Customers who’ve bought payment protection insurance (PPI) have less than a year left to file a complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority if they believe they were mis-sold a policy.
The regulator has set the deadline at August 29, 2019. According to its figures, most PPI policies were sold between 1990 and 2010 – but some may date back to the 70s. Those who’ve had a credit card, loan, or mortgage product in the past 30 years may have also had PPI.
The FCA stressed that the deadline may run out sooner for some customers. The deadline is set for three years from the date a consumer receives a letter from their provider warning about it, or three years after one makes an insurance claim on the PPI policy that was rejected by the insurer.
As many as 64 million PPI policies were sold between 1990 and 2010, the FCA said. The regulator found that such policies were “often” mis-sold. More than £29 billion has already been paid back to people who have complained about the sale of PPI, the regulator said.
Complaints can also be filed over commission earned by a provider as a reward for the sale of PPI. In this scenario, the bank or lender earned a high level of commission from the sale of PPI but didn’t tell the customer when the policy was bought. A “high level of commission” typically means it was more than half of what was paid for the PPI policy, the regulator added.
