed 3 million; the investigation has so far cost Scotland Yard over 500,000. Trials will begin at Southwark Crown Court in London on May 27th where a spokesman has confirmed that the MPs were granted an application for legal aid, hiring high priced lawyers that cost hundreds of pounds an hour. If found guilty, the MPs could face up to seven years in prison for stealing taxpayers money.

If you are looking to claim back PPI you could be eligible for a large sum, most people don’t realise they are eligible for a loan protection claim

If you have taken out a mortgage, personal loan or credit it is almost certain that you were sold payment protection insurance from your lender. PPI ideally covers your ability to repay your debt should you find yourself in difficult circumstances such as injured or unemployed, however, the lenders found a loophole and have been selling PPI to customers who were not eligible for the cover or who did not fit the particulars of the PPI they were sold. If you have paid for PPI you may be entitled to claim this money back. What you may not be aware of is why you could be eligible to claim and why the banks could face a huge wave of payouts

The common misconception is that everyone is eligible for PPI but this is not the case. If you are older than 65, the age of retirement, you would never be entitled to claim PPI as you are likely not in full time employment. If you are self employed you are technically considered a financial risk and no PPI policy would offer to cover you ability to make repayments. If you have a historical medical condition you will be unlikely to be able to get PPI cover as you are more likely to be forced off work. Despite this, banks are more than happy to sell PPI to everyone knowing full well it will never cover them if needed.

Banks and lenders have offered products with full knowledge of the situation, something which financial watchdogs have frowned upon very much. Many of the UKs high street lenders have been forced to offer refunds to their customers but many have adopted a ‘don’t ask – don’t get’ policy that means the consumer has to go on the hunt for their money either alone or with legal assistance.

To begin attempting to claim back your PPI payments you will first need to send your bank a letter requesting a full refund. You will undoubtedly receive a long winded ‘no’ to which you will need to duplicate your first letter and in addition declare your intent to pursue legal action and support from the financial ombudsman. You will probably receive a variety of answers ultimately dismissing your claim, albeit wrongfully, on the basis of your lack of authority. The key is perseverance and it will significantly help your chances if you do get the ombudsman involved. Ultimately if all else fails, enlist professional help.

The easiest way to claim back your PPI is to use a legal agency as they know what they are doing and will be able to take care of everything for you. This will be much more effective than pursuing the matter yourself and will most likely end in success. Many solicitors are no win no fee so there is no disadvantage to using them.

There are many companies that offer or specialise in PPI claims and they are fully capable of taking control of everything you need for your loan protection claim

If, in the last decade you have bought a personal loan, credit or any other form of financial product it is almost certain that, unless you confirmed otherwise, you were sold some form of payment protection insurance from your lender. The idea of PPI is to act as a back up if you lose your ability to repay your debt by finding yourself in difficult circumstances such as injured or unemployed. But lenders have found a series of loopholes and have been selling PPI to customers who were not eligible for the cover or who did not fit the particulars of the PPI they were sold.

Simply by their definition, some people are ineligible for PPI and have still been paying for it, anyone over the age of 65 would not be able to utilise PPI as they are above the age of retirement so anyone who has paid for PPI over this age is legally entitled to a full refund.

You may have a previously documented medical condition, even small but you will be considered a high risk customer and as you are more likely to take time off work on medical grounds you would not be able to claim the insurance. However the banks will tag it on to a service you may buy even if they have a medical record and are fully aware you will have no chance of using the cover.

Self employed individuals are technically considered a higher financial risk customer than someone in full time employment so they are not entitled to PPI but Banks have no problem adding it on to a service with no intention of paying out if it is needed.

Anyone who has been mis-sold PPI like this or in any other fashion is more thank likely to be entitled to a refund, although you will have to chase the banks for this and it is often easier to enlist a legal professional to do it for you. Even if you have been eligible for PPI, if you need to claim, the chances are that you will have to wait months before your paperwork is even looked at and in most circumstances lenders will put of payments where possible.

There are many solicitors that can handle your PPI claims as due to government legislation it is easier than ever to claim back the money you paid for loan protection.

Mis-sold PPI has been the centre of a lot of negative media coverage over recent years. The widespread mis-selling of the payment protection insurance policies has led thousands of people to reclaim PPI. But with all the confusion surrounding the policies, how do you even know if yours was mis-sold?

