The issue of mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) has caused controversy throughout the UK – and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wants the complaints process to be as simple as possible.
By now we already know about the FCA’s upcoming awareness campaign to get people to register their complaints about PPI before the August 29, 2019 deadline. Funding the consumer campaign are 18 firms that collectively get over 90% of the complaints.
These banks and other providers have been asked to improve the way those who were potentially mis-sold PPI can verify and file their complaints if necessary. ‘Quicker and easier’ is how the regulator wants the process to be, before a full-blast campaign kicks off on August 29.
The FCA said improvements should include redeveloping company websites and other online tools to enable people to do the following with ease:
- Check online if they had PPI
- Complain online about PPI using a simple, straightforward form
- Find more information about PPI on the FCA and Financial Ombudsman Service websites
- Find additional help from bodies like Citizens Advice
It is also ensuring that accurate, timely, and free PPI checking services are offered. Meanwhile, those whose complaints were previously rejected but want to file anew regarding PPI commissions earned wouldn’t have to provide the same amount of information again.
“We have also checked firms’ preparations for assessing complaints on the new basis of high levels of commission earned from the sale of PPI (following the Supreme Court case often known as ‘Plevin’),” stated the FCA.
Once the two-year campaign begins, an increase in the number of complaints received is expected – and the watchdog aims to make sure quality of service is not jeopardised, seeing to it that organisations have the resources and systems in place to handle complaints quickly and fairly.
The FCA said: “We will continue to monitor and challenge all firms to ensure they maintain the expected standards and are delivering on their commitments to make it easy for people to complain about PPI.”
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