Thursday, 16 February 2012

Victims of insurance scandal waiting years for justice

Published on Thursday 16 February 2012 09:06

" IT’S one of the biggest scandals to ever hit the banking industry, but seven years on victims are finally seeing justice.
Redress paid to customers complaining about the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) hit £1billion by the end of 2011.
But there are still millions of complaints to be investigated, according to the Financial Services Authority.
The redress comes after an epic battle with the industry.
The FSA took over enforcement in connection with PPI mis-selling in 2005, imposing penalties, fines and bans.
In 2010 it published rules on repayments which were challenged in court by British Banking Association. Repayments were suspended.
A judge found in the FSA’s favour in January last year but the BBA said it would appeal.
It abandoned all legal action in May – opening the floodgates to millions of claims.
An FSA spokesman said: “People will get their money, the FSA is very much on the case. But we want it done in a way that’s right and not rushed. We don’t want to have to go through it all again.”
BANKS are meeting strict deadlines for settling PPI compensation claims but stalling over paying up, says a claims expert.
The Financial Ombudsman Service set tough deadlines for dealing with complaints, but there are no rules about how quickly they should pay.
Michael Pilgrim, of PPI specialist Randall and Vickers, said most banks tell customers the average delay is 28 days, but thousands are being forced to wait months."

 Original Text:

The Star
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