PPI (Payment protection insurance) has proven very controversial over the past few years. This is down to the large number of successful ppi claims that have been made by consumers who were wrongly miss-sold PPI when taking out a loan or credit card, or sometimes even a mortgage.
The estimated number of people who have PPI is around 20 million. It is used as a safe guard to those who suddenly cannot meet repayments either due to sickness or redundancy.
It is thought that one in every five payment protection claimis successful and many lenders have been under scrutiny since the controversy was uncovered by financial agencies.
People have been able to make a claim in several instances. Many have been able to claim if the PPI was miss-sold to them (i.e. they were not aware of the full details, or they thought that it was compulsory). Claims have also been made by self employed people who were sold PPI. Self employed people cannot claim against PPI because they cannot realistically be "made redundant" so the PPI cannot really apply to them. Many people were simply told that it was part of the loan and they had to have it, which is just not true. In fact, people are advised to scour the market for PPI quotes from 3rd parties before accepting anything.
The ability to claim against your PPI came out in 2005 and have been a controversy ever since. This also means that you can only claim against insurances taken out after 2005.
Also, if you have had a PPI but paid off your loan completely, (and this was after 2005,) you can still make a claim which is backdated to you if successful. There are many agencies that can help you in making ppi claims. Because of the controversy of the whole situation, it has become easier to claim than before.