The undercover reporter for The Times newspaper found that the customer services teams responsible for handling customer complaints, with regards to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), were told to “play the system”.

The specialist claims management teams, which were outsourced and managed by accountancy firm Deloitte, were told to ignore cases of possible fraud undertaken by the salespeople at Lloyds, as many complainants would abandon their claim after this stage. 

Lloyds have made an official statement regarding the issue and believe that many of the situations and conversations documented were “isolated”. Lloyds also mentioned that they had severed the agreement with Deloitte and that they had already established problems within their complaints handling procedure independently of the undercover reporter.

A release on behalf of Lloyds commented: “Earlier this year we became aware of issues at a PPI complaints handling centre called Royal Mint Court in central London.

“This site was operated for us by a third party supplier, Deloitte. Following further investigations we took immediate action, and in May concluded our contract with Deloitte and moved to a new supplier.

“Some of the comments made by trainers to The Times reporter are not endorsed by Lloyds Banking Group and we believe they do not reflect our high training standards or our policies.

“We believe the comments to be isolated and they are now being addressed. Following the discovery of these issues and under the guidance of a new supplier the employees are currently undergoing retraining in line with our policies and procedures.”

PPI was sold alongside loans and other credit-agreements to cover the policy holder’s potential inability to repay the debts. However, the policy was frequently added to the loan without the consumers’ knowledge or consent, leaving many consumers paying for an insurance they are unaware of or hadn’t agreed to. 

So far, Lloyds has set aside the largest amount to cover PPI compensation claims – more than any other bank – with a total of over £6 billion (although some industry insiders predict that this figure may rise yet further). 

If you have taken out a loan or any other credit agreement over the past 12 years you may have been mis-sold PPI. To start a “no-win, no fee”*claim, contact Claims Advisory Group today. To find out more about the service offered by Claims Advisory Group,  please contact one of their claims professionals on 0800 027 9744.

Barclays overtook last year’s winner, Royal Bank of Scotland, to take the unwanted title.

Almost one in five consumers surveyed said that of all financial services providers in Britain, they trusted Barclays the least.

To highlight the extent of the lack of trust, Barclays received more than twice as many negative votes as Royal Bank of Scotland - which received the second highest negative votes.

The study, conducted by Moneywise magazine, revealed that negative comments about Barclays out-weighed positive ones by a ratio of four to one.

Some of the reasons cited were the Libor-fixing scandal from last year - when the bank was fined nearly £300million - along with issues around the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

Moneywise’s Editor, Mark King, said: “In our latest survey, it’s Barclays that has failed to impress.

“Interestingly, unlike previous recipients of the title, in 2013 credibility has been lost at an institutional level after a run of scandals rather than off the back of events that had immediate effects on consumers.”

A spokesperson for the bank said that Barclays was: “disappointed and surprised”.

In their annual review, the FOS stated that they had received over 2 million financial complaints and queries throughout 2012, as a result of more consumers being aware of their consumer rights and seeking redress for the Payment Protection Insurance scandal.

The complaints received were regarding a range of financial issues, however the most frequently recurring complaints were for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claims which accounted for 74% of enquiries.

As well as total complaints received by the FOS almost doubling from 1.2 million in 2011-12 to 2.1 million in 2012-13, Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) cases also dramatically increased by 140% from 157,716 cases in 2011-12 to 378,669 cases in 2012-13.

The FOS is particularly tasked with disputed complaints, so PPI cases are sent to the FOS when the bank or lender that was responsible for mis-selling the policy rejects the initial claim. If the consumer believes that their rejected complaint is legitimate, then they can progress their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman who will re-evaluate the claim.

In the 2009 financial year PPI complaints only accounted for 30% of the total number of cases sent to the FOS, however of late this has risen dramatically - increasing to 74% of all cases received in 2012.  PPI policies were sold alongside loans and credit-agreements to millions of consumers throughout the UK – although recent years have shown that many of these policies were mis-sold. 

As the coverage of PPI has been widely reported across mainstream news, more consumers have become aware of the possibility they could have been mis-sold PPI, as well as their consumer rights with regards to making a claim.

If you have taken out a loan or other credit agreement in the last ten years, or you believe that you could have been mis-sold PPI, please contact Claims Advisory Group to learn more about making a claim. Claims Advisory Group has years of experience reclaiming PPI compensation on behalf of customers and offers a ‘no-win, no-fee*’ service. This means that there are no upfront charges and you will not be charged if your claim is rejected or unsuccessful at any stage.