On a broad level mis sold PPI can be broken down into 3 categories. The easiest to understand is if you were sold PPI without even knowing. As PPI has always been sold with a mortgage, loan etc it can be difficult to understand fully what you are paying for as there are a lot of figures floating around during this sort of agreement. An example is where you have gone for a “fully protected loan”, which included a PPI cost that recurs monthly, but the words “PPI” were not mentioned. If it is not identified by the company as a payment on top of the policy price, then this counts as “mis sold”.

Another example of mis-selling of PPI policies is if you are led to believe, during the application for your loan, mortgage or card that the PPI policy was compulsory, this could count as mis-selling. By the same token, if you were told that accepting a PPI policy would increase your chances of a successful application for a financial product, this could also constitute mis-selling.

There are some people who are not eligible to claim on a PPI policy yet are still sold them anyway.. Such people include the unemployed, self employed or those with a medical condition and this essentially means people have taken out a policy they will never be able to claim on, wasting money.

This is by no means the only list of ways you could have been mis sold payment protection insurance, there are plenty of others so if you have any doubts about your PPI policy, you should talk to a professional and see if it was mis sold.

Visit here for more information onmis sold payment protection insurance

If you have taken out a financial product in the last ten years such as a mortgage, personal loan or credit it is almost certain that you were sold payment protection insurance from your lender. PPI ideally covers your ability to repay your debt should you find yourself in difficult circumstances such as injured or unemployed, however, the lenders found a loophole and have been selling PPI to customers who were not eligible for the cover or who did not fit the particulars of the PPI they were sold.

By doing this, banks have raked in over 3bn and avoided making any payouts to people who did require the insurance. Although they were acting on an obscure technicality they have been deemed to be breaching the law and have faced backlash from the watchdogs. Some large banks have faced fines of up to 7m as well as the money they stand to lose from refunds.

The scale of this fiasco ballooned with the help of bank salesmen who would often demand you take out the PPI if you wanted the loan, an obvious lie, in order to boost their commission. In some instances the small print was the only mention of the compulsory PPI that would be added on to your product but not mentioned in your quote, by signing the contract you implicitly agree to pay for it.

Some people are ineligible for PPI by their very definition and have still been paying for it, for example if you are over the age of 65 you will not be able to utilise PPI as you are above the age of retirement. Anyone who has paid for PPI over this age is legally entitled to a full refund.

If you are self employed then you are considered to be in a less stable financial position than someone in full time employment and you will not be qualified for payment protection insurance, however, banks will be happy to sell it to you with no intention of paying out if you need it.

If you have a historical medical condition the chances are you will be considered a high risk individual and would not be offered the insurance as you are more likely to be off work on medical grounds. As you can guess, the banks will be more than happy to sell PPI to you even with a medical record in their hand and you have no chance of using the cover.

If you have been mis-sold PPI like this or in any other fashion you are probably entitled to a refund, although you will have to chase the banks for this and it is often easier to het the help of a legal professional.

If you are looking for good PPI claims solicitors then talk to Donns LLP who can guarantee to help you reclaim PPI

If you have taken out a loan, mortgage or credit in the last ten years you will have probably been wrongfully sold PPI. You may not even be aware that you are eligible to claim back your money and the seriousness of what the banks have done.

For the better part of the last decade banks and lenders have forced PPI down the throats of every Tom, Dick and Harriet looking to buy a financial product. It is almost guaranteed that, if you were made to add PPI to your loan, it was probably never going to cover you anyway. There have also been many reports of banks cunningly tagging on PPI to a product and by agreeing to the terms and conditions they implicitly agreed to pay for PPI, something that was not shown in the price of the product.

This whole time, lenders knew full well that the PPI they were selling was completely useless to the people they were selling it to, even though they told them otherwise. This has called into action the financial watchdogs who have forced many of the large lenders to pay back the money to customers. However, most banks are still using a ‘don’t ask – don’t get’ policy making the customers chase them for their money, often alone but more successfully with the help of legal experts.

The first thing you need to do to try and claim back your PPI is to write a letter to your bank/lender asking for a full refund. This will be answered with a polite variation of ‘jog on!’ which will require you to be more aggressive, threaten legal action and declare your intent to involve the financial ombudsman. Your claims will most likely continue to be met with dismissal at which point you may as well get the financial ombudsman involved but the key to success is to be persistent and by all means get the financial ombudsman involved but if all else fails, seek professional help.

Using a legal agency to help you claim back your PPI is often hassle free as they are experienced and will do all of the legwork for you. This will often have a faster affect than acting for yourself and will most likely end in success. Many solicitors are no win no fee so you wont lose out by claiming with them and it’s the best way of hitting back at the evil banking giants!

