Payment Protection Mis-Selling Definition
Many people have payment protection insurance but are just not sure whether their cover was mis-sold or not. Payment protection cover can be attached to a wide variety of products and can be mis-sold in many different ways. Although there is no clear payment protection mis-selling definition there are clear patterns in the way the cover was most frequently mis-sold. Below are some common examples.
Incomplete information was given...
In some cases sales staff misrepresented cover emphasising the positive aspects of the insurance and glossing over or excluding information regarding less favourable aspects.
Incorrect information was given...
It was also quite common either in an attempt to boost sales or as a result of inadequate training for sales staff to give incorrect information regarding policies.
The pivotal thing about both the examples above is that the customer was not given the full picture regarding their payment protection policy and, therefore, their decision to take the cover was based on flawed information. Had the customer been given complete and correct information it is unlikely they would have agreed to take the policy.
The customer didn’t really need the cover...
The most obvious example here is customers who were unemployed, retired or in full time education when they were sold the policy. Clearly someone who is not in employment has no need for a policy that covers them in the event they lose their job. Other reasons a customer may not have needed a policy include where they were in secure employment with full sick pay benefit E.g. the Armed Forces or Civil Service.
The customer was ineligible to use the cover...
Common with almost all PPI policies is the fact that they have a high number of exemptions. In some cases these exemptions exclude whole sections of people from coverage because of some aspect of their circumstances. Examples here may include people aged 65 or over and those with serious pre-existing medical conditions.
For more information on payment protection mis-selling definitions contact us.