To find out more about making a PPI claim, contact us on 0800 027 9744 today.

*Fee may be payable if case is not pursued at clients request

The first quarter of 2013 saw a steady number of successful PPI claims completed in favour of consumers, with £439.3 million, £409 million and £375.9 million paid out in January, February, and March respectively.

In the same period of the previous year, redress was paid at a similar rate at £405.4 million, £473.1 million and £501.6 million making a difference of +£155.9 million paid to customers in the first quarter of 2012.

Since 2011 £9.3 billion has been paid out to consumers that were mis-sold PPI, from a compensation pot which is estimated to be in the region of £13 billion. However, some finance experts such as Which? believe that the total redress figure could reach £25 billion if the scandal continues at a similar rate.

Payment Protection Insurance was mis-sold on a widespread scale to millions of people in the UK during the past 10 years, when it was sold at the point of sale alongside credit agreements (such as personal loans, credit cards, store cards etc.). Since the previous city watchdog (the Financial Services Authority) began to regulate the selling of PPI in 2005, many consumers were subsequently found to have been mis-sold a PPI policy with a loan, credit-card or other form or credit agreement.

Consumers were mis-sold the now infamous insurance policy in a multiple of ways by their bank or lender. In some cases the policy was added to loan agreement without the consumer’s knowledge or consent, leaving an estimated 40% of people with a PPI policy they were unaware of.  The total number of people that were mis-sold PPI to is still unknown, however millions have already made a complaint to their bank or lender to try and receive the compensation they deserve.

If you have taken out a loan agreement at any time in the past 10 years there is the possibility that PPI may have been added to your loan without you knowing. It is always advisable to check your original loan details to see if PPI was added at the point of sale. To find out about more ways you could have been mis-sold PPI, or if you would like Claims Advisory Group to make a claim on your behalf, please contact one of our knowledgeable claim professionals on 0800 027 9744.

So far, more than £13 billion has been set aside to refund consumers who were mis-sold the insurance cover, of which around £4 billion remains unclaimed. The figures from the FCA show that a total of £9.3 billion has been paid out in Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) compensation, with around £850 million being paid out in the first two months of 2013 - PPI compensation for January was £439.3 million and £409 million in February.

The amount of compensation paid is calculated from the 24 largest firms which equate to 96% of total claims made regarding PPI mis-selling.

Payment protection insurance was mis-sold to millions of people throughout the UK on loans, mortgages, credit-cards and other forms of credit agreement. The policy was supposed to cover the policy holders’ monthly repayments should they come into financial difficulty, however, due to the numerous exclusions a vast number of policy holders were not covered in such an event.  So far £13 billion has been set aside to compensate the millions of consumers mis-sold, however, there are still hundreds of thousands left to make a complaint to their bank or lender.

Although £13 billion is the current total set aside for compensation, some industry experts such as Which? believe that the total could reach over £20 billion should the scandal continue at a similar rate to the previous 12 months.

Millions of people have already made a complaint to their bank or lender, however there are still billions of pounds left to reclaim. If you too would like to make a claim for mis-sold PPI, all you need to do is contact 0800 027 9744 to speak to one of the knowledgeable experts at Claims Advisory Group PPI.

In an update on strategy to investors, the report indicated that cost-cutting measures would be taken by the bank in an effort to reduce its annual cost-case by upto $3bn.

The move comes on top of a reduction in staff members at the bank of more than 34,000 in three years.

Since 2010, when the bank employed almost 300,000 across the world, the number of full-time staff employed by HSBC has fallen to around 261,000.

This number could fall yet further, to around 240,000, following this new strategy. Many jobs were shed as part of the firm’s re-structuring plans, as they offloaded assets and sold 52 businesses.

Chief Executive of HSBC, Stuart Gulliver, said HSBC had already reduced its annual costs by approximately $4bn since 2011 - when he took over running the bank - which was one of the reasons cited why the bank had performed so well financially.

Just last week the bank revealed that it had virtually doubled its first quarter profits for 2013, after a drop in costs and bad debts, along with a drop in provisions for mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance. Costs at HSBC had fallen 10% in the first quarter from twelve months ago.

The bank reported pre-tax profits of $8.4bn (£5.4bn) for the first quarter, off the back of their three-year restructuring plan - up from $4.3bn a year ago.

