Banks will be getting in touch with customers over PPI mis-selling

A: There has been an important new High Court ruling about Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI. This is insurance you can take out when you take out a loan or a mortgage, to cover your repayments if you get ill or lose your job.

Some people have been sold PPI without being told that it is something separate to the loan they are taking out. This is mis-selling. Other people have been mis-sold PPI because the policy doesn’t cover their circumstances and they would never be able to make a claim on it - for example self-employed people who were sold policies excluding self-employment.

The High Court ruling means that firms selling PPI will have to review past sales of their policies, even where customers have so far not complained. Firms may need to contact all past and present customers to find out if they want to complain.

If you think you were mis-sold PPI, you can complain to the firm that sold you the policy. If they refuse to deal with your complaint or to give you a refund for the policy, you can make a further complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Banks who have sold PPI are working towards contacting customers who may be affected. They advise that if you have already made a complaint, you do not need to do anything. Your bank will be in touch with you as soon as they have processed your complaint.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of a complaint, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For more information, go to their website at: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk, or phone them on: 08000 234 567 (free for people phoning from a fixed landline) or 0300 123 9 123 (free for mobile-phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 or 02). For more information about PPI see the Citizens Advice website www.adviceguide.org.uk and go to the Payment Protection Insurance pages.

For more information about where to get free advice in Luton visit www.lutonadvicenetwork.org.uk