Banks ride roughshod over consumers, flouting rules to hold back billions

Dec. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Banks are riding roughshod over PPI claim customers, using every loophole available in a bid to hang on to billions of potential refunds, according to a leading claims management company, Investor Compensation.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has currently put on hold thousands of claims affected by a forthcoming judicial review, which banks have requested in a bid to oppose a ruling that they should accept retrospective complaints from consumers seeking refunds after being mis-sold PPI (payment protection insurance).  The BBA’s move comes despite being ordered by Financial Services Authority (FSA) to continue handling PPI claims until the legal challenge is resolved.

Mike Ransom Managing Director of Investor Compensation argues that banks have created a smokescreen to fiercely hold on to the billions in compensation that they will have to pay out if rulings go against them in 2011. He said: “Banks have said they will continue handling the affected complaints once the outcome of a High Court action was known, likely next year but not before. This is nothing but a smokescreen, a vehicle by which to put every single PPI claim on hold.   In fact, they have already delayed as many as 95 per cent of claims and the situation is exacerbated by the fact that the BBA will not give any clarification as to which claims are being put on hold whilst the judicial review is taking place and which are not. We have discussed the situation at length with the Banks and the BBA but they will not cooperate and effectively, they are able to put every single complaint on hold using the review situation as nothing more than an excuse.

“This is an outrageous situation – banks have benefited continuously over the years after mis-selling PPI to consumers everywhere and they are now trying vehemently to defy the FSA’s request to continue to handle claims so they can once again, sit pretty and hang on to cash, which is quite rightly due back in the hands of the consumers it was taken from.”

PPI covers debt repayments if the holder is unable to work due to an accident or illness, or if they are made redundant. In the last 5 years there have been more than a million complaints made to firms about PPI.  Average compensation will vary from £900 for those who were mis-sold about regular-premium PPI policies to over £2,000 for those mis-sold single-premium policies.

If the Financial Services Authority (FSA) win their ruling over BBA, over three million people could be due refunds for being mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance and there could be over 550,000 complaints a year for the next five years. Mass compensation figures would run into billions for banks

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