Millions of people in the United Kingdom are being awarded thousands of pounds because they have been mis sold payment protection insurance. However, before you figure out whether or not you have been one of the millions of victims, you have to fully understand what payment protection is. It is also known by many other names as well, such as loan protection insurance and accident, sickness, and unemployment cover. If you have heard of any of these terms then you may well have something to think about.

So, if you have taken out a loan, a credit card, or a store card within the last ten years then it is very likely that you will have been offered payment protection insurance. This type of policy will protect you if you become unemployed, cannot work because you have developed a serious illness, or you have had an accident that means that you can no longer work. The policy pays out a certain amount when you claim. The money that is paid out goes towards the repayments on the credit card, store card, or loan. The money that is paid out actually comes from the monthly premiums that you will have paid into your PPI policy.

As you can see, there are many benefits to this type of insurance policy, but there are also a lot of pitfalls. First of all, we need to figure out whether or not you actually have a payment protection insurance policy. One way that you can do this is to check your bank statements. These will list PPI if you are paying for it. As well as this, you could check your credit card bills. Again, it will be listed here. Now, if you have payment protection insurance then it is time to see if you have been wrongly sold the policy. There are a lot of different things that may suggest that you have fallen victim to this scandal, so we need to look into them.

Worryingly, a lot of lenders neglect to inform the customer that they are going to be paying for payment protection insurance. This then means that the customer is paying for something that they didn’t ask for, didn’t know about, and probably didn’t even want. You might be wondering why a lender would do this. Well, the fact is that lenders actually usually make more money off of the sale of payment protection insurance than the sale of the loan itself. They earn huge commission every time they make a sale. This is one instance that would mean that you have been wrongly sold a PPI policy.

Another thing that happens very often is customers being forced into taking out payment protection insurance. They will put an incredible amount of pressure onto the customer to agree to take out a policy. They may do this by dressing up the policy to be something that it is not, or they may tell the customer that if they do not agree to take out the policy then they will not be approved for a loan with them. Payment protection insurance is not mandatory, and this is important to remember, no matter what the lender tells you.

Something else that could mean that you have been mis sold payment protection insurance is that the lender did not fully explain to you the ins and outs of the policy that they are trying to sell you. It is their duty to tell you every single detail of the policy, including the exclusion clauses. If they do not do this then they have wrongly sold you a policy, which means that you have every right to claim for compensation. These are just a few of the different things that could mean that you have been one of the millions of victims. If you think that this has happened to you then it is important that you take it further, because you could be owed thousands of pounds in compensation.

So, once you have established that you have indeed been one of the many victims it is very important that you take action. You may be wondering how you can actually do this, and there are a few different ways. Many people do not want to take the claim any further because they feel that their chances of being awarded compensation are very slim. However, this is really not the case. Many of the most well-known high street banks have set aside millions of pounds so that they can award this to the people who have been affected by the payment protection insurance scandal. Whilst it may take you longer to claim, you have to keep in mind that there are thousands of people claiming every day. As long as you have the patience to wait, it will be well worth it, especially considering the average amount of compensation being awarded is actually £3000.

So, how can you claim? Well, the first method is on your own. The first thing that you will need to do is to contact the financial institution that sold you the policy in the first place. You need to tell them that you want to file a complaint. You will then need to fully explain what has happened and file an official complaint. Once you have done this, you have to wait for a response. If you get a response saying that your claim has been rejected then you will need to take it further with the Financial Ombudsman Service who will work with the company to come to some sort of agreement.

If you do not think that you can do this on your own, or you do not have the time or the patience to deal with it then there is another option that you can look into. Your other option is to use a claims company. These companies act on your behalf to file the claim with the company. Basically, they will do everything that they can in order to get you as much compensation as possible. They keep in contact with you every step of the way and ensure that you know what is going on, whilst advising you on steps to take all of the time.

Either option is totally fine. Neither is more likely to get you compensation, so it all depends on personal circumstance. However, it is important that you look into claiming compensation because there are so many people out there who could be owed thousands of pounds that are just lying there because they do not think that they have a case to claim. If you have any reason to believe that you have been wrongly sold payment protection insurance then you owe it to yourself to investigate further. As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to claim, and none not to. You have nothing to lose. A lot of claims companies work on a no win no fee basis so you do not have to worry about spending more money that you do not have.