He said: “We will continue to exert tight cost discipline whilst streamlining processes and procedures. This enables us to invest in growth and global standards.”

“As we execute our strategy we will keep under review the capital we hold and, if it appears to the board to be in the interests of the company and shareholders, we may seek to neutralise the effects of the scrip dividend.”

The bank also revealed that they would not be adding further provisions to their PPI compensation fund.

Although Lloyds currently has the largest compensation pot for mis-sold PPI, the group has announced they will not be adding any more money this year to the amount set aside for compensating customers - which currently totals around £6.7 billion.

The £2 billion pre-tax profits are a great leap from the £280 million profits made within the same period last year. Lloyds Banking Group’s chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, commented that the bank had made “substantial progress” this financial year.

According to Horta-Osorio, the bank had an increase in margins and a drop in provisions for the payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal to thank for their boosted quarterly profits. The bank has also confirmed they will not be adding to their PPI provisions for this financial year, meaning the potential for increased profits continuing throughout 2013.

Although Lloyds sold more PPI policies than any other bank or lender, they are gradually seeing a fall in the number of PPI mis-selling related complaints – complaints for mis-sold PPI fell to around 15,000 a week from 26,000 a week throughout 2012.

Despite Lloyds having confirmed they will not be adding to their PPI compensation pot this year, this does not mean they are not expecting to receive additional PPI complaints from customers who have yet to make a PPI claim. As Lloyds was the biggest seller of PPI policies, they are still expecting to receive thousands more claims and subsequent complaints from customers that were mis-sold the PPI cover.

If you would like to make a complaint regarding mis-sold PPI do not hesitate to contact Claims Advisory Group on 0800 027 9744 to pursue your claim with a dedicated and professional Claims Management Company. Claims Advisory Group has reclaimed millions of pounds on behalf of consumers, on a “no win-no fee” basis* and could do the same for you.

*Fee may be payable if case is not pursued at clients request

The research showed that of the 2.6 million people who currently have an ‘interest-only’ mortgage, almost half of them have not considered their ability to repay the loan when the policy matures, potentially leading many into an average short-fall of over £70,000.

‘Interest-only’ mortgages were sold to millions of home buyers to help them get onto the property ladder without large monthly repayments. When the policy matures the payments then begin to include the actual mortgage repayments which the FCA believe will be a struggle for many consumers within the UK. The FCA commented that many customers are ‘over-optimistic’ about their ability to pay off their policy. 

The investigation and advice from the FCA comes as a precaution to banks and other lenders to mitigate another scandal breaking on the same scale as mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). According to the FCA around 300,000 homeowners will not have enough funds to pay back their mortgage leading to potential house repossession – by the FCA prompting lenders to try and avoid this happening now, another scandal could be prevented.

Martin Wheatley, the FCA chief executive, commented, “Mortgage lenders have volunteered to contact their most at-risk customers with a ‘wake-up call’… My advice to borrowers is to not bury your head in the sand – take action now.”

Because of the PPI scandal the FCA is taking harsher measures to try and prevent a scandal of a similar measure. Banks and other lenders are still attempting to clear up the mess that has been left behind by PPI, which has currently resulted in a £13 billion bill. Millions of UK consumers were affected by this scandal and as a result many have lodged complaints to their bank or lender to reclaim the compensation owed to them.

If you believe you have been mis-sold PPI and would like to lodge a complaint, please contact Claims Advisory Group for a professional claims management service. Claims Advisory Group will be happy to take on your claim to assist you in reclaiming the compensation which is rightfully yours. To find out more about our reclaim service, please call 0800 027 9744 to speak to one of our claim professionals.

The research conducted by Consumer Focus, showed that only consumers with a PhD level of education were able to understand the complicated terms and conditions of PPI policies.

PPI mis-selling has been labelled the biggest financial mis-selling of all time and this report highlights some of the complexities surrounding payment protection insurance policies.

A High Court judicial review in 2011 ruled in favour of UK consumers, meaning that banks and other lenders had to pay for PPI policies that had been mis-sold.

Some of the ways that payment protection insurance (PPI) was mis-sold to consumers included failing to explain the many clauses and exclusions of the policy - which rendered the insurance invalid to a large number of people who purchased the cover.

