Britons may be able to reclaim “thousands” in PPI even if they have received payments for it in the past.
A legal claim, launched earlier in the year by litigation firm Harcus Parker, alleges that banks have “unlawfully” acquired billions of pounds from Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) customers through secret commissions.
Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has indicated on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he could be touching on the topic during his next Money Show, which airs every Tuesday on ITV at 8pm.
Along with student loan and backdated bereavement payments, Mr Lewis said he also expects to converse: “PPI reclaiming is it back? (and have you paid too much tax on old claims)” (sic)
The initial round of PPI claims centred on mis-selling, however, the new action accuses banks and credit card companies of “secretly” pocketing commissions of up to 95 percent from customers who signed up for the insurance product.
The high levels of secret commissions are deemed to be “unfair” under the Consumer Credit Act, which means banks and credit card companies may be forced to return all of the PPI payments to customers.
It is estimated that up to six million people could be eligible to combine the group legal claim, which aims to recoup a staggering £18billion worth of premiums.
More than 330,000 have reportedly signed up so far, and the firm hopes banks and credit card companies will come to a settlement before heading down the group claim route.
In a statement on the Money Saving Expert website, Mr Lewis said: “PPI mis-selling is the UK’s single biggest financial scandal in living memory. The public bought tens of billions of pounds of dud products, yet no one was ever prosecuted.
“Huge financial institutions scripted their staff to rip customers off, selling them insurance that was either useless or terrible value (a payout rate of less than 10 percent of the cost) via confusing marketing.”
However, he said after years of campaigning, the banks were successful in shutting down encourage PPI claims via the Financial Ombudsman to “get clarity” for their balance sheets.
Mr Lewis said: “That decision meant people were due money even if they hadn’t been mis-sold if, as was common, commissions were outrageously high and this wasn’t made clear. This lawsuit may well be re-opening the door to that. The shame is that it now takes a big law firm to do it, and it will take a cut of up to 35 percent, meaning people won’t get all that they are owed.
“Not the law firm’s fault – it’s the regulator and Government that agreed to close PPI down.”
Who is eligible to claim for PPI secret commissions?
According to Harcus Parker, the group legal action is available to people who have not yet received a full refund for their PPI payments.
This includes those who:
- Were sold PPI but have never made a claim
- Had PPI but were denied a pay-out
- Those who accepted a refund offered by a financial institution (a ‘tipping point’ payment) in purported settlement of a PPI claim, as it is “highly likely” less than 50 percent of the secret commission money was refunded.
People can fill out the form on Harcus Parker’s claims website to see if they are eligible.