If you are looking for the best PPI claims lawyers then why not speak to Donns LLP, the best lawyers for dealing with your PPI claim.

It is estimated that over 4bn to customers who were fooled into paying for Payment Protection Insurance on a loan, mortgage or credit could be paid by banks and insurance companies. Experts previously estimated that customer who attempted to reclaim the payments could cost banks up to 1.2bn only but this new number includes the additional amount of customers who the banks will be forced to give refunds to.

A vast amount of customers have been sold PPI insurance that was not appropriate for them or no needed in their situation. Among those who were persuaded to buy policies were those with long lasting medical conditions, the self-employed and pensioners who, by definition, were ineligible for cover.

An estimate by the Financial Service Authority shows insurance brokers may have to pay up to 450m and the rest being paid by a range of PPI providers such as banks. The typical amount refundable to people who purchased individual policies is 2000 which has caused many consumers to enquire.

A variety of high street banks have already been slapped with fines from the FSA as they attempt to make examples as well as forcing them to offer refunds to all of the qualified customers. High street insurance broker ‘The Swinton Group’ have been fined 770,000 for severe failings and were made to offer a refund to over 350,000 customers while banking giants Alliance & Leicester have been fined 7m.

There are plans to regulate and control the future sale of policies, a move which is strongly opposed by financial giants. The FSA aims to prevent companies using hard-sell tactics to pressure customers into taking out useless policies. Chairman for the Financial Services Consumer Panel, Adam Phillips, says that “for too long banks have regarded PPI as an easy product to sell and make money without considering whether it is really right for the customer

If you think you are entitled to a PPI claim, then visit Dons LLP for the best PPI claims lawyers.

Borrowers should be covered for their debt repayments if they have PPI cover and something unexpected happens, but an increasing number of people are realising that it is one big con. It has been sold to people who are uninformed and who can’t afford it and often people who want it but don’t know they are ineligible.

Most banks cunningly tag on PPI to any loan or credit and bank employees are often forced to sell useless policies in order to keep their jobs. The theory of PPI is great for borrowers, particularly in the recent economic hard times, where people are losing their jobs left right and centre, it should mean that 3 months unemployed doesn’t mean going hungry because of mortgage repayments. But the reality is quite the opposite; there have been almost no cases where PPI has actually helped someone struggling to make repayments.

Luckily, lenders who have illegally sold PPI can be held accountable by the general consumer. There are thousands of lawyers who focus on financial law and some even specify in PPI reclaiming.

Many people don’t realise the variety of circumstances in which the sale of PPI can be considered illegal, if you were unemployed, self-employed or simply over 65, your PPI payments were void and you can reclaim all the money. If you weren’t explained all the terms, you can claim it back and if you were told you had to buy PPI from your lender, ask for it back!

It is your own responsibility to reclaim PPI payments but now the Financial Services Authority and the Competition Commission have cracked down on the industry’s dodgy tactics. They will now fine any organisation who has broken rules on PPI selling.

Companies are now obliged to accurately sell PPI to customers guaranteeing they are not overpriced, customers can chose to opt out at any time and they are completely covered after a 2009 watchdog ruling.

If you feel you have been miss sold PPI, then see why Dons LLP can help you with your PPI claim.

Major high street Banks and other financial service providers have recently offered a product called Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) to cover the consumer against the unforeseen lack in ability to repay a loan agreement.

Banks aren’t obliged to offer this service but if they do they are required to ensure they understand the background of the customer and are certain the PPI would cover them in the unforeseen.

Many Banks are profiting from this in one of two ways, the first is to allow the customer to choose to buy PPI with no persuasion, this means they can offer them any product and it doesn’t necessarily have to be appropriate for that customer.

The cover they buy could insure them for the wrong value of their financial service and in most instances if the unforeseen does happen, they are not eligible for the insurance. This has left thousands of customers in financial ruin when not being able to pay back a loan after an accident or cover their mortgage when they have been made redundant.

If that wasn’t sneaky enough the Banks can exploit loopholes allowing them to tag PPI on to a financial service without even telling the customer, they may not notice and will not likely need to claim. Even if the customer finds them self unable to pay their loan, the bank will not advise them to use their PPI unless prompted.

This kind of scamming has accounted for almost 1bn profit for the UK banks in the last year and with the number of unemployed remaining high this figure is likely to increase. It has reportedly affected over 8000 families in the UK in 2009. Many families are seeking compensation to claim back their PPI payments.

Want to find out more about PPI Claims, then visit Dons LLP site on how to choose the best Mis Sold Payment Protection Insurance for your needs.