Were You Mis-Sold PPI?

If you’ve taken out a loan within the last several years, you may have had PPI, or payment protection insurance, included in your agreement. If you are like thousands of others, your PPI may have been mis-sold to you. Unscrupulous lenders have sold PPI to people who don’t qualify or who won’t be helped by the insurance. If you are curious as to whether you have been mis-sold PPI, here’s what you need to know:
1.Self-Employment, Unemployment and Retirement
The point of PPI is to cover your premiums if you are unable to work through no fault of your own. Almost all PPI policies exclude those who are self-employed, unemployed, retired or months away from retirement. If your lender was aware that you fit into one of these categories, and still sold you PPI, you were mis-sold your policy. Lenders are well aware that these exclusions exist when it comes to PPI and if you were sold PPI in the face of these exclusions, you have a claim.
2.Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
One of the benefits of PPI is the knowledge that your loan payments will be made if you fall ill or are injured and can’t maintain your loan payments. Like many insurance policies, if you have a pre-existing medical condition that could render you unable to work, you cannot purchase coverage. If you made your lender aware of your condition and they sold you PPI anyway, you will be eligible for a refund.
3.Bought Without Knowledge
One of the most illicit ways to include PPI in a borrower’s loan is to do so without their knowledge. Many people are shocked to find out how often this activity occurs. If you don’t think that you have PPI, pull out your loan documents and read them again. If PPI is included in your loan documents and you weren’t advised that you were purchasing the policy, you can file a claim with your lender.
4.Age
It is illegal to sell PPI to students and children under the age of 16. If you borrowed money from a lender before your sixteenth birthday and PPI was included, you were mis-sold the policy. Lenders are well-aware that there is an age requirement when it comes to PPI and one of the first things that you were asked when applying for your loan was your date of birth. No matter how old you are now, your loan should not include PPI if you borrowed the money before you turned 16.
5.Condition of Approval
PPI policies are always optional and their purchase is at the discretion of the borrower. If your lender gave you the impression that PPI was a condition of your approval, your policy was mis-sold. Additionally, lenders are not permitted to lead borrowers to believe that they will receive better loan terms if they accept payment protection insurance. If, when signing your loan documents, you believed that PPI was a condition of approval or of the rates you were offered, you should contact your lender for a refund immediately.
<p>If you think that you were mis-sold PPI when you borrowed your money, be sure to read the fine print contained in your loan documents. If PPI is included and you fit into any of the above categories, you will be entitled to a refund of any monies that you have paid towards your policy.