It’s Payback time for PPI as Which? signs up to Facebook

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan 20, 2009 -
The consumer champion has launched Payback (http://en-gb.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=13287817862 ) – a Facebook application designed to spread awareness of PPI among recent graduates and young professionals who may have been mis-sold a policy when taking out an unsecured loan or credit card.

Payback (http://en-gb.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=1328781... ) users compete with friends to gain as many points as possible. Points are awarded for sending the application to friends, downloading the template claim letter to put in a claim and for joining the Which? campaign (http://www.which.co.uk/ppi ) . Unlike other applications, users have the added bonus of being able to reclaim hundreds of pounds* of PPI payments.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) says PPI was the most complained about financial product in 2008** with more than 25,000 complaints, but Which? believes this is just the tip of the iceberg (http://www.which.co.uk/advice/how-to-tell-if-youve-been-m... ) , saying that more than 2 million policies could have been mis-sold*** for unsecured loans alone.

Which? PPI campaigner, Lucy Widenka, says:

“Like other Facebook apps, it’s designed to be fun, but the bonus with Payback is that you and your friends could find yourselves better off by using it, especially if you’ve recently taken out a loan or credit card.

“PPI mis-selling has been a huge problem but its relatively low profile means there are a lot of people out there who could claim their money back but don’t know it.  Payback makes it easy for people to spread the word among their friends and family and to put in a claim.

“It’s never been more important to have good financial protection so if you do cancel you PPI, get advice about a suitable replacement.”

- Ends -

Notes to editors
*The Mintel Report ‘Creditor Insurance UK, Finance Intelligence, July 2008’ reported that the 12 main PPI providers had 7,676,777 active CCPPI policies in a UK market worth £970million in 2006. Each policy cost consumers an average of £127.60.

**The Financial Ombudsman Service recently reported that it has received over 25,000 complaints about PPI in 2008.
***In February and March 2008 Which? surveyed 579 people who had taken out a loan during the past five years and found that 32 per cent also purchased PPI and of those a further 32 per cent may fall foul of one or more of the ‘significant exclusions’ if they tried to claim. With approximately six million such policies, this equates to 1.9 million. Statistically, this puts the estimated figure between 1.7 and 2.1 million.

Information on PPI:

•   When sold alongside loans or finance agreements, PPI is sold as a ‘single premium policy’, which means a lump sum covering the cost of the insurance is added to the amount you have borrowed, so you end up paying interest on both the insurance premium and the loan
•   The FSA has previously taken enforcement action against 19 firms found guilty of failings with PPI, including HFC Bank, Land of Leather and Liverpool Victoria
•   For more information on how to make a complaint and begin the process of claiming back your PPI, visit www.which.co.uk/ppi