Finding PPI to suit your pocket and needs
Many people have heard of Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI, these days, and not necessarily for the right reasons. This is a type of insurance typically taken out with various forms of credit such as credit cards and loans, but has been hitting the headlines with alarming regularity over the past couple of years due to claims that it has been widely mis-sold by banks and financial institutions.
PPI is a type of insurance that is designed to cover repayments on credit for a specified period of time if the policyholder cannot work due to sickness, accident, or redundancy, and the cover provides many people with peace of mind. However, the controversy has arisen because in many cases in the past the cover was sold to those that could not claim on it, was added to credit agreements without the prior knowledge or consent of the borrower, and was sold to consumers by giving them the impression that they had to take it out with the lender in order to get the finance that they needed.
However, it has now been announced that the Competition Commission in the UK is placing a ban on the sale of PPI at the same time as financial products by banks, and this means that consumers will no longer have to face the uncomfortable feeling of trying to squirm out of taking out the cover whilst the lender is trying to push it onto them relentlessly.
For those that do want to take out the cover for their own peace of mind it is important to shop around, as you can get this type of cover from a number of providers and the cost can vary from one provider to another. In addition to this it is also worth working out whether this is the best type of cover for you, or whether you might be better off with an alternative, such as income protection, which would cover your income as opposed to certain debts.
In addition to hunting around for the best price on PPI – which can be a costly form of cover – by comparing different policies and providers consumers should also ensure that they read the policy terms and conditions carefully to ensure that they are eligible to claim and familiarise themselves with any restrictions that are in place on the policy that they are considering.
Tags: Competition Commission, ppi, Insurance, finance, credit
Ban on PPI by Competition Commission
For the past few years the insurance cover known as Payment Protection Insurance or PPI has been causing a great deal of controversy in the financial world. Read more
Tags: current economic downturn, payment protection insurance, period, Competition Commission, meet repayments, mortgageStore cards forced to admit they’re bad value
May 2, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
Millions of shoppers across the UK will soon be told by their store card provider that they could be getting a better deal elsewhere.
An inquiry by the Competition Commission into the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) charged by store cards carried out last year found that they were too high.
This has led to store cards with an APR above 25 per cent now being told that they must provide a warning to card holders informing them that they could be getting a better rate with another product.
These warnings will have to appear on the card statement and store card providers appear happy to comply.
“Of late, some providers have already moved their rates lower,” revealed a spokesman for the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), which represents providers.
“Providers are getting on and implementing what the Competition Commission wants. No-one has any issues with incorporating this information on statements.”
During its inquiry, the Competition Commission calculated that the UK’s 11 million store card holders are overcharged by around £55 million every year.
NI bankers may get interest-free overdrafts
March 8, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
People who do their banking in Northern Ireland (NI) may soon benefit from interest-free overdrafts.
That is after a report released by the Competition Commission which has been looking at ways of increasing competition and lowering charges in the NI personal current account market.
A list of “proposed final remedies” has been published by the commission and one of them is to force banks to give customers interest-free overdrafts.
Some banks in the province have admitted that the charges they impose on some customers are not directly derived from costs and it has also been found that many are being subjected to charges which are not present elsewhere in the UK.
All of this was discovered by the Office of Fair Trading two years ago and now the commission has come up with its remedies.
Among the ideas are calls for the provision of easy-to-understand descriptions of account services, clear explanations about charges and increased amounts of information on statements.
The Competition Commission would also like to see customers being provided with an annual breakdown of charges and interest charged, an annual reminder that they have the right to close or switch their current account and improvements to the switching process.
