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Banks could owe millions more in PPI payouts after Which? exposes claims loophole

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Millions could be owed in additional compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), as Which? reveals banks are failing to properly investigate claimants’ full policy history and inform customers of all the PPI policies they have been sold.

A Which? investigation found that banks routinely dodge potential refunds by not checking all the policies a claimant has held – opting instead to only investigate the individual policies named, without mentioning to the customer that they had other PPI policies that might be eligible for compensation.

When Which? approached the big high street banks – Barclays, HSBC, RBS Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Santander and Nationwide – all said they would limit their investigation to the policy referenced, unless the customer makes a ‘general complaint’ or explicitly requests they check for all policies sold.

One such claimant, Valerie Henderson, 63, from County Durham, had previously received PPI compensation in 2009 and 2014. She was prompted to make one final check after receiving leaflets which mentioned mis-selling PPI on mortgages. She subsequently discovered that her bank owed refunds on a further 13 policies, totalling over £12,000.

Which? is concerned that this bare minimum approach from banks has meant that many other claimants could have missed out on claiming on all their policies. And with the August 2019 deadline approaching, millions could go unclaimed.

Which? has previously questioned the FCA’s approach to the mis-selling scandal, which allows banks to sit back and not proactively contact customers, relying instead on people knowing whether they had PPI and making a claim.

As a result, there could be countless victims of the PPI scandal still sitting on banks’ databases that might never receive refunds.

Which? is now urging consumers to ensure they make a general complaint to their bank, requiring the firm looks at every product they have held. Previous claimants should also consider lodging new general complaints to ensure all their products have been checked.

Which? can help people submit a free PPI claim online and has made updates so that firms are automatically requested to check all the policies a claimant has held.

Gareth Shaw, Which? Money Expert, said:
“Firms have admitted that they are doing the bare minimum to compensate victims by failing to investigate and flag all the policies a claimant might have held, meaning millions could be left unclaimed.

“As the deadline to claim approaches, we’re encouraging anyone who thinks they might have additional policies to re-lodge a general claim, even if they’ve already had a successful payout on one policy. The banks certainly won’t check other policies for you unless you ask.”

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