Natwest Payment Protection
Payment protection insurance, often known simply as PPI, is the country’s most complained about financial product. The insurance has been sold for almost thirty years and is commonly attached to loans, mortgages and credit cards. The reason the insurance has such a bad reputation; however, is that it has been frequently mis-sold. Two high profile investigations have revealed significant failings by some lenders and many customers have been left furious after discovering they are paying for a policy they didn’t want, didn’t need or cannot use.
The problems with PPI were first exposed by The Office of Fair Trading and The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 2006. The regulators found significant failings with the way the cover was being sold and highlighted a failure by many lenders to put in place process to prevent mis-sale. In the following two years The FSA investigated a number of different businesses and the worst offenders were given fines and severe warnings.
If you have a Natwest payment protection policy or a policy with another lender you may be unsure whether your cover was mis-sold. Alternatively, you may suspect your cover was mis-sold, but feel unsure as to how to proceed.
Below are some of the common methods of mis-selling.
- Were you told that you had to have PPI? Payment protection insurance was always an added extra. It was never compulsory.
- Were you told taking out the cover would guarantee or improve your chances of being given your loan? Taking out PPI would not affect your lenders decision.
- Was the policy added without your consent or knowledge? Sadly, this did happen to many customers. We always advise customers to check their original paperwork or a recent statement to ensure PPI was not added without their knowledge.
- Were you unemployed, a full time student or retired? Natwest payment protection covers you for loss of employment – if you didn’t have a job you probably didn’t need this cover.
- Were you suffering from a pre-existing medical condition? Most policies do not cover pre-existing conditions. If you were not asked about your medical history or were wrongly told you had to have a policy you could be entitled to make a claim.
- Were you over the age of 65? Most policies do not cover customers over the age of 65. If you were over this age you may have been sold a policy you could never use.
- Did you have cover in place elsewhere or were you entitled to full sick pay from your employer? If so, it is questionable whether you really needed the cover. Your lender should have assessed your situation before recommending it to you.
- Were you sold the cover without the full terms and conditions being explained to you? Most PPI policies have a large number of exemptions and circumstances they will not cover – you should have been advised of these.
- Were you sold the cover without the full costs being explained? PPI can be very expensive. Your lender should have made you fully aware of the costs involved.
If you were mis-sold a Natwest payment protection policy or you would like to make PPI claims against another lender call our team on 0207 471 2000.
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