Ombudsman: PPI complaints increase at unprecedented levels

The financial ombudsman receives about 2,000 new cases of PPI complaints everyday.

15:48 07 March 2013

The financial ombudsman has received 211,885 new PPI complaints in the last six months of 2012. These are the cases that are remained unresolved between the banks and the customers. When claims are denied by banks or financial institutions, the customers’ last resort is to write to the financial ombudsman, who will review the case and will have a final say on the matter. 

PPI or Payment Protection Plan is a kind of insurance product designed to cover loan repayments when borrowers lost their jobs, became ill, or had an accident. However, PPI was mis-sold on a massive scale to policyholders who either didn’t want it or need it. 

 

Due to a huge number of policyholders making a claim for the last couple of years, banks have shelled out a collective amount of more than £15billion in issuing refunds following the latest provisions by the major banks. 

 

Natalie Ceeney, chief financial ombudsman, said that they are not expecting the numbers to go down anytime soon. She added: “The number of PPI complaints has continued to increase at unprecedented levels.”

 

“As the complaint levels show no sign of slowing, consumers are increasingly having to wait longer to get their complaints sorted - with many businesses still continuing to cause unnecessary delays.”

 

The banking sector on the other hand, says that they are actively addressing the issue with the ombudsman. They said, as reported by the BBC: “We are very disappointed with the number of PPI complaints that have been referred to the ombudsman service, and we are actively addressing this with the ombudsman.”

 

Adding: “We are confident that we will see an improvement throughout the year.”