Claims - Home Loans PPI
Am I entitled to a PPI refund?
A large number of people who took out a payment protection policy when borrowing money could be entitled to a refund for the amount they were forced to pay. Since 2005, when the Office of Fair Trading first launched its investigation into the market, a number of people have been successful with a PPI claim if they felt they were not properly made aware of how much the policy would cost them and what it would cover. A number of claims have been made in recent months with institutions such as Alliance and Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and MBNA Cards among those being forced to pay out.
How much can I make from a Payment Protection Refund?
Belmont Thornton provides a special PPI Claims Estimator that allows consumers who believe they may be entitled to a refund to quickly and easily acquire a rough idea of what sort of payout they could expect to receive. The actual value of your PPI claim will vary depending on the size of the loan on which it was taken, the length of the deal and the exact details of the policy you signed. Claims Estimator calculates a PPI reclaim as 20 per cent of a consumer's typical monthly repayment multiplied by the number of times they paid.
Varying PPI charges for different financial products
It is worth noting for anyone considering applying for a refund that the size of PPI claims can vary dramatically depending on the products on which they were taken. Sometimes, PPI charges on loan agreements are paid by a one-off premium included in the loan itself, which means that interest is also charged on the payment protection. Figures from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) - which highlighted the various abuses being conducted by banks and loan providers selling PPI in a special report drawn up in 2005 - reveal the extent of this discrepancy.
Bank, credit card and loan refunds
Evidence collected from CAB clients in the Protection Racket report indicated that consumers were hit with wildly varying PPI charges. A selection of case studies showed PPI premiums of £2,217 on an unsecured personal loan worth £8,993 (25 per cent of the value); £744 charged on a £5,600 unsecured personal loan (13 per cent); and £5,133 (47 per cent) charged for protection on an £11,000 unsecured loan. On other products the figures do not make for any better reading. A secured loan for £25,000 came with a PPI premium of £12,127 (49 per cent), while hire purchase for a car totalling £5,059 was raised by 43 per cent through a £2,157 PPI premium.