Christine Farnish, a spokesperson for the study called on financial services to make financial products simpler for consumers and explain them “in a way that is understandable to them”.

She added: “It’s got to be clear, simple and accessible, not in jargon. Doing something about the way products are presented to people is very, very important.”

FCA figures show that Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) attracted 2.17 million complaints and was the most complained about financial product in the second half of 2012 - an increase of 5% on the first six months of the year.

Around 34 million PPI policies were sold to UK consumers over the past ten years. It has subsequently transpired that a large number of PPI policies were mis-sold, so many consumers have been contacting specialist claims management companies, such as Claims Advisory Group, to make a claim on their behalf.

For further help or information on making a PPI claim, please contact Claims Advisory Group on 0800 027 9744.

Overall, there were a total of 3.4 million complaints made to financial companies through this period, of which the majority were regarding Payment Protection Insurance mis-selling, accounting for 63% of the total complaints made; current accounts, other insurance products and credit-cards came next respectively as the other most complained about financial products.

Barclays was revealed to have received 414,302 new complaints during the second half of 2012, closely followed by their rivals Lloyds TSB (349,387 complaints) and Bank of Scotland (338,912 complaints). Although Barclays was the most complained about single bank, Lloyds Banking Group’s subsidiaries had over 700,000 complaints made overall.

Unsurprisingly, Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) was the most complained about product with 2,170,537 total complaints. Lloyds Banking Group, the largest seller of PPI also came in as the bank with the largest amount of PPI related complaints at 312,668. 

Lloyds Banking Group has the highest customer base than any other UK bank, therefore, their customer service director, Martin Dodd, commented,” It’s important to look at complaints figures in the context of the number of accounts. When you do this, it’s clear that the group, including Lloyds TSB and Halifax, receives fewer banking complaints than any other major bank.”

As Lloyds Banking Group was the largest seller of PPI, they have also set aside the largest amount of redress for their mis-sold customers at over £6 billion. The collective total of PPI compensation set aside by all mis-selling banks and lenders has reached almost £14 billion; however, industry experts have predicted that this figure will rise to over £20 billion in the coming years.

So far, millions of people have made a complaint to their bank regarding PPI mis-selling , but there are still hundreds of thousands left to make a claim. If you believe you have been mis-sold PPI and would like to use a Claims Management Company you can trust, please contact Claims Advisory Group on 0800 027 9744 to discuss your claim with a professional.

The current accounts will be predominantly aimed at the millions of Post Office consumers who use their branches every week, as well as targeting high-street bank members who have been let down by their bank due to poor service or Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling.

Millions of consumers throughout the UK have been let down by their banks, most recently amid the infamous PPI mis-selling scandal. Over £13 billion has been set aside by major high-street banks, including: HSBC, Santander, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Barclays to compensate their mis-sold customers.

PPI was mis-sold throughout the last 10 years to consumers who took out loans or credit-agreements from their bank or lender. PPI aimed to act as a cover to consumers should they be unable to make their loan repayments due to unforeseen financial circumstance. Although a useful policy when sold correctly, PPI had so many exclusions that many consumers found that they were not eligible for the policy, even though it had been sold to them.

As the PPI scandal has created a disruption to consumers having trust in their bank, the Post Office is the latest applicant to create a useful alternative for consumers.

Kevin Mountford, banking specialist at Moneysupermarket commented, “It is great news there will be a new competitor to shake up the High Street giants, and good timing to ride on a wave of anti-bank sentiment where people are looking for a trusted alternative.”

The new current account will be available within their 11,500 branches throughout the UK and will be contending against major high-street banks; many of which offer cash payments to potential customers should they choose to switch current accounts.

Gary Greenwood, a banking analyst at Shore Capital explained, “Current account customers are difficult to win. People tend to stick with their bank even if they have been treated badly. The question is whether the Post Office can make them a good enough deal to tempt them to move.”

If you have been mis-sold PPI by your bank or lender it is likely that you feel you can no longer trust that company. However, help is at hand in the form on Claims Advisory Group, the specialists in reclaiming mis-sold PPI products. By making a complaint regarding your mis-sold product you may at least be able to get back the compensation you deserve.

If you would like more information regarding the reclaim service provided by Claims Advisory Group , please contact one of their claims professionals on 0800 027 9744.

The FOS chief executive, Natalie Ceeney, said at the Parliamentary Commission on Banking standards that the FSA’s inadequacy to set up any form of collective compensation scheme for mis-sold PPI was an “opportunity missed”. Due to the FSA’s failure to develop a redress scheme, millions of consumers that were mis-sold PPI policies are still waiting on compensation from their bank or lender, which according to Natalie Ceeney is because they are trapped in the “complaints machinery”.

She said: “In our view collective action would have been the right answer on Payment Protection Insurance. We now have tens of millions of customers who are in the complaints machinery. It is too late to turn the clock back and proactively compensate customers. It is a bit of an opportunity missed.

“If you know something has gone wrong en masse it feels absolutely right for the regulator to ask for mass compensation.”

Throughout the UK millions of people have been mis-sold PPI, however many are yet to make a claim. So far the UK’s largest banks and lenders have set aside around £13 billion to cover PPI compensation costs, although this figure is predicted to rise to over £20 billion.

There is currently no deadline for making a PPI claim, however it is advised to make a claim sooner rather than later as the claiming process can sometime take over a year to come to a result, due to the sharp increase of disputed claims being sent to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Many consumers choose a Claims Management Company such as Claims Advisory Group to make a PPI claim on their behalf, as they are fully aware of the PPI process and it means consumers can avoid dealing with large financial institutions directly.

To find out more about using Claims Advisory Group as your PPI claim representative , please contact us on 0800 027 9744. All of our advice is free and we work on a “no-win, no-fee” basis, so you have nothing to lose by enquiring!

*Fees may be payable if case is not pursued at clients request

The results of a ‘mystery shopping’ exercise of 15 major banks and lenders throughout the UK by consumer group Which?, found that many did not have the knowledge or skills to advise about cash ISA accounts. Which? carried out 180 calls to 15 different banks and building societies. During these calls, the consumer group asked three questions regarding cash ISAs and scored the company based on the accuracy of their answers.

One of the worst offenders for inaccurate ISA information was Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), part of the Lloyds Banking Group, who were also the biggest culprits of PPI mis-selling. They had an accuracy score of below 45%. So far Lloyds has set aside £6bn to cover PPI compensation claims.

HSBC, who have also set aside £1.5bn for PPI compensation claims, were the worst for providing inaccurate ISA information to customers. They scored 33% for accuracy and were the lowest and least accurate lender with regards to ISA information.

It would appear that standards at these banks need to be addressed, as the two separate high street banking institutions have scored amongst the lowest with regards to looking after customers, in both mis-selling PPI and providing inaccurate information for tax-free ISAs.

The accuracy of the answers varied drastically between lenders, with the most accurate answers from National Savings and Investments (72%) and the most inaccurate from HSBC (33%). Overall, National Savings and Investments, Santander and the Co-operative scored the highest amount of correct answers at 72%, 71% and 67% respectively.

PPI was mis-sold in many ways over the past 10 years, one of which was through the policy being sold to those who were not eligible for the insurance, possibly due to the sales advisor being unaware of the policy exclusions. Due to PPI mis-selling, tighter regulations and investigations are being carried out to ensure another scandal of this scale is avoided.

The mis-selling of PPI has affected millions of consumers resulting in an overhaul by the government regarding the sales of financial products. The government has suggested a new set of ‘simple’ financial products with minimal small print to make consumer financial decisions less daunting. As well as new financial products, the government and consumer groups have also began investigations into other financial products such as cash ISAs and fee-charging current accounts to ensure that the consumer has a fair deal.

Following the Which? investigation, HSBC have said they will begin to improve their training programme following their dreadful results. The investigation revealed that HSBC’s staff knowledge on rules of how much money can be transferred was particularly poor, with one staff member incorrectly advising that a minimum of £10,000 had to be transferred into an ISA.

A spokesman for HSBC commented,”We understand that some of our responses to Which?‘s recent fieldwork research did not meet the standards expected by our customers.”

“We recognise this is not acceptable and are in the process of improving our frontline training and communications programme.”

“This will ensure that our people are able to answer any queries regarding ISAs and their tax-free allowance.”

This move has come since the government required the FOS to publish their final decisions as part of the draft Financial Services Bill, now officially called the Financial Services Act 2012. However, the FOS has gone one step further than the Bill requires, by revealing the identities of the companies being complained about within the public domain.

During early talks on plans to implement the Bill’s requirements in September 2011, the FOS came to the conclusion that it should not censor the name of firms involved in financial disputes, but would not publish any information that would implicate the consumer making the complaint.

A spokesman for the FOS said: “As part of the practical arrangements involved in publishing decisions, there will be a short delay between an ombudsman sending out their decision to the two parties in each case, and that decision being made available on our website. This is because we need to allow a short period for the two parties to respond, once they have received a decision.

The FOS has confirmed that it will begin to make final ombudsman decisions public as of April 2013. The final decisions will be available on a searchable database setup on the FOS’ website, which will include the name of the company but not the consumer.

The FOS makes final decisions when a consumer complaint is rejected by their financial firm and the consumer believes it is an unfair ruling. The FOS has played an integral role within the financial sector over the past couple of years due to the rise of consumer complaints regarding Payment Protection Insurance, which are believed to have been wrongly rejected by their lender. Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) has dominated the financial news throughout the past few years, due to the sheer scale of mis-selling. 

PPI complaints sent to FOS are believed to have reached “unprecedented levels” with around 2,000 new complaints a day being received in the second half of 2012, equating to 75% of their total complaints received.

If you have taken out a loan or other credit agreement within the last ten years, or you believe you may have been mis-sold PPI, please contact Claims Advisory Group. We can help you find out if PPI was sold alongside your loan agreement and help you make a PPI claim against your lender on a no-win, no-fee* basis.

To begin your PPI claim, simply contact Claims Advisory Group on 0800 027 9744 and speak to one of our helpful and knowledgeable advisors.

During the last six months of 2012, the FOS received a staggering 211,885 cases regarding claims for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) – up from 85,562 in the first six months of the year and an increase of 147%.

Throughout 2012, over a quarter of a million (283,251) new financial complaints were made to the FOS against major banking groups and other high street lenders, the bulk of which were regarding mis-sold payment protection insurance. Growing at a rate of around 8,000 new complaints a week, PPI made up approximately 75% of new complaints sent to FOS.

Lloyds Banking Group had the most complaints made to FOS, with a total of 93,454 complaints lodged in the first half of 2012 - 82,000 of which were related to PPI claims. The ombudsman’s data also shows that Lloyds is initially rejecting a large portion of complaints which they should be paying out for. Their report revealed that around 85% of disputed claims are subsequently upheld by the FOS in the consumer’s favour. As the biggest offender for mis-sold PPI, Lloyds Banking Group has so far set aside £6.7 billion to compensate customers that were mis-sold PPI – the largest PPI compensation pot set aside by a lender to date.

Although Lloyds have the lion’s share of PPI complaints, this does not mean that other lenders aren’t also guilty of mis-selling. The total amount set aside by major banks and lenders (including HSBC, RBS and Barclays) has escalated to over £13 billion, and is predicted to keep on growing as the volume of PPI complaints increase.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is a government service created to help consumers deal with financial complaints to businesses where they believe that their complaint or query has been dealt with in an unsatisfactory manner. The total number of complaints made to the FOS in the last 6 months of 2012 saw an increase of 110% on the previous half of the year and reached a record number of 283,251 new complaints.

Due to the widespread mis-selling of the policies, the FOS has received approximately 600,000 complaints about PPI. Around half of these were received throughout 2012 (when the FOS received almost 300,000 complaints regarding PPI), forcing the FOS to employ more staff to deal with the increasingly high volume of cases to resolve.

Chief ombudsman, Natalie Ceeney, commented, “The number of PPI complaints has continued to increase at unprecedented levels, and we are now regularly taking on around 2,000 new cases each day, however, as the complaint levels show no sign of slowing, consumers are increasingly having to wait longer to get their complaints sorted – with many businesses still continuing to cause unnecessary delays.”

“Where businesses have shown a real commitment to better customer service and diligent complaints handling, including actively engaging with the ombudsman, cases are resolved more quickly and easily, to the benefit of everyone.”

If you believe that you have been mis-sold PPI then do not hesitate to put in a complaint against your bank or lender.  There is a chance that your bank or lender could reject your claim, however, if you wish to pursue your claim further should you believe that you do have a valid claim, then the FOS will help to continue an investigation into your case. If you would rather have a specialist claims expert representing you a professional Claims Management Company, such as Claims Advisory Group, can liaise with lenders and negotiate a claim on your behalf. If you would like to find out more about Claims Advisory Group’s services, or to make a PPI claim, please contact us on 0800 027 9744.