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Consumers who
believe they have been mis-sold PPI alongside a loan are to be given extra time
to refer their cases to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Anyone who has had a complaint about a financial product rejected by the firm
that sold it to them currently has six months to take that complaint to the FOS,
which rules on such
But the Financial Services Authority now says that in the case of PPI
complaints, anyone who received a final response from a firm between 28 November
last year and 28 April this year will now be given until 27 October to complain
to the FOS.
The financial watchdog is introducing the rule while it continues to wrangle
with companies over whether they should be forced to reopen PPI cases they have
previously rejected.
The FSA wants firms to take another look at some of these cases, but many are
resistant, so the FSA wants the extra five months to assess the industry's
responses.
It will reach a decision by 27 October.
A spokesman stated: "This action to extend the complaints period for some
policyholders has been taken to ensure PPI complainants are not disadvantaged by
running out of time to refer their complaint to the ombudsman, while the FSA
works to resolve a long-term solution to ensure customers are treated fairly
when complaining about the sale of a PPI policy, or when buying a new one."
Around 135 people a day lodged official complaints about PPI during the last
financial year.
That figure is still rising according to a recent report by the FOS.
Of the 166,000 disputes it dealt with on various financial issues in the year to
April, almost a third were about the PPI.
The ombudsman is not able to give a blanket ruling on PPI as the outcome depends
on what the policyholder was told at the time of sale and on the wording of the
policy.
Earlier this month the Competition Commission announced that it will go ahead
with a ban on the sale of PPI alongside personal loans, mortgages and credit
cards, despite a challenge by Barclays.
The watchdog's investigation concluded that businesses offering PPI alongside
credit face "little or no" competition when selling the insurance to customers.
The financial crisis did not fundamentally change the problem, it found.
Source:
Getting Paid
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