COMPLAINTS about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) – Britain’s costliest consumer scandal – rose by 40 per cent in the last six months of 2017 to a total of 1.55 million, according to figures released yesterday by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
A total of 3.76 million complaints were made about financial services firms in the six months, a rise of 427,032 on the first half of the year.
PPI complaints were at their highest level for more than four years.
Financial institutions have already paid out more than £44 billion to compensate people who bought PPI thinking it could help them repay debts should they fall sick or become unemployed. In the event, it proved worthless.
A FCA campaign featuring the animatronic head of US politician and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has prompted another surge in complaints since it was launched last August, and has forced many banks to raise their provisions for repayment.
In January this year, firms paid out £415.8m to customers who complained about PPI – the highest figure since March 2016 – taking the amount paid since January 2011 to £30bn.
Christopher Woolard, the FCA’s executive director of strategy and competition said: “Having set a deadline for PPI complaints, we are encouraging consumers to decide whether they want to claim, and if they do, to make their complaint as soon as possible, as many already have.
“We are continuing to monitor and challenge all firms to ensure they maintain the expected standards and are delivering on their commitments to make it easy for people to complain about PPI.
“When PPI is taken out of the mix, the numbers of complaints firms are receiving has remained stable. Firms should be doing all they can to reduce complaints and ensure they are treating customers fairly.”
Excluding the PPI figures, the number of complaints received by firms was 2.21m, around 13,000 fewer than in the previous six months.
After PPI, the next most complained about products were current accounts, with 509,047 complaints and then credit cards with 314,586 complaints.
Shares in the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYGB) fell by six per cent on Wednesday after the company said it had increased its provision for PPI by £350m.
A number of the country’s other lenders are expected to follow their lead in their first quarter results, which kick off next week.
The FCA publishes data twice a year, and only company-specific data for those with 500 or more complaints in a six month period, or 1000 or more in a yearly reporting period.
Firms going over these thresholds must also publish complaints data on their website, which accounts for around 98 per cent of complaints that firms report to the FCA.
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