Sick of Constant Calls about PPI

How do I stop these constant phone calls from companies offering to help me with my PPI claim, always the same spiel, a list of bank names followed by "You have paid PPI on your loan and we can reclaim your money back you could be entitled up to £7000. Please press 5 on your phone to be connected with an advisor".

These calls are annoying, especially when you get them at least five times a day an automated dialing machine with a recorded message that has fallen in love with your telephone number.

How to stop these calls

You can stop these calls to your home telephone and your mobile by registering with the Telephone Preference Service which is a free service. Call 0800-398-893, it can take up to 28 days for you to be removed from the list but it is well worth three minutes of your time to stop the calls.

This service not only stops PPI calls but it stops most calls from cold callers.

It is against the law in the UK for companies to cold call you if you are registered.

PPI is short for Payment Protection Insurance that is sold to people who take out a loan, to cover the repayments if you have to stop work because of illness, an accident, you become disabled or you lose your job. Most policies also include a life benefit which will pay off the outstanding balance on a loan or card if you die.

PPI Refund

In 2011, British banks and loan companies lost a court case for mis-selling PPI to their customers and were ordered by the courts to pay that money back, The banks have estimated that around £9 billion will have to be paid back to customers and have that money laid aside for people to claim back.

PPI was mis-sold to millions of people over many years there is no official time limit on how long ago the loan was taken out. Banks are only required to keep records for six years, if you took out or paid back a loan within that six year limit then the banks will still have a record of it.

If you still have all of the paperwork from a loan agreement from before six years ago then you can reclaim your PPI.

Although the companies keep phoning about PPI, you don't need them to claim the money back, if you are elligble for a PPI refund, you can easily submit your own claim, cutting out the middleman who normally charges around 30% of the money that you would get back.

This means that if you were awarded £3000 and you claimed through one of these companies, you would only recieve £2100 losing you £900, money that you were entitled too in the first place.

Am I Entitled to a PPI Refund?

If you think that you were mis-sold PPI then you could be entitled to a full refund,

• If it was included in the terms of your loan without your knowledge.
• If you were sold it without an explaination of what it was.
• If you were sold it and could never use it due to age/employment/illness.
• If your policy was over-priced.
• If the lender wouldn’t authorise the borrowing unless you took out PPI as well.
• Put the entire cost of the PPI onto the loan adding thousands interest and taking the term over the agreed period.

If you have been mis-sold PPI it is a lot easier than you think to claim it back. it only takes a few moments of your time.

Write to your lender with the details of the loan and why you think you were mis-sold PPI and ask for a refund. keep a copy of this letter for your own reference.

Many people recieve a letter back at this point from the lender refusing their claims but that is not the end of your claim.

If the lender rejects your claim contact the Financial Ombudsman with the full details of your loan.

The financial ombudsman will make a decision and tell you if you have a valid claim to a refund.

Almost 90% of claimants who complain to the ombudsman are successful.

The only downside of this is that it can take up to a year for completion.

The financial ombudsman also makes it clear that you don't need a third party company to claim back PPI, in their words "Why pay someone else to do it for you – when you're just as likely to win by doing it yourself